Single Payment Scheme

: I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. We were told that there was regular communication between DEFRA and the senior management of the RPA but, as a result of the failure to deliver the programme, further work needs to be done. Indeed, we have already heard that the Select Committee and perhaps even the National Audit Office may make further inquiries into how it happened. Certainly, the relationship between DEFRA Ministers and the RPA needs to be examined in detail. The point has been made that, even if payments were made by the end of February, as promised, it would be late in the agricultural year. Many of the payments that were in place before the single farm payment was initiated would have been made already—in September for the sheep annual premium, and in October and November for arable aid, advance payments for the suckler cow premium and the beef special premium. Farmers have found it difficult to accommodate problems with cash flow. Mention has been made of paying bills, but at the end of this week interest payments will be due on most accounts. That money will be taken out of the farmers' accounts. They will not have to make a conscious decision about it; the money will be removed from their accounts. That may take them above the level that they have agreed with their banks, and they will suffer the financial consequences—not just additional interest, but the other costs involved.