Briefing Note for CLA members

Transcription

1 Briefing Note for CLA members The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Date: 28 October 2014 CLA Briefing Note Reference: RE04/14 A. Introduction Over the last year, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been designing the new Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) following the adoption of the Rural Development Regulation (Pillar 2) of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The draft programme document for the RDPE was submitted to the European Commission at the end of May and the Commission has six months in which to comment on the draft programme, recommend changes and ultimately sign it off. It should mean that the RDPE will be operational from 1 January In addition, a proportion of funds from the RDPE has been channelled into the EU Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF), also known as the EU Growth Programme. B. The draft programme and funding arrangements There are two objectives that underpin the draft RDPE: A commitment to ensuring the protection of the environment; and, A commitment to providing an effective framework for economic growth. There are to be four main elements of the RDPE: New Environmental Land Management Scheme (NELMs); Farming and Forestry Productivity Scheme (FFPS); The EU growth programme under the European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF); Leader. Defra announced in December 2013 that 12% of pillar 1 (CAP direct payments) monies are to be switched to pillar 2 (rural development). This is less than originally thought, that Defra would modulate at 15% as permitted under the CAP reform agreement. However, Defra has said that it will modulate at the maximum 15% during the last two years of the programme ( ). Of the monies available under the rural development budget, the allocations are as follows: Existing agri-environment commitments: 2,155 million NELMS: 919 million FFPS: 141 million Leader: 141 milllion ESIF (growth programme) 177 million. Page 1 of 5

2 The following tables show the amount of funds that will be available to the rural development budget, how these will be allocated to each programme. Table 3 below shows a series of allocations per year for each different scheme. These however, are subject to change depending on the way EU accounting rules are implemented. The figures also do not take into account modulation at 15% for years 2019/20 and 2020/2021. Table 1: Sources of funding for the rural development budget 12% modulation ( bn) Rural development allocation Funds left over from current programme transitional transfer Transfer from pillar National co-financing Total Table 2: Allocation of funds within the Rural Development budget Scheme % bn Current agri-environment commitments New agri-environment & forestry Leader Farming and forestry competitiveness Growth programme Total Table 3: Allocation of funds per scheme in each programme year m 2014/ 2015/ 2016/ 2017/ 2018/2 2019/ 2020/ Total Agri-env & forestry Leader Farming & forestry competitiveness Growth programme Ongoing commitments ,155 Total programme ,533 Page 2 of 5

3 C. Farming and Forestry Productivity Scheme (FFPS) The new Farming and Forestry Productivity Scheme (FFPS) has a number of objectives: Increasing the ratio of outputs to inputs; Improve net income, through value-added activities; Resilience (including climate, environment, market); Employment opportunities without compromising productivity; Resource efficiency (such as water, nutrients, pesticides, energy); Sustainability; and, Improve animal health and welfare. At present, the proposed financial allocations are likely to be: 30m for skills; 10m for advice; 62m for capital grants schemes; 10m for business start up aid (for new entrants and young farmers); 4m for investments in forestry technology and processing and marketing; 25m for co-operation funding. These monies are for the period and are yet to be confirmed. D. Leader The aim of the revised Leader programme is to increase support on jobs and growth. It should be stressed here that the previous focus on more social policy has been replaced with a far greater economic ambition. Under the new National Delivery Framework it is envisaged that 80% of projects will directly support the rural economy, with the remaining 30% still making a contribution to this economic objective. The priority areas will include farm productivity, micro and small enterprises, farm diversification, rural tourism, rural services, culture and heritage and forestry and the programme budget of around 140m will be spread more evenly across the Local Action Groups (LAGs). There will be a competitive application process open to new and existing groups with new groups in place by 1 st January 2015 The new programme will require LAGs to work with LEPs far more closely than is the case at present. Eligible activities under Leader include: Support for increasing farm productivity; Support for micro and small enterprises and farm diversification; Support for rural tourism; Provision of rural services; Support for cultural and heritage activities; Support for increasing forestry productivity. Page 3 of 5

4 The table below sets out the budget split in relation to Leader priorities. Table 4: Budget splits under Leader Policy priority budget split (%) Support for increasing farm productivity 20 Support for micro and SMEs and farm diversification 40 Support for rural tourism 20 Provision of rural services 5 Support for cultural and rural heritage 5 Support for increasing forestry productivity 10 E. An update The funds and schemes allocated under the FFPS, Leader and the EU growth programme will not be available until the middle of As a result, grant programmes under each of these schemes will not be available until this time. Full details of the grant application process will be set out on the CLA website Monies for NELMS will not be made available until 1 January 2016 when the new arrangements come on stream. As of October 2014, Defra is still considering the best options to be made available under the Farming and Forestry Productivity Scheme. These should be confirmed by the beginning to middle of November Regarding Leader, Defra is in the process of agreeing to the new Local Action Groups (LAGs) before these become operational. This is thought likely by the middle of December Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are still in the process of having their respective strategies signed off by central government. However, it is known that the monies available under ESIF through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) will not be allocated until the UK Partnership Agreement and the Operational Programmes have been agreed by the European Commission. This is anticipated by the end of Page 4 of 5

5 F. A Glossary Acronym Name in full Defra Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs EAFRD European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development EC European Commission ERDF European Regional Development Fund ESF European Social Fund ESIF European Structural and Investment Fund FFPS Farming and Forestry Productivity Scheme LEP Local Enterprise Partnership LEAP Local Enterprise Area Partnership LEPAP Local Enterprise Partnership Area Partnership OP Operational Programme RDR Rural Development Regulation (Pillar 2) RDPE Rural Development Programme for England SME Small and Medium sized Enterprise UKPA United Kingdom Partnership Agreement For further information please contact: Charles Trotman Senior Economist CLA, 16 Belgrave Square London SW1X 8PQ Tel: Fax: charles.trotman@cla.org.uk CLA reference (for internal use only): A Important Information. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action in reliance on or as a result of the material included in or omitted from this publication can be or is accepted by the author(s), the CLA or its officers or trustees or employees or any other persons. Country Land & Business Association All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as expressly permitted by law. Page 5 of 5