Rural Payments Agency (Hansard, 18 March 2004)

§ Mr. Steen
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 3 March 2004,Official Report, columns 941–42W, on Rural Payments Agency, if she will publish the official communication sent to farmers regarding initialled alterations; and how and when IACS applicants were advised that amendments must be crossed through. [160919]

§ Alun Michael
Prior to 2004, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) advised applicants that alterations must be initialled and dated by them and that they must not use correcting fluid. This has been included in the information at the top of the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) base form which is sent annually to all farmers claiming aid under IACS. Other RPA schemes have a similar policy.
For the 2004 scheme year these forms have asked applicants to sign rather than initial any changes. To reinforce this the accompanying supplement which updates the 2003 booklet has an entry under the heading "Points Relating To General Guidance For Completing The IACS Area Aid Application" as follows: Correction fluid and changes 3. Correction fluid must not be used on the base form or the field data printout. Should an entry need changing it should be crossed through, the correct information entered and the change SIGNED and dated. If this procedure is not followed it may require the return of the claim which could delay the processing of the claim and incur penalties.
The forms and the supplement are currently being mailed to all registered IACS applicants with completion expected by the end of March. All applicants should receive them by 8 April.
In order to safeguard the applicant in that no changes are made to their application without their knowledge, and in order to demonstrate that the information is complete/accurate and clearly shows precisely what information was intended for the application, RPA has instigated procedures to support their obligations to ensure that the correct aid is paid to the correct person.

§ Mr. Steen
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 3 March 2004,Official Report, columns 941–42W, on the Rural Payments Agency, when she received the legal advice on alterations to claims; what steps she took to communicate it to applicants; and whether the legal advice reflected (a) decisions of or (b) guidance from the European institutions. [160920]

§ Alun Michael
The legal advice which formulated these procedures was not based on specific decisions or guidance from the European Institutions but by forming a practice enabling the correct aid to be paid with a defined audit trail linking the information provided to the aid paid and safeguarding the interests of the applicant and the Rural Payments Agency.
441W
This advice will be communicated to applicants on the IACS base forms for the 2004 scheme year. Applicants will be asked to sign rather than initial any changes and to reinforce this the accompanying supplement which updates the 2003 booklet has an entry under the heading "Points Relating To General Guidance For Completing The IACS Area Aid Application" as follows: Correction fluid and changes 3. Correction fluid must not be used on the base form or the field data printout. Should an entry need changing it should be crossed through, the correct information entered and the change SIGNED and dated. If this procedure is not followed it may require the return of the claim which could delay the processing of the claim and incur penalties.
The forms and the supplement are currently being mailed to all registered IACS applicants with completion expected by the end of March, all applicants should receive them by 8 April.