FOI/17/01182 – CAP Payments€¦ · FOI/17/01182 – CAP Payments 1. ... 17 October – resume...

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FOI/17/01182 – CAP Payments 1. DOC1 ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2. DOC2 ..................................................................................................................................... 4 3. DOC3 ..................................................................................................................................... 5 4. DOC4 ................................................................................................................................... 10 5. DOC5 ................................................................................................................................... 11 6. DOC6 ................................................................................................................................... 12 7. DOC6A ................................................................................................................................ 14 8. DOC6B ................................................................................................................................ 15 9. DOC8 ................................................................................................................................... 18 10. DOC9 ................................................................................................................................... 19 11. DOC9A ................................................................................................................................ 21 12. DOC10 ................................................................................................................................. 30

1. DOC1 From: Sent: 09 September 2016 19:37 To: Higgins K (Kate) Subject: RE: Update on LFASS payment timetable Kate Pen and paper simply isn’t an option for LFASS. We need to validate against data claimed on the SAF and all the land data held in the IT system. We can get away with manual payments for some of our schemes – hence ability to start RP payments through a spreadsheet and manual checking route - but not LFASS. Auditors would regard a manual process for LFASS as a failure of key controls with sizeable disallowance. I know has looked at bringing in more temporary staff for area offices. Each local office has its own pool of temporary staff they have used before and can call on again, who are therefore already trained or at least semi-trained. I don’t think they could go beyond that existing pool

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and train them up in time to be any use before 15 October. In any event the majority of blockers are with us in HQ in getting IT fixes to release the remaining cases. There will be a few cases with area offices but I don’t believe they are holding things up for BPS payments. On LFASS there are these additional checking exercises, but again we need trained staff with knowledge of the scheme rules so I can’t see agency staff being any use. Again the key concern is whether the IT fixes really do address the data issues. If that happens we can get payments out to the majority and the rest shouldn’t be too far behind. █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

Head of Scheme and Inspection Management, AFRC - Rural Payments and Inspections Division Scottish Government, Q1 Saughton House Edinburgh EH11 3XD

███████████████████████ From: Higgins K (Kate) Sent: 09 September 2016 19:02 To: Subject: Re: Update on LFASS payment timetable A couple of what are probably stupid questions hence only asking you! Would it be quicker to abandon electronic processing and resort to pen and paper to get LFASS payments out and then backfill? Or is that just not an option? Is there a contingency in place or would it be do-able to bring in agency staff esp for area offices if looks like we aren't going to make 15 Oct deadline? From: Sent: Friday, September 09, 2016 06:03 PM To: Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity

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28 September – all defects scheduled for release have been successfully fixed 29/ 30 September – all validated land data successfully pulled across from RPS for payment calculation 3 - 7 October – first payment runs could start. We anticipate payments to a minimum of 6,000 that week (i.e. a majority of the 11,500 claims currently estimated to be eligible), but potentially a lot more as HQ ‘holds’ put on individual cases subject to these pre-payment checks (see above) are gradually released on completion of the check. 8 – 15 October – pause LFASS payments to allow final BPS payments to be made before the 15 October deadline and minimise any late penalty payments falling on SG (the limitations of our legacy debt management systems for off-setting debts against EC grant payments in relation to national loans means we cannot run BPS and LFASS payments simultaneously) 17 October – resume LFASS payments and complete payments to the vast majority of LFASS claimants that week Obviously that timetable would change if we encountered further issues with the quality of the data or managing these LFASS checking exercise alongside competing priorities such as completing 2015 BPS + Greening payments, and assessment work on AECS applications. As you know we need to complete all Pillar 1 payments by 15 October. A further call on area office resources is that they need to complete all assessment work on AECS applications from the 2016 application round by the end of October if we are to get AECS award letters out and benefit from the UK Government’s commitment to honour all Pillar 2 commitments entered into before the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 23 November.


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2. DOC2 _____________________________________________ From: Sent: 23 November 2016 17:05 To: Subject: Over Arching Timeline

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Please find attached updated timeline, more work to be done, but I have updated the delay in 6A and also the incorporation of approvals and the dependency on autumn statement along with RAGs. Need to get more info during the week and will work on RP/LMO plan tomorrow. [LINK TO DOC2A] Kind Regards

| CAP Project Manager | Rural Payments & Inspections Division, Directorate for Agriculture, Food & Rural Communities | Scottish Government | C1 Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD | ██████

3. DOC3 From: Sent: 15 November 2016 15:17 To: Cc:Subject: RE: Agenda - Dependencies workshop for Delivery Assurance - 1000hrs today

Item 3 figure added. Item 6 is highlighting the fact that the Futures Programme Delivery Support Team, who specify SAF processing functionality, need to share cross cutting SAF information with the other land based scheme teams, and not simply confine SAF-wide information to BPS. In the example given – the land adjustments review – this contributed to delays in over 1200 LFASS payments for LFAS15. Item 6 also flags the duplication of local office effort so, from their perspective, this is perceived as HQ inefficiency. We discussed briefly and you indicated that you are now content for Jeni to pick up the LFASS slides, as drafted. Regards

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Grateful to for his very useful draft - we discussed some of the changes but happy to go through them in full at some point, if needs be. Regards

_____________________________________________ From: Sent: 11 November 2016 17:59 To: Cc:Subject: RE: Agenda - Dependencies workshop for Delivery Assurance - 1000hrs today Hi Apologies for not providing this by your due date. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████. I’ve sent my draft to and will speak to her on Monday. Hopefully we could have it with you later on Monday. Regards,

SG: AFRC RPID - LFASS & CAGS, NECGS, SFGS Team

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_____________________________________________ From: Sent: 09 November 2016 14:13 To: Cc:Subject: FW: Agenda - Dependencies workshop for Delivery Assurance - 1000hrs today Importance: High

- I think they are still looking for a slide on dependencies in relation to paying RP and LMO in 2017. Apart from having enough staff resources, and processing by area office staff, are there any other dependencies? I am not clear on whether the R+E functionality now arrived in Drop 5 provides all you need for RP and LMO next year or will need turned over / refined for 2017?

– same for LFASS payments next year. Worth flagging dependency between Futures and BAU IT systems, as well as staff resourcing issues, but when you get all your IT defects fixed will you have all the functionality required for next year or will further IT development work be required? Slides by Friday please. See link to current slides and one done on AECS. No need for War and Peace just highlight the key dependencies. Happy to discuss.


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_____________________________________________ From: Sent: 09 November 2016 07:49 To: ;

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4. DOC4 From: Turnbull E (Eddie) Sent: 27 January 2017 14:03 To:

Subject: RE: 2017 IT development requirements and anticipated dates for starting scheme payments

Thanks for this. This is a good foundation. It is clear that we need to add to this other factors – cost and available resource are obvious ones (you allude to these in the footnotes). We need to devise a categorisation approach that allows us to more readily prioritise the “candidates”. Prioritisation is the key. Clearly this needs to be integrated at the appropriate point with non-functional/business activities (eg Red Hat Upgrades) as we need a holistic view. From selfish ISD planning perspective I would be looking to cover all resource demands (eg I didn’t spot Agriculture Census which I know is already under development but will spill over into 2017-18). I have copied in and as I have asked them to look at governance, commissioning and change management in the round – with an IT focus but potentially broader applicability. Eddie

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[LINK TO DOC4A] _____________________________________________ From: Sent: 27 January 2017 11:13 To: Cc: Turpie A (Annabel); Turnbull E (Eddie) Subject: 2017 IT development requirements and anticipated dates for starting scheme payments << File: A16588215.docx >> Grateful for a sense check from and please, not least in relation to the planned IT timelines, but to check I haven’t missed any key elements Can check the SACAMS entry and amend if necessary, and add any dependencies he wishes to record in relation to his own Finance team input, particularly if facing competing pressures.

– can you check for DP team and provide further assurance that we can make VCS Beef and Sheep payments when indicated or amend and call out any key risks or dependencies. Can everyone come back by 4pm today so I can get a final version to Gabriele today for Tuesday’s CAP Strategy and Delivery Board.

5. DOC5

_____________________________________________ From: Sent: 27 January 2017 17:12 To: Cc: Subject: 2017 IT DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS AND ANTICIPATED DATE FOR STARTING SCHEME PAYMENTS [LINK TO DOC5A]

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has been tied up with other things, so let’s circulate this version to the CAP Strategy and Delivery Board

Thanks

6. DOC6 _____________________________________________ From: Sent: 03 February 2017 17:17 To: Turpie A (Annabel); Cc: Mitchell E (Elinor) Subject: RE: Immediate: SCANCE NOTE follow up - Timetable for scheme payments in 2017 Annabel May not meet customer expectations because:

C2P has been paused, so these are all still manual payments – slower, clunkier payment process, with dependencies on both P2 payments team and Finance team

Validation of capital claims will play second fiddle in area offices to processing SAFs for BPS / Greening and other regulatory deadline work

Forestry customers are always particularly frustrated at the speed of paying their claims (and P1 taking priority)


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███████████████████████ From: Turpie A (Annabel) Sent: 03 February 2017 17:01 To: Cc: Mitchell E (Elinor) Subject: RE: Immediate: SCANCE NOTE follow up - Timetable for scheme payments in 2017 Thanks I’ve taken the bit about 2017 and put it into a word doc along with bits. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ What’s the reason that the rolling dates for AECS/ FGS/ RP/ LMO capital schemes not meeting customer expectations given it’s rolling? ██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ I think helpful though to provide a background note for Mr Ewing, so I’ve put that as a separate note. Just waiting for figs from for the second note - [LINK TO DOC6A] [LINK TO DOC6B] Cheers Annabel _____________________________________________ From: Sent: 03 February 2017 15:41 To: Turpie A (Annabel);

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Cc:Subject: Immediate: SCANCE NOTE follow up - Timetable for scheme payments in 2017 Annabel Draft attached – can you confirm accuracy of statement that the new target if £131m Other scheme payments The attached table sets out our current understanding of the earliest date at which payments under the different schemes might start in 2017. Please note these are indicative dates only at this stage. We are doing more detailed planning work to assure ourselves that these dates are deliverable, with regard to both the IT dependencies and the demands on area offices and HQ staff, and any further action we can take to improve the situation. What is clear, however, is that for some schemes there will be a gap between customer expectations of when payments might start and our ability to start payments then – for example LFASS, and Beef Efficiency Scheme (BES). Moreover for all schemes claimed through the SAF, payment is also dependent on validation of the land elements of the SAF. Accordingly because SAF processing will go on to June, even where we hope to begin payments for some schemes in line with customer expectations, payment of LFASS / RP etc. to some customers will be held up. We therefore need to continue to manage expectations that 2017 is a transition year and we are not yet in a position to return to a ‘normal’ payment timetable.

7. DOC6A Recap on position with 2016 BPS / Greening / Young Farmer payments 18,698 claims for BPS / Greening / Young Farmer supplement have been received. We do not yet know how many will prove ineligible but that is the maximum number of claims to have to process for BPS / Greening / YF. Our best estimate, at present, is that the amount of eligible claims will be similar to 2015, i.e. approximately 18,300. We currently expect Drop 6 to be operationalized on 20 February, giving 6 weeks of processing time before the end of March. We estimate that xxxxx SAFs can be processed and paid after this and the remaining SAFs will require further functionality (drop 8) before they can be processed and paid.

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Looking to the March 30 deadline, we have adopted two assumptions on the rate of progress that area offices can make – one a best case scenario, and the second more pessimistic but potentially more realistic. The more optimistic assessment, based on a steady rate of progress, would allow us to process approximately 6,400 claims (where there is a loan) between 20 February and 31 March, with a total payment value of £125m. The more conservative assumption, which we believe is the best one to adopt for planning purposes at this stage, suggests we will complete processing of approximately 5,500 claims (where there is a loan) by 31 March, with a value of £107m. In addition to the numbers above, there will also be a number of claims (where there is no loan attached) that will also be processed during this period – these are the claims that ‘do not touch the sides’ and proceed through processing without manual intervention. Based on indicative agreements with Finance officials we believe that is expecting RPID to complete repayment of £136m (which reflects the additional monies paid out in loans since the conversation with in January) which is considerably less than the original target of £192m. Therefore we are still short by between £11m and £29m. Please note though, that these forecasts are our best estimate and that when we have drop 6 functionality we will be in a much better place to forecast performance. Looking further ahead to the target of completing all BPS / Greening / YF payments by 30 June we are again dependent on further IT functionality being delivered. We are working hard with CGI to ensure that this functionality is delivered in enough time to allow us to process the remaining claims. We are continuing our approach of tightly managing tasks in AO and HQ that are critical to processing and payment. We do have a large number of SAF claims to process however and our dependence on timely IT delivery however cannot be overstated. We have significantly improved our reporting capabilities around that for this year.

8. DOC6B 2015 payments update Still 33 BPS awaiting IT data fix and or Drop 6 functionality - current plan is to pay these in early March as the Direct Payments team have confirmed that the checking will not take long once they come through. For VCS we made payments into bank accounts to 369 customers on 31 January. This included the 68 cases who had not received any payment. The rest were balance payments as a result of further system validation. Some work continues to analyse the whole claim population to ensure that there are no outstanding cases that may have been missed – which is normal processing practice.

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For Rural Priorities and LMO: RP - 3284 claims paid with a value of £24 million leaving 217 still to process with estimated value of £4 million. Expect to

substantially complete these cases by end March LMO - 2436 cases paid with a value of £2.87 million leaving 379 still to process with an estimated value of £400k. Expect to

substantially complete by end of March NB – completing payments for both these schemes depends on drop 6 functionality. In both schemes, we expect a small tail to remain. While we cannot give a precise number at this stage, we expect it to be

less than 20 – this is normal in any year For LFASS

2408 cases outstanding to process. We are planning a payment run next week and will confirm numbers next week but expect it to be between 300 - 500 – the

LFASS team are still running checks The remaining cases depend on drop 6 functionality and we are planning to complete as many LFASS payment runs as

possible before we start BPS 2016 payments at beginning of March as it is not possible to run both at the same time Our expectation is that we will have made the vast majority of payments by end March and then will be left with a small tail

(as is normal in any year). This depends on IT functionality and we will update these figures as soon as drop 6 is operational 2017 payments – current estimate of anticipated date for starting scheme payments (please note this is an initial list and is subject to further analysis and review) The attached table sets out our current understanding of the earliest date at which payments under the different schemes might start in 2017. Please note these are indicative dates only at this stage. We are doing more detailed planning work to assure ourselves that these dates are deliverable, with regard to both the IT dependencies and the demands on area offices and HQ staff, and any further action we can take to improve the situation. What is clear, however, is that for some schemes there will be a gap between customer expectations of when payments might start and our ability to start payments then – for example LFASS, and Beef Efficiency Scheme (BES). Moreover for all schemes claimed through the SAF, payment is also dependent on validation of the land elements of the SAF. Accordingly because SAF processing will go on to June, even where we hope to begin payments for some schemes in line with customer expectations, payment of LFASS / RP etc. to some customers will be held up. We therefore need to continue to manage expectations that 2017 is a transition year and we are not yet in a position to return to a ‘normal’ payment timetable. Scheme (or other business Probable customer / stakeholder Actual earliest date for starting

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requirement) view on when payments may start payments BPS/ Greening / YF January 6 March VCS Beef April April VCS Sheep April May LFASS March May AECS / FGS Annual Recurrent April July AECS / FGS capital claims Rolling Rolling (but may not meet customer

expectations)* RP Annual Recurrent April April LMO Annual Recurrent Sept Sept RP capital Rolling Rolling (but may not meet customer

expectations)* LMO capital Rolling Rolling (but may not meet customer

expectations)* Beef Efficiency Scheme May July New Entrant Start Up Rolling Rolling Young Farmer Start Up Rolling Rolling CAGS Rolling Rolling New Entrant Capital Grant Rolling Rolling Small Farms Capital Grant Rolling Rolling

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9. DOC8 From: Sent: 27 March 2017 19:21 To: Mitchell E (Elinor); Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity Cc: Turpie A (Annabel);

( Subject: RE: Advice on payment options for outstanding 2015 payments

Paragraph 6 of my submission of 21 March gave more details on completing LFASS 2015 payments and when we might start LFASS 2016. We hope to complete LFASS 2015 by the end of April, but can’t guarantee achieving that. Analysis and investigation of the IT problems continues. No timeline yet when IT fixes will go in, and of course we have been disappointed by previous fixes not working, so can’t give any commitment to end April, but that is the aspiration. On 2016 LFASS, as paragraph 12 of my 21 March submission explained, we are looking at end June at earliest, but more likely July before we can start payments. We are loathe to give a firm date when we are dependent on the LFASS 2015 IT fixes working before we can plan timelines for 2016 LFASS with confidence. Also bitter experience shows the need to allow adequate time for testing LFASS IT functionality.


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10. DOC9 _____________________________________________ From: On Behalf Of Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity Sent: 05 April 2017 17:20 To: Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity Cc: DG Economy; Mitchell E (Elinor); Watson AA (Andrew); Turpie A (Annabel); Turnbull E (Eddie);

Subject: RE: Timetable for completing 2015 CAP payments and starting 2016 CAP payments

Mr Ewing has commented on your submission as follows: Re. paragraph 3 - Mr Ewing would like to include this in the next conference call when you have an opportunity to discuss this in more detail. Re para. 4. Mr Ewing would like to understand how the re run back payment from manual to electronic will operate? He asks what the cost of this mistake is? Re para 5. Mr Ewing notes this needs completed and asks for a date when this will be the case? Re para 6. Mr Ewing would like a call with the NFUS to obtain a clear steer. Re para 8. Mr Ewing asks in relation to the part of the following sentences ‘..we cannot make payments to inspected cases until after we get …’ and ‘…80% in 2015 to 90% in 2016…’ . He asks when this will happen and whether the last to be paid will be paid in June? Re para 9. Mr Ewing asks when this is likely to happen? Re para 10. specifically the second last sentence , ‘In general these businesses are not likely to be high value BPS claimants, so will not be prioritised before the end of March’ . Mr Ewing notes, given SUSS are already a priority when are BPS claimants likely to receive payment?

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Re para 12. notes planning assumptions suggest the earliest LFASS 2016 could start would be the second half of June . Mr Ewing asks if this can be improved. Re para 13. Page 4, Mr Ewing asks if interim payments are possible? Re para 15 and 16, Mr Ewing asks if you can advise how this can be speeded up please? Re para 18, asks why a commitment to commence payments for a new scheme in May was included in the guidance note, when we are experiencing such difficulty with existing schemes. Please would you provide a note of who gave the commitment and when ? Page 4, Mr Ewing notes this new scheme is dependent on development of a new APEX database by SOPRA. Re para 19, Mr Ewing has noted this paragraph. S PARA. Re para 21, Mr Ewing has asked why despite BPS 2016 working well the technical position means there is little practical scope to accelerate the timescales described in your note. Thanks

Portfolio Private Secretary to Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity and Minister for Transport and Islands

█████████████ All e-mails and attachments sent by a Ministerial Private Office to another official on behalf of a Minister relating to a decision, request or comment made by a Minister, or a note of a Ministerial meeting, must be filed appropriately by the recipient. Private Offices do not keep official records of such e-mails or attachments. Thank you. _____________________________________________ From: Sent: 21 March 2017 13:33 To: Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity

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Cc: DG Economy; Mitchell E (Elinor); Watson AA (Andrew); Turpie A (Annabel); Turnbull E (Eddie);

Subject: Timetable for completing 2015 CAP payments and starting 2016 CAP payments Fiona Routine submission

RPID

<< File: CAP 2015 and 2016 Payment timetable update - March 2017 (revised 1200).docx >> [LINK TO DOC9A]

11. DOC9A

From: RPID

21 March 2017 Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Connectivity

TIMETABLE FOR COMPLETING 2015 CAP PAYMENTS AND STARTING 2016 CAP PAYMENTS Purpose

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1. To provide an update on the timetable for completing 2015 CAP payments and beginning 2016 payments across the different CAP schemes. While important steps have been taken to support effective delivery, and you are aware of the leadership resources that CGI are deploying to support process improvement, there remain significant challenges to address in completing a number of scheme payments.

Priority 2. Routine Background Completing 2015 payments 2015 Pillar One payments 3. For BPS / Greening and Young Farmer schemes we have only 33 claims still to receive any payment. We had hoped to complete these by now, but have

been awaiting IT fixes. Some are dependent on entitlement functionality due to arrive on 25 April. We have also of course had to turn our attention to planning the 2016 payments, where the process of setting the payment rate to avoid breaking the budget ceilings is tricky and we need to maximise recovery of loans by the end of March. We hope to pay some more of these remaining 2015 BPS payments in early April and complete them by the end of April, but can’t rule out some stretching into May.

4. For our voluntary coupled support schemes, nearly everyone due a payment has received their Scottish Suckler Beef Scheme payments. We do still

need to re-run these payments, which were made manually, back through the system which will result in the need for some payment adjustments. We know that from the work done to audit the accounts, with approximately £120,000 needing to be recovered. Now that we are focussed on maximising BPS loan recoveries by the end of March, this will have to wait until April.

2015 Pillar Two (SRDP) payments 5. We have now completed approximately 97% of Rural Priorities (RP) 2015 payments and over 90% of Land Managers Options (LMO) payments. Most of

the remaining LMO and RP claims require further validation by area offices and Customer Holds removed, who are of course focussed primarily on processing BPS payments. Therefore, while we are still clearing some RP payments manually the majority can’t be paid until they are fully processed. There is a risk of LMO continuing to be delayed, while other higher priority defects affecting SAF 2017, BPS 2016 payments, LFASS 2015 payments and AECS 2017 applications are targeted.

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6. The major headache remains LFASS, where we have processed 85% of claims but approximately 1700 customers still await a payment. As we can’t

make BPS and LFASS payments simultaneously because of the need to offset payments against different loans, we can’t initiate another LFASS payment run before the end of March while we maximise BPS loan recoveries. This also applies to 2015 RP & LMO payments which are being withheld as a result of the decision to offset loans only against their parent scheme. In any event we still have long standing IT defects to resolve. IT colleagues are freeing up more IT resource to try to get to the bottom of these problems. Nevertheless because of a history of fixes failing to work as hoped, and currently no timeline for resolving them until the further analysis has been completed, we cannot make any commitments about when we will complete 2015 LFASS payments. We hope by the end of April, but that is aspirational at this stage.

Starting 2016 payments 2016 Pillar One - BPS / Greening and Young Farmer 7. The first small payment batch of 100 payments for BPS / Greening has been initiated today. The next batches are now being checked. We plan to

gradually increase the size and regularity of batches, as we gain confidence from our checking procedures that all is well. 8. Although it is good news that BPS / Greening payments has begun, you may recall that we cannot make payments to inspected cases until after we get

the functionality to fully process inspection findings, which will come in Release 8, currently scheduled for 19 May. While we are increasing the percentage of the full payment paid in the first instalment from 80% in 2015 to 90% in 2016, NFUS and other stakeholders may express disappointment that we aren’t able to pay the full amount in one instalment. When we have processed enough payments to be sure that are budget calculations are working out as expected without risk of overshooting the budget ceilings, we will move to paying the full amount in one instalment and making balance payments to those who have had their first instalment.

2016 Pillar One – Beef and Sheep schemes 9. We normally start making Scottish Suckler Beef Scheme (SSBS) payments in April. In previous years we would have almost completed payments under

the Single Farm Payment Scheme, which was the predecessor scheme to BPS, by April. This year we will still have a very significant chunk of BPS payments to process, and this imposes competing pressures, which will impact a bit on when we can start SSBS payments. We rely too on the speed with which BCMS can validate claims. Nevertheless we still expect to be able to start these payments in April (or at worst early May).

10. Last year we started payments for the Scottish Upland Sheep Scheme (SUSS) in May. We will strive to do so again, but fixing the SUSS payment rate is

dependent on having at least 90% of claims fully validated, including the amount of region 3 land that the claimant holds. Accordingly our ability to start SUSS payments will be tied to progress with validating their BPS claims. In general these businesses are not likely to be high value BPS claimants,

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so will not be prioritised before the end of March. We will therefore work to give enough priority to their claims in April to allow SUSS payments to begin in May (or at worst early June).

2016 Pillar Two (SRDP) payments 11. Unfortunately we are still seriously challenged in our ability to begin some of our Pillar Two scheme payments as quickly as we would like due to

dependencies on new or refreshed IT functionality that is awaited and the knock on consequences of delays with 2015 payment processing. LFASS 12. Customers would normally expect us to start LFASS payments in March. We are already doing some preparatory work for 2016 LFASS payments, with

area offices commissioned to do some further checking of certain categories of claim. If we can finally iron out the IT defects that have plagued us and complete LFASS 2015 payments by the end of April, we can move fully onto testing 2016 payment functionality. Clearly we hope that all the work done to fix problems for 2015 will enable the 2016 exercise to go more smoothly, but bitter experience has taught us the need to allow adequate time for rigorous testing. Accordingly our planning assumptions suggest the earliest we could start LFASS 2016 would be the second half of June, when we expect to be still processing BPS claims. Therefore there is a risk that could push the start to LFASS 2016 payments into July. If we can make the IT fixes and complete LFASS 2015 payments quicker than we fear, then there is a possibility of starting 2016 payments earlier, but we are loathe to promise more than we can be sure of delivering.

Rural Priorities 13. We would normally aim to start making RP payments in April.. We had hoped to achieve an April start by bringing in the ‘Reductions and Exclusions’

(R+E) functionality that supports the correct calculation of breaches and penalties in April. However if we make RP payments in April we would still need to run the payments back through the full R+E functionality which covers AECS and FGS when that arrives in July. This might trigger discrepancies with what was claimed for AECS (as that is the replacement scheme for RP). We therefore think that separating the R+E functionality for RP from the main R+E build, due in July, may leave too much risk of overpayments being discovered and associated audit / disallowance risk. Separating the functionality might also add some further complexity and risks to delivery of the full R+E build. At best it would allow a very small sub-population of RP claimants who don’t claim AECS to paid earlier, with a long pause before we could pay anyone else.

14. If you would like us to provide more information on the risks and trade-offs we can do so, in case you reach a different conclusion, but we feel obliged

to recommend waiting for the full R+E release in July. If that functionality arrives on time and works as planned, we should be able to kick off RP payments in July.

AECS Annual Recurrent

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15. This will be the first year that customers will receive an AECS Annual Recurrent payment. In many ways AECS is the successor scheme to Rural Priorities,

so many customers may be expecting payments to follow a similar timetable to RP and begin in April.. We may in future years be able to achieve that, but this is another example of where we await brand new functionality, not expected until mid-July. There will still be some processing work after the functionality arrives but if it arrives on time we expect to be able to start payments in August. Unlike with Pillar 1 schemes there is currently no set window when payments must be made. As it is the first time we have made AECS payments, there may be some opportunity to set expectations and avoid accusations that the payments are late.

FGS Annual Recurrent 16. The functionality for FGS Annual Recurrent payments is almost identical to that required for AECS Annual Recurrent, and accordingly is scheduled to

arrive alongside it on 1 August. Payments should then be able to begin in August [check] but that will still be later than forestry customers would like. There are heightened sensitivities in light of the desire to speed up payment processing as proposed in the McKinnon report, which you have accepted.

AECS / FGS Capital 17. We currently have no system solution for processing these capital claims and no timeline for that development work. We will have to make payments

manually, and the team are highly experienced in processing capital claims manually. Claims are submitted and processed on a rolling basis. So far there have not been any significant concerns raised by customers about progress, and we will endeavour to keep it that way.

Beef Efficiency Scheme 18. This is a completely new scheme where we are making payments for the first time, and may have some scope to manage expectations, although we

originally indicated in the guidance that we hoped to pay in May. Unlike the other schemes, where our delivery partner is CGI, this one is dependent on development of an new APEX database by SOPRA. It is scheduled to go into final testing in early July, which should mean it is available to support the start of payments in August.

LMO 19. Finally, LMO payments normally start in September and the R+E functionality arriving in July should enable us to begin payments that month. Communications 20. Clearly the difficulties in finishing off 2015 payments, particularly LFASS, are extremely awkward.

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21. For 2016 payments the start of BPS payments will be welcomed, but possibly with some disappointment that we are paying in two instalments again,

albeit with a bigger initial instalment than last year. LFASS 2016, RP 2016, AECS and FGS Annual Recurrent, and potentially even Beef Efficiency Scheme, payments could all be later than customers might hope. Internally, senior management are ensuring there is a very clear understanding between SG teams and CGI about functionality and maintenance priorities. This is working well, but the technical position and the need to make progress now on BPS 2016 payments means that there is little practical scope to accelerate the timescales described in this note.

22. Therefore it will be important to keep emphasising to stakeholders that this remains a transition year, largely because we are still developing brand new

functionality and are not able to simply roll over functionality from the previous year without much effort. The need to address some of the weaknesses in the IT system that the Fujitsu report highlighted, particular the backlog of defects, is another factor that may have hampered progress.

23. We are already being asked whether LFASS 2016 payments will begin in March, and it is inevitable that similar questions will follow on all the other

schemes. 24.

25. We realise the delays in starting some scheme payments is very difficult and most unwelcome. We would be happy to discuss handling options with

you. In particular, we are aware of the increasing profile of delays in LFASS payments and the need to provide material for you to draw from at next week’s Hill Farming Summit.

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Scheme Management RPID 21 March 2017

Copy List: For Action

For Comments

For Information Portfolio Interest

Constit Interest

General Awareness

«text»

«text»

X«text»

«text»

«text»

█«text»

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Annex 1 Summary on dependencies and dates for starting 2016 claim payments in 2017

Scheme (or other business

requirement)

Probable customer / stakeholder view on when payments may

start

Main dependencies for starting payments

Likely date for starting 2016 claim

payments

BPS/ Greening / YF January Pay calculation checks confirm IT working ok

March

Scottish Suckler Beef Scheme (SSBS)

April BCMS validation checks April

Scottish Upland Sheep Scheme (SUSS)

April SAF validation of relevant claims to set payment rate

May

LFASS March Resolving 2015 IT defects, testing 2016 IT functionality

and validation of SAFs

June or July

AECS / FGS Annual Recurrent

April IT functionality arriving in July + Area Office / FCS

validation of claims

August

AECS / FGS capital claims Rolling Area Office / FCS validation of claims

Rolling

RP Annual Recurrent April IT functionality arriving in July + validation of claims

July

Beef Efficiency Scheme May IT functionality arriving in July + validation of claims

August

LMO Annual Recurrent Sept IT functionality arriving in July + validation of claims

Sept

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o Land Changes in progress must be completed (by the FIS team and/or RPID Area offices) to allow System contracts for FGS to be issued for signing

o Outstanding defects, that have an impact on issuing system contracts must be fixed. System variations need to be functional before Reductions and Exclusions can be run and annual recurrent payments can be made

(Variations are triggered from inspections, changes to land parcels and customer requests) Inspections findings functionality must be linked to FGS annual management / maintenance grants to enable processing of inspected

FGS claims All land inspections for FGS must be completed before payments can be started Reductions and Exclusions functionality must be available for FGS claims Much of the FGS annual management / maintenance grants are associated with FGS capital payments and the implications of the

capital claims manual process may impact upon the ongoing SAF processing, so risks are created as they are not joined up by IT All of the above milestones are out with FCS control, as they rely on RPID staff to process Land changes and carry out/lead on inspections. They also rely on the IT functionality for Variations/Successions to be developed to allow FCS staff to back capture outstanding variation requests. With regards the FGS Annual Management/Maintenance grants that are captured on the SAF:

Customers expect Payment: For 2016 SAF in March /April 2017 and for 2017 SAF in March/April 2018. Reality of delivery is to be determined by SGRPID – though for 2016, Cab Sec has communicated July/August 2016. Comms has to take above into account – which may include the potential of a FGS loan scheme for annual grants (2017?).

Hope this helps

-----------------------------

Grants & Regulations Delivery Manager FCS National Office

█████

----------------------------- From: Sent: 19 May 2017 14:16

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To: Subject: RE: Digital Business Planning - Urgent

Firstly, thanks to for forwarding. Secondly, apologies to both of you for not quite getting my copy list right. This exercise is an attempt to construct an early delivery plan / pathway covering all interelated schemes and RP&S functions and assess how likely our committed milestones are. We have plans to automate this process in the summer but we’re taking a stab at a manual version in the first instance. What I’m after is the stuff set out in the email attached. I’d be very grateful if you could provide asmuch of it as you can by cop Tuesday. Any questions just give me a shout.

Strategic Change ████████████

From: Sent: 18 May 2017 17:15 To: Cc:Subject: FW: Digital Business Planning - Urgent

Please see the request below that follows from yesterday’s CAP Strategy and Delivery Board. The ask for BPS has been made and this is now the ask for other schemes

FCS are involved in the administration of Pillar 2 schemes such as the Forestry Grant Scheme Best wishes

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Chiefly, the next piece of work we need your help with is the near term ask of setting out our delivery timetable for all schemes. This is in the same ilk as the immediate task but we have a slightly longer deadline to generate a high level plan of the key deliverables, where the key interdependencies are mapped. The copy list for this is also wider. The purpose of this is to help take a slightly more strategic look at how feasible delivery is in relation to the commitments we have already (notably any we’ve made public). has already asked a number of you for your business plans (or specific information from your business plans – see attached) and these need to include clearly articulated information about dependencies with other areas. They also need to include overall resourcing required (or actual if that’s all you have) and named individuals where a postholder is a single point of failure. If you’re not sure whether that applies feel free to come and have a chat. Can I now ask the copy list to contribute the same basic information but in relation to all schemes and functions (including anything that links to either an EU deadline, Ministerial commitment or RP&S functionality). This should include work on LPIS and SACAMS. I appreciate everyone is super busy but we really this information for cop Tuesday please. Ideally, you’d all have this in some form in a document already – I’m content to receive those and I can come back if I need more. However, if you don’t have plans you’ll need to generate this information. If in doubt, err on the side of brevity. For completeness (and speed), I’ve copied commissioning text from yesterday and added a few names to complete the list. So, the ask is for each of the below to come up with your:

key (interim and final) milestones for making 2017 and 2018 payments by end March for example: All land inspections completed is a milestone as we cannot start payments until they’re completed for example: Inspections findings functionality is a milestone to allow processing of inspected cases key tasks that you are responsible for to achieve the milestones, the timing/ duration of the tasks and resource requirements For example: AO carry out all BPS Land inspections – 100 FTE from 14 Nov to 31 Dec [illustrative!] assessment of whether this is achievable given your current resources and pressures on them – and if not, what you require. Note – I know that this will require longer analysis to get to a more realistic view. Please use this as an opportunity to set out what your

currently known constraints are likely to be and we’ll continue to use the delivery planning exercise to identify further pressures For example: we require an additional 3 BAs with end to end system knowledge dependencies to your own or other milestones or inputs Note - do not over think this because part of the ongoing work will be to fully map and capture these in our integrated plan. Therefore,

put down the key ones you know. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

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1

2017 - IT DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS AND ANTICIPATED DATE FOR STARTING SCHEME PAYMENTS

Scheme (or other business requirement)

Is all IT already in place?

If new IT functionality needed is this specified? Which drop?

If not specified, when will this happen?

Anticipated Deployment date

Is manual contingency possible

Other dependencies Probable customer / stakeholder view on when payments may start

Actual earliest date for starting payments

Other considerations

BPS/ Greening / YF

No Yes, Drop 6 + Drop 8

- Drop 6 Feb + Drop 8 April

No Area offices completing BPS inspections

Area Office processing SAFs + DP team setting payment

rates etc

January 6 March Drop 8 still not in development + FIS team will need to digitise any mapping updates following

inspection, so inspection cases will be delayed, potentially until May - June

VCS Beef Yes - - - Yes DP team / ScotEID April April DP team will still be processing BPS payments

VCS Sheep Yes - - - Yes Area Office processing SAFs to validate region 3 land

entitlements

April May DP team will still be processing BPS payments

LFASS Yes – once all defects

fixed

- Some fixed in maintenance drop, others

in Drop 6 February

No Completion of LFAS inspections

Validation of SAFs by area offices and other specific

LFAS checks Scheme

March May FIS team will need to digitise any mapping updates following inspection. Payments to some claimants

will be delayed if SAF validation not complete or mapping updates not yet digitised.


No Partially? Drop 9A (for

variations / successions),

but R+E + payment

functionality needed + not yet specified

? June? No SAF validation and other area office checks

April July

AECS / FGS capital claims

No No - C2P paused Unknown Unknown Yes Area office processing

Rolling Rolling (but may not meet customer

expectations)*

Manual inspection selection process

RP Annual Recurrent

Yes once defects

fixed

NA NA NA NA Area office processing of SAFs and specific RP checks

Doesn’t need to follow LFASS?

April April

LMO Annual Recurrent

Yes once defects

fixed

NA NA NA NA Area office processing of SAFs and specific LMO

checks

Sept Sept

RP capital No No - C2P paused Unknown Unknown Yes Area office processing


expectations)*

LMO capital No No - C2P paused Unknown Unknown Yes Area office processing


2

expectations)*










SACAMS No Yes NA ? Yes NA NA Contingency with current financial / accounting system possible, but unsatisfactory

Beef Efficiency Scheme

No Being specified now as part of

APEX development

Jan - Feb May Yes from spreadsheet with audit

risk

SCOTEID checks BPS claim fully processed by

area office

May June Two months to process all BES claims once APEX development is operationalized as each claim has to be data captured manually onto APEX and checked. Use of temporary agency staff could speed that up.

New Entrant Start Up

Yes+ NA NA NA Yes Area office assessment of claims and new applications

Rolling Rolling

Young Farmer Start Up


Rolling Rolling

CAGS Yes+ NA NA NA Yes Area office assessment of claims and new applications

Rolling Rolling

New Entrant Capital Grant


Rolling Rolling

Small Farms Capital Grant


Rolling Rolling

Opening SAF 2017 in March

No Yes Drop 12

NA Early March No** Business readiness NA NA

Land Inspection / cross compliance selection

No Yes Drop 13

NA April Yes – for a short period

only***

Resourcing in HQ Land Inspection team++

NA NA May be able to allow inspection programme to begin using the random list, but risk selection done off

system creates accreditation risks

Land Inspection / cross compliance Prep + Perform

No Yes Drop 14

NA May Yes – for a period

only***


NA NA Even the contingency relies on XSD data being supplied to Land Inspection team

Cross compliance penalties

Yes once defects

fixed

NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

Livestock inspection selection

No Yes

NA April along with land inspection selection

No Resources in HQ Livestock inspection team++

NA NA

Livestock inspection prep and Performance

No Yes Awaiting

procurement decision

NA Unknown – but needed by October

Yes+++ Resources in HQ Livestock inspection team++

NA NA

3










2018 ABC

New LPIS No Yes at high level Detailed design

underway

Detailed design by

March

February 18 Possibly via existing LPIS

Integration with SAF 18 development + significant

regression testing Business readiness

NA NA IT plan from Sinergise should deliver functionality for FIS team in October and remaining functionality by Jan 2018, but

consolidated plan, including integration and business change, still to be firmed up (this consolidated plan due by end March 17)

SAF 2018 (potentially with new geo-spatial requirements)

No Unknown Unknown March 18 No Business readiness NA NA Transition arrangements still to be firmed up Paper on geo-spatial to come forward to

Board in February. New greening requirements?

Roll over or refreshment of all ABC functionality, e.g. Inspection selection and Prep and Performance, SAF 18 processing, functionality for other schemes

No No Unknown Various - - - - New greening requirements?

Footnotes:

+ IT specification and development work in APEX essentially complete, but work related to inspection data continues along with some further changes and development of an automated payment interface (as authorised by Futures

Programme Board). APEX should support payments in 2017 for these schemes. Aspiration remains to build functionality for all schemes on RPS at some point, but APEX may require to be supported as a medium term interim solution.

* Is RP payments team resourced to cope?

** Could send out paper SAFs to all customers, but would need to plan for that now. Would result in major reputational damage, resourcing challenges in data capturing all SAFs manually, and create additional risks to our

accreditation status as a paying agency.

*** Possible to start inspection programme using random list and manually generated high risk selection, but only for a very short period. Contingency for Prep and Performance is also possible. However full system based inspection

selection and Prep and Performance functionality is essential.

++Dependency, but believed to be adequate resources

+++ Continuation of existing contingency, with inefficiencies and audit risks from manual process. Some SIACS functionality could not be de-commissioned.

1

2017 - IT DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS AND ANTICIPATED DATE FOR STARTING SCHEME PAYMENTS










BPS/ Greening / YF

No Yes, Drop 6 + Drop 8

- Drop 6 Feb + Drop 8 April

No Area offices completing BPS inspections

Area Office processing SAFs + DP team setting payment

rates etc

January 6 March Drop 8 still not in development + FIS team will need to digitise any mapping updates following

inspection, so inspection cases will be delayed, potentially until May - June

VCS Beef Yes - - - Yes DP team / ScotEID SAFs at ‘ready to pay’

April April DP team will still be processing BPS payments

VCS Sheep Yes - - - Yes Area Office processing SAFs to validate region 3 land

entitlements

April May DP team will still be processing BPS payments

LFASS Yes – once all defects

fixed

- Some fixed in maintenance drop, others

in Drop 6 February

No Completion of LFAS inspections

Validation of SAFs by area offices and other specific

LFAS checks Scheme

March May FIS team will need to digitise any mapping updates following inspection. Payments to some claimants

will be delayed if SAF validation not complete or mapping updates not yet digitised.


No Partially? Drop 9A (for

variations / successions),

but R+E + payment

functionality needed + not yet specified

? June? No SAF validation and other area office checks

April July

AECS / FGS capital claims

No No - C2P paused Unknown Unknown Yes Area office processing


expectations)*

Manual inspection selection process

RP Annual Recurrent

Yes once defects

fixed

NA NA NA NA Area office processing of SAFs and specific RP checks

Doesn’t need to follow LFASS?

April April

LMO Annual Recurrent

Yes once defects

fixed

NA NA NA NA Area office processing of SAFs and specific LMO

checks

Sept Sept

RP capital No No - C2P paused Unknown Unknown Yes Area office processing


expectations)*

LMO capital No No - C2P paused Unknown Unknown Yes Area office processing

Rolling Rolling (but may not meet

2

customer expectations)*










SACAMS No Yes NA Phased implementation planned.

Yes FSD, ISD and AFRC finance.

NA From May on a rolling basis

Contingency with current financial / accounting system possible, but unsatisfactory

Beef Efficiency Scheme

No Being specified now as part of

APEX development

Jan - Feb May Yes from spreadsheet with audit

risk

SCOTEID checks BPS claim fully processed by

area office

May June Two months to process all BES claims once APEX development is operationalized as each claim has to be data captured manually onto APEX and checked. Use of temporary agency staff could speed that up.

New Entrant Start Up


Rolling Rolling

Young Farmer Start Up


Rolling Rolling

CAGS Yes+ NA NA NA Yes Area office assessment of claims and new applications

Rolling Rolling

New Entrant Capital Grant


Rolling Rolling

Small Farms Capital Grant


Rolling Rolling

Opening SAF 2017 in March

No Yes Drop 12

NA Early March No** Business readiness NA NA

Land Inspection / cross compliance selection

No Yes Drop 13

NA April Yes – for a short period

only***


NA NA May be able to allow inspection programme to begin using the random list, but risk selection done off

system creates accreditation risks

Land Inspection / cross compliance Prep + Perform

No Yes Drop 14

NA May Yes – for a period

only***


NA NA Even the contingency relies on XSD data being supplied to Land Inspection team

Cross compliance penalties

Yes once defects

fixed

NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

Livestock inspection selection

No Yes

NA April along with land inspection selection

No Resources in HQ Livestock inspection team++

NA NA

Livestock inspection prep and Performance

No Yes Awaiting

procurement decision

NA Unknown – but needed by October

Yes+++ Resources in HQ Livestock inspection team++

NA NA

4










2018 ABC

New LPIS No Yes at high level Detailed design

underway

Detailed design by

March

February 18 Possibly via existing LPIS

Integration with SAF 18 development + significant

regression testing Business readiness

NA NA IT plan from Sinergise should deliver functionality for FIS team in October and remaining functionality by Jan 2018, but

consolidated plan, including integration and business change, still to be firmed up (this consolidated plan due by end March 17)

SAF 2018 (potentially with new geo-spatial requirements)

No Unknown Unknown March 18 No Business readiness NA NA Transition arrangements still to be firmed up Paper on geo-spatial to come forward to

Board in February. New greening requirements?

Roll over or refreshment of all ABC functionality, e.g. Inspection selection and Prep and Performance, SAF 18 processing, functionality for other schemes

No No Unknown Various - - - - New greening requirements?

Footnotes:

+ IT specification and development work in APEX essentially complete, but work related to inspection data continues along with some further changes and development of an automated payment interface (as authorised by Futures

Programme Board). APEX should support payments in 2017 for these schemes. Aspiration remains to build functionality for all schemes on RPS at some point, but APEX may require to be supported as a medium term interim solution.

* Is RP payments team resourced to cope?

** Could send out paper SAFs to all customers, but would need to plan for that now. Would result in major reputational damage, resourcing challenges in data capturing all SAFs manually, and create additional risks to our

accreditation status as a paying agency.

*** Possible to start inspection programme using random list and manually generated high risk selection, but only for a very short period. Contingency for Prep and Performance is also possible. However full system based inspection

selection and Prep and Performance functionality is essential.

++Dependency, but believed to be adequate resources

+++ Continuation of existing contingency, with inefficiencies and audit risks from manual process. Some SIACS functionality could not be de-commissioned.

FOI/17/01182 – CAP Payments€¦ · FOI/17/01182 – CAP Payments 1. ... 17 October – resume...

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