Re: Handouts and state benefits to farmers top £1BILLION of tax payers money. Time to end this scandal that costs us dearly.
- From: amacmil304@xxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:14:26 +0000
On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:14:52 +0000, Old Codger
<Old.Codger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
No other industry is subsidised so heavily for doing nothing as the
farming industry. No wonder the country is in such a state.
http://tinyurl.com/29dkrk
£1BN THREAT TO DEFRA
Date : 06.02.08
An emergency Government summit will today decide the fate of vital
rural agencies as Defra ministers grapple with a £1 billion budget
crisis.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn will warn at the meeting that an
initial wave of cutbacks has failed to secure enough savings and
bosses will have to tighten their belts further.
Wildlife projects, forest protection, recycling schemes and nature
reserves are among those in the line of fire after huge overspends by
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Critics last night accused the Government itself of being responsible
for the financial "meltdown" and urged Mr Benn to "get a grip". The
Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission now face having to
impose more multi-million-pound cuts. Natural England, which is
responsible for nature reserves and crucial habitats, has been asked
to save more than £12.5 million, and the Waste and Resources Action
Programme (WRAP), charged with driving up levels of recycling, is
expected to face cuts of 25 per cent. Compulsory redundancy notices
are reported to have been sent to 30 members of its staff.
Expert staff and key conservation projects could be at risk, and
spending on some of Britain's most important wildlife sites could also
be reduced.
The bungled payment of farm subsidies, including the Rural Payments
Agency's disastrous single farm payments scheme, has cost Defra a
fortune - some £348 million has been set aside for possible EU fines -
and last summer's foot and mouth outbreak - which began when the virus
leaked from a Government-sponsored laboratory - is set to cost another
£48 million.
Last month the WMN revealed that the number of bosses at Defra handed
salaries of more than £100,000 has trebled in just five years, to 25.
Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth told the WMN yesterday:
"Defra's finances have gone into meltdown and are threatening vital
environmental services.
"What makes it worse is that much of this mess is of the Government's
own making," he said.
"Costs associated with delays to single farm payments and the costs of
the outbreak of FMD, which was caused by lack of biosecurity at a
Government-licensed laboratory, have all added to this black hole.
This is yet further evidence of a dysfunctional department.
"Hilary Benn needs to get a grip."
Defra is reportedly still £100 million short, despite cuts which
included compulsory redundancies at one agency. A package of cuts
worth £1 billion over the next three years has now been drawn up and
will be discussed today.
In November Defra's top civil servant Helen Ghosh said she had asked
staff to identify savings of £270 million in response to new demands
set out in Chancellor Alistair Darling's three-year spending plans.
Appearing before the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Select Committee, Permanent Secretary Ms Ghosh admitted that her
department was on course to overshoot its budget this year by £115
million.
She said £65 million of that was due to unexpected emergencies such as
flooding and outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, bluetongue and avian
influenza, but the other £50 million came on top of the department's
day-to-day administration budget of £269 million.
Ministers will today discuss the extent of the cutbacks. Discussions
are expected to focus on either ditching whole projects or
"salami-slicing" all areas of spending.
A Defra spokesman said the budget would be finalised early this year.
"No final decisions on budget allocations have been reached," he
added. "Defra, like all government departments, must ensure spending
is in pursuit of our aims and priorities and gives best value for
money for the taxpayer.
"Budgets for 2008-09 are currently being considered by ministers with
the aim of being finalised in early 2008."
However, the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, Steve Webb,
claimed that the Defra budget had been "in chaos for years".
He went on: "The proposed cuts will have a devastating impact for
agencies funded by the department, and ministers will now have to
decide whether to cut some services completely.
"It is unacceptable if work on vital issues such as climate change,
recycling and wildlife protection will take a huge hit," said Mr Webb.
He pointed to figures which show that Defra has spent more than £1
billion on hiring in management consultants, IT specialists and
temporary staff in the past five years.
"It must put its own house in order before it makes cuts in
much-needed environmental protection work," he said.
Best thing that ever to happen.
Cut the feet from the fake conservationists.
And Ogilvie says things won't change?
Angus Macmillan
www.roots-of-blood.org.uk
www.killhunting.org
www.con-servation.org.uk
All truth passes through three stages:
First, it is ridiculed;
Second, it is violently opposed; and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident.
-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Re-introductions
- Next by Date: Stuffed!
- Previous by thread: Re: Toxoplasma gondii - in Britain's pigs
- Next by thread: Stuffed!
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
|
