Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 30 October 2006.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to reduce the burden of bureaucracy on (a) dairy farmers and (b) all farmers.
The Farming Regulation and Charging Strategy for England, published in November 2005, details a number of commitments to reduce bureaucracy and make regulatory controls more effective and easier to comply with, including through the Whole Farm Approach. The strategy is available on the DEFRA website at:
www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/regulation/charge/pdf/farm-regulation-strategy.pdf
DEFRA has made a commitment to reduce the administrative burdens its regulations impose on business by 25 per cent. by 2010. We have recently participated in a cross-Government exercise to measure this burden and are now in the final stages of finalising our Simplification Plan to be published in November 2006. This plan outlines a range of simplification initiatives, including many that impact on farmers, which will reduce the burden on business and reach our 25 per cent. target.
Some of these approaches will offer benefits to dairy farmers. In addition, the Government are continuing to press for the abolition of the milk quotas system, which will help to simplify existing arrangements in this sector.
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