AQW 11876/22-27

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 14/05/2024
Answered On Date: 28/05/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail his plans to make funding applications simpler and more accessible for farmers and rural communities.

Answer:

Applications developed throughout my department are unique for each individual purpose and I am committed to making them as straightforward as possible for our customers. Officials balance this objective, when developing funding applications, against the requirement to gather the minimum amount of information to verify eligibility, identify need and to prevent or detect fraud.

Digital platforms are used as our primary application method as this helps to streamline the application process and includes the function to pre-populate data for ease of customer reference. My Department also continues to provide helpdesk services and digital support to make online application access as simple and smooth as possible.

At my request simplification, accessibility and bureaucracy of the future Farm Support and Development Programme will be placed as a standing item on the Agricultural Policy Stakeholder Group Agenda with each scheme to be tested against a set of criteria, which is to be agreed following consultation with the Agricultural Policy Stakeholder Group, to ensure that the initiatives, packages and measures are simple and easy to access.