Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 10 December 2009.
It is a little churlish of the shadow Secretary of State not to welcome the once again improved performance of the Rural Payments Agency. It has been improving year on year, and this year it managed to pay out £1.3 billion, which is almost twice as much as last year, two weeks earlier than last year to four times as many farmers. From our point of view, that should be complimented and lauded.