Departmental report : 1998 (MAFF) / Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Forestry Commission ; presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Great Britain. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Date:: 1998

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Departmental report : 1998 (MAFF) / Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Forestry Commission ; presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$a ae Table 5.2: Cases of irregularities reported to the Commission under EU Regulation 595/91 00 ae UK UK sate proportion before 1995] 1993 cad 1267 180 14% Value (£m) 228 2.6 1% (To 05/06/97) Recovered (£m) 82 oe. 1994 Cases 1599 O25 14% Value (£m) 334 8.2 2010 (To 05/06/97) Recovered (£m) 73 53 1995 Cases 1754 219 12.5% Value (£m) 174 6.5 4% (To 05/06/97) Recovered (£m) 16.5 iy, 1996 Cases 1944 245 \eaey Value (£m) 169 3.4 2% (To 05/06/97) Recovered (£m) 14 LS 5.22 On 1 July 1996, the so-called Blacklist Anti-Fraud Regulation came into effect in the EU. The Regulation aims to reduce fraud by intensifying checks against those suspected of having committed a substantial irregularity and to provide for their exclusion from EU aid under export refunds, intervention and tendering arrangements for a period of at least 6 months. There is a requirement on Member States to notify the Commission and other Member States of such cases. During the first year of the systems operation, four notifications by Member States black-listing economic operators had been made to the Commission. The operation of the system is being carefully monitored and it will be substantively reviewed in 1998. The Blacklist Regulation does not apply to schemes covered by the IACS Regulation. 5.23. On 19 February 1997, the Comptroller and Auditor General, National Audit Office, presented a report to the House of Commons on ‘Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Tackling Common Agricultural Policy Irregularities’. The report assessed the actions taken by MAFF to combat irregularity in the twenty-one CAP schemes which it administers providing for direct payments to farmers. It focused on the five major schemes covered by IACS which accounted for 92 per cent of expenditure. The report confirmed that MAFF had ‘complied in all material respects with the requirements of European legislation for the schemes it administers under the Common Agricultural Policy’ and said ‘given the complexity of the regulations and the burden placed on the Ministry this is a considerable achievement’. The report also noted areas where MAFF$