Basic Payment Scheme Data

Tuesday, 20 November 2018

Questions (507)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

507. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide information (details supplied) on land eligibility and the basic payment scheme by county in 2016 and 2017, in tabular form. [48057/18]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The information is not readily available at the level of detail requested. Officials in my Department are currently examining the request and I will respond to the Deputy as quickly as possible.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A

Further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 507 and 508 of 20 November 2018, please find below data requested relating to Cross Compliance inspections and Land Eligibility inspections for the years 2016 and 2017.

The data is being provided at national level as the annual inspection programme, including the risk analysis selection process, operates on a national basis. Therefore any comparison on a county basis is meaningless. The inspection outcomes are not comparable across counties.

Cases for inspection are selected by risk analysis with farmers selected randomly and by risk criteria. The selection process is carried out at Head Office level using various national data sets. Local Office staff have no involvement in the selection process. The selection process must meet the EU regulatory requirements and is subject to frequent audit by the EU Commission.

The risk categories used take account of the land types, number and scale of enterprises, number of livestock and previous inspection history. Once the risk categories are identified the farms are selected randomly within each risk category. The Department is required to review the performance of the risk analysis annually and, where appropriate, to update the risks to be used in the following year.

Statistics on Land Eligibility Inspections – 2016 and 2017

The following table details the total number of land eligibility inspections; the number of ground and remote sensing inspections; the number of cases that incurred no payment reduction and the number of cases that incurred a payment reduction or a reduction/penalty based on the various reduction/penalty categories under the Basic Payment Scheme for the years 2016 and 2017. Area reductions determined under these schemes may also impact on payments under other EU funded area-based schemes. The following should be noted in respect of the data:

- The data provided is based on the current position and may be subject to change as a result of reviews/appeals.

- 2016/2017 Scheme Years - A new penalty regime was introduced in 2016 as part of the measures under the “Simplification of the CAP”. This amended the rate used for the calculation of penalties and also the penalty categories. This new regime applied for 2017 also. The data provided is based on the reduction/penalty categories prescribed in the EU governing regulations.

2016 & 2017 – BPS Land Eligibility Inspections – See Explanatory Notes

Year	Total No. of Inspections	No. of Ground Inspections	No. of Remote Sensing Inspections	No. of Cases - No Reduction	No. of Cases – Reduction Under 3%/2ha	No. of Cases – Reduction/ Penalty 3%-10%	No. of cases – Reduction/ Penalty Over 10%	Total Value of Reductions/ Penalties
2016	7,111	898	6,213	6,186	650	189	86	€209,583
2017	7,403	896	6,507	5,932	1,065	269	137	€374,280

Statistics on Cross Compliance related Inspections – 2016 and 2017

The following table details the number of eligible BPS applicants, the number of cross compliance related inspections; the number of clear cases; the number of cases with a minor non-compliance that did not result in a monetary penalty; the total number of penalty cases; a breakdown of the penalty categories and the monetary value of penalties applied under BPS/Greening/YFS, for the years 2016 and 2017.

Cross Compliance related inspections include the following: Full Cross Compliance and Animal Identification & Registration inspections, LA Nitrates inspections, Ad Hoc inspections, Cross Reports, etc. Penalties for breaches of Cross Compliance requirements apply to payments across all EU funded schemes. The following should be noted in respect of the data:

- The data for 2017 is based on the current position and will not take account of specific inspection elements yet to be finalised or cases not yet cross reported for processing.

- The data provided is based on the current position and may be subject to change as a result of review/appeals, etc.

2016 and 2017 – Cross Compliance Related Inspections

Year	Total No. of eligible BPS applicants	No. of Inspections	No. of Clear Cases	No. of Cases Minor Non- Compliance – No Monetary Sanction	Total No. of Penalty Cases – Monetary Sanction Applied	No. of Cases - 1% - 5% Penalty	No. of Cases - >5% - 20% Penalty	No. of Cases - >20% - <100% Penalty	No. of Cases 100% Penalty	Value of Monetary Sanction Applied- BPS/Greening/YFS
2016	124,810	7,743	3,037	2,204	2,502	2,025	329	88	60	€1,716,049
2017	124,206	7,681	3,251	2,357	2,073	1,736	244	61	32	€1,805,083