asked Her Majesty's Government:

How well prepared the Rural Payments Agency is for ensuring that single farm payments will be made at the end of February.

My Lords, the Rural Payments Agency announced in January 2005 that it expected to make payments in February 2006. The agency remains on track to commence payments in February and to complete the bulk of payments in March, in line with its target of completing 96 per cent of payments by value by the end of March. Payments will start in February, even if that involves making a substantial partial payment, although my clear preference is to make payments in full, and I expect to do that.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his response, but how does he square up the criticism given by the EFRA Select Committee, which accused the agency of complacency? The amounts should have been paid in full, but the Minister has just said that the bulk of them will be paid, so even he is accepting that they will not be paid in full. Will he tell us, despite an £18 million overspend, what proportion of the assessments have so far been completed? Of the payments due to start in February and be completed by the end of March, is there is a contingency plan for those that will be not met?

My Lords, with the greatest respect to the Select Committee from another place, I do not believe that it has done itself justice in its report. The committee misquotes me three times. I do not mind that, but I object to being called complacent, not so much on my own behalf but on the behalf of those in my department and the Rural Payments Agency who are working night and day to ensure that farmers get their payments in February and March of this year.

My Lords, I do not doubt that the Minister's staff are working extremely hard, but I am sure that he is aware that 80 per cent of the single farm payments were paid to Welsh farmers before Christmas, 62 per cent to Scottish farmers and 75 per cent to farmers in Northern Ireland. Why is it that farmers in England are not going to be paid even in this month and will have to wait until February? I am sure that he will also recognise that the EFRA Select Committee report that came out last week is an all-party report, and its general conclusion is:

"We are deeply unimpressed by the failure of Defra and the Rural Payments Agency to plan properly for the process of administering payments under the single payments scheme".

It asked Ministers to give a definitive announcement on that. Although he has made some promises, the findings of the committee do not give us a lot of confidence.

My Lords, the report claimed that I had given no definitive date for when payments would start. Today I have given the House a definitive date, and I gave the EFRA Select Committee a definitive date. I do not know what more I could have done. England is not Wales. Does the noble Lord agree with that? He may even be pleased about it. Does he accept that there are many more farmers in England than there are even in Wales? Wales decided on a historic element of paying, while we decided on a more sophisticated way of paying that is more in keeping with the CAP reform that the House so supports; at least it seems to support the CAP reform when the idea is put forward but it does not seem so keen on the implementation.

My Lords, what assurances will the Minister give that this highly regrettable situation will not impede the payment of the single farm payment next year? Is it a reality that next year's claims may come in before this year's claims have been dealt with?

My Lords, the noble Earl as usual has hit a good point. It is one of the reasons why I am so keen that we should start paying the full payments in February this year. If we make partial payments, which would certainly be better than nothing, it may have some effect on the 2006 payments, which would be due at the end of the year.

My Lords—

My Lords—

My Lords, it is the turn of the Labour Benches.

My Lords, can my noble friend confirm that under the old IACS scheme farmers were paid between January and June 2005, so the farmers who received their payment in June 2005 are likely to receive their next payment in either February or March this year? That is nine months, whereas under the old scheme it used to be 12 months between payments.

My Lords, 11 subsidy schemes ran up until the CAP reform, which was supported by all sides of the House. My noble friend is right that the dates for those schemes differed, but a number of them meant that the window for paying them closed in the middle of the year. So there would have been farmers paid last in June or even July 2005.

My Lords, is the Minister aware that some of the payments from the national reserve are held up in Scotland and that we are attending the conclusions? Can he give us any indication of when the size of the national reserve will be known?

My Lords, very shortly.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is time that noble Lords opposite, the leadership of the NFU, and a Select Committee in another place recognised the complexities of this arrangement and the enormous benefits that we in England will have from the system of payment as compared with that in most of the Continent and in Wales and Scotland? Does he further agree that they strongly supported the system when it was first announced and should stop attacking the staff of the RPA and Defra in its implementation?

My Lords, I agree very much with my noble friend. I am surprised that we find the attacks on the implementation of the scheme from those who supported it so warmly when it came in. The new financial system is part of the reform of the CAP, which signals the biggest shake-up in English farming for more than 30 years. The single payment scheme increases farmers' freedom to innovate and respond to changing consumer demands. Additionally, they have to meet new baseline standards for agriculture. Everyone agreed that this was a good change; I wish that they would support it now.