Rural Payments Agency

My Lords, I certainly hope that the latter part of the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Biffen, is not true. The fact is that not every member of the EU has gone into the new system this year for 2005. I understand that less than half of the members have operated a new payments system decoupling from food and livestock production. There was a choice. We, as the UK, were leading reform of the CAP, so it was inevitable that we wanted to use the new system as soon as possible. England has not been dealt with in the same way as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where payments worked faster and have probably—I do not know the full figures—met the payments deadline. I understand that Germany moved on this. It has experienced some difficulties, and colleagues in the RPA will, over the summer, be discussing with colleagues from Germany some aspects that they found that they did not expect. There will be lessons to be learnt from the EU, but other members of the EU will be learning from us simply because we have been in the vanguard of operating this payment system. In the long term, it will deliver more money to farmers. It collapses 11 different payment schemes and more money will be paid out; it is just that it has not been paid out by the promised dates in the first year.