Defra squandering millions, says Kendall

DEFRA could save more than £100 million of public funds through efficiency measures – something politicians should consider before cutting into farm support, English NFU president Peter Kendall told the union's annual meeting in Birmingham.

Kendall referred to a recent National Audit Office report that said Defra had "scant regard" for the management of public funds.

He said: "When you are in a financial black hole, the first thing to do is ensure you are getting value for public money. It is staggering that it costs 1,740 to process each Single Payment Scheme claim in England. The same figure for Scotland is 285.

"That is down to bad planning, poor cost control and appalling administration. If you could get costs down to 500 a claim, that would shave over 100m from Defra's funding requirement."

Kendall also cited cattle tracing costs. "The Australian cattle tracing system employs just 15 staff, it covers 28 million cattle, it costs 1.6 million a year to operate.

"The British system covers fewer than ten million animals, hundreds of people are employed to run it and it costs millions of pounds to run."