In one of the most damning reports ever issued on a Government body, the Rural Payments Agency was slammed yesterday as being inefficient in operation, offering its customers – the farmers – a poor service, and lacking in leadership at both the agency and higher up the command structure at Defra.

The RPA in England was set up by the first Defra Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett, as part of a so-called reform of the notorious EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) but, in England at least, began is life in a state of chaos which still exists today.

The agency is tasked with hand out £2.3 billion in farm subsides from CAP funds but whilst the devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland made the switch to the new rules without a hitch, in England there were huge delays of up to two and even three years in paying farmers.

At the time, Margaret Beckett was accused of interfering and the first chief executive was sacked with a large pay-off. But here in the Yorkshire Dales, there are still farmers waiting for their 2008 payments without which their businesses could go bankrupt.

Announcing the results of a review of the agency’s performance ordered by the previous government, Jim Paice, the new Agriculture Minister, demanded a whole list of changes in the way that the service is managed and added:

“There are some very tough messages for both Defra and RPA in the review, and there are some tough decisions to be made. Our goal is a resilient Rural Payments Agency that is responsive to its customers and that represents good value for the taxpayers’ money invested in it.”

The report was received with delight by various farming organisations which have been demanding a radical overhaul virtually from the day the RPA was set up.

The president of the Country Land and Business Association, North Yorkshire landowner William Worsley, lashed out:

“This damning criticism of the RPA is long overdue and only confirms what farmers and land managers have known for a long time. Nevertheless, the CLA is horrified with the findings relating to the financial management. It seems very little reliance can be placed on any RPA data and this must be borne in mind when setting future targets.”

Many country folk would like to see the RPA scrapped completely but it is understood that ministers have decided this would be more expensive in the present austerity than a complete re-organisation in time for further changers in the CAP due in 2013.