"Defra should learn from this scheme and get a lot
better at putting credible measurement arrangements in place to
demonstrate whether public funds are being used properly. It
appears likely that Defra’s scheme helped to deliver environmental
benefits by encouraging organic farming, but we can’t draw a
similar conclusion on the land management measures and I would have
expected a greater environmental benefit for the taxpayer’s funding
contribution."
Amyas Morse, head of the National
Audit Office, 31 March 2010
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and
Natural England have not optimised value for money for the almost
£200 million scheme to encourage farmers into organic farming and
deliver environmental benefits, according to a National Audit
Office report published today.
The Organic Entry Level Stewardship scheme is overseen by the
Department and run by Natural England and the Rural Payments Agency
using EU money and matched funding from UK taxpayers. Defra’s
forecasts for expenditure of EU funds assumed a constant rate of
take-up each year, which the NAO considers over-optimistic, and
present a risk that EU funds will not all be utilised.
The scheme pays organic farmers for managing their land in ways
that will protect or enhance the natural environment or historic
landscape. The scheme is likely to have achieved environmental
benefits by supporting organic farming, and the money paid to
farmers for adopting environmental land management measures has had
some impact, but this could be increased.
Farmers can choose which environmental measures to implement
and, according to the NAO survey, 57 per cent chose some measures
that involve managing features already in place on their farm. Many
of the more challenging options are rarely implemented. Defra is
now taking steps to improve the environmental impact of the scheme
by promoting better targeted measures.
Take-up of the scheme broadly reflects take-up of organic
farming methods in the farming industry as a whole. The scheme
benefits larger farms, especially in the beef and dairy sectors,
more than smaller farms.
Farmers are happy with the quality of service provided by
Natural England in administering the scheme. It has considerably
reduced the time it takes to process scheme applications and the
time taken to process payments since the start of the scheme, but
IT costs do still remain high.
Publication details:
HC: 513, 2009-10
ISBN: 9780102963656