Local constituency MSP Finlay Carson has questioned the “astonishing” sum of money being spent by the Scottish Government on external consultants to help run a subsidy system for farmers.
Official figures reveal that on average more than £20 million has been paid out each year to companies to advise and administer agricultural support payments.
The total spend is just over £203 million since 2016 prompting the Galloway and West Dumfries MSP to quiz Scottish Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie at Holyrood.
Mr Carson told how concerns were raised earlier this month surrounding the lack of effective implementation and the constraints posed by the outdated IT system.
He said: “Jonnie Hall from NFUS stated, and I quote “The biggest single constraint on policy development and, therefore, its implementation…is the ability to deliver.
“There is a fundamental issue with the IT system and everything that goes with that.
“And Kate Rowel, chair of Quality said in reference to future policy…”unfortunately – and this brings us back to the computer system – there seems to be no way of implementing that list.”
The Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP continued: “The minister continually tells us that he listens to industry…so if he is indeed doing so…why are the industry leaders always wrong and the minister always right when it comes to concerns around the IT systems limitations.”
Speaking afterwards, Mr Carson described the sum of taxpayers’ money being spent by the SNP Government as “astonishing”.
He explained: “Their previous IT system turned out to be a total disaster in terms of delivering payments to farmers and we’ve known for some time that this version is simply not fit for purpose.
“SNP ministers cannot keep farmers and the wider agriculture sector in the dark over what is happening with how this system is operating.
“This is a huge drain on the public finance yet Jim Fairlie as the relevant SNP minister is still pretending everything is fine.
“SNP ministers need to get a grip on these costs and ensure that the money being spent on these consultants is fair for taxpayers.”
He called for the Scottish Government to be “far more transparent” about the costs involved in administering the set up.
Responding the Scottish Minister said he refuted Mr Carson’s question.
He said: “This attack is purely based on something that the Tories have decided. They’ve got an attack line on the government, it’s unwarranted, it’s unjustified and the payments continue to get made.”
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon insisted the external firms are providing IT services rather than simply consulting on how to run the programmes.
But farmers have continued to raise concerns claiming the current system is not fit for purpose and that forthcoming changes to the payments mean the IT could become obsolete.
Previous failures in the system led to payments to thousands of farmers being delayed, which led to a damning report in 2017 from Audit Scotland, the financial watchdog.
