Cross compliance inspections statistics: EIR release

Information requested

1. Please state how many breaches of the cross compliance regulations occurred in 2022.

2. For each breach, or case of non-compliance, please state the specific requirement breached e.g. SMR 6 or SMR 7

3. For each SMR 7 breach, please state the associated discrepancy code.

4. For each breach, please also state
a) the severity of the breach
b) the county in which the breach occurred
c) the financial penalty involved
d) the name of the entity responsible for the breach
e) whether the breach was a first offence or a reoccurrence (and if so whether a 2nd offence, 3rd offence etc)

5. Please state how many cross compliance inspections in total were conducted in 2022.

6. If you hold the data in 5 broken down by cross compliance standard, please provide this too.

Response

1. A total of 1907 breaches of the cross compliance requirements occurred in 2022.

2, 3, 4a), 4b), 4c) and 4e). The attached spreadsheet provides the information you have requested.

4d). An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. The exception has been applied based on information provided by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) - "information about companies or public authorities is not personal information. However, information about individuals acting as sole traders, employees, partners and company directors where they are individually identifiable and the information relates to them as an individual may constitute personal data" -https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-dataprotection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/key-definitions/what-is-personaldata/?q=natural nal data? | ICO

In lieu for the business name, beneficiaries are shown with unique reference number.

5. and 6. Cross compliance inspections can be split into 10 separate groups. The following table provides details of the groups, the related requirements and the number of inspections that were carried out.

Requirements	Number of inspections
SMR 1	70
SMR 5	116
SMR 6	16
SMR 7	474
SMR 8	810
SMR 10	108
SMR 11-13	156
GAEC 1, 4-7, SMR 2-4 & 9	249
GAEC 2	9
GAEC 3	252
Total	2260

Please note -
In Scotland, Counties were abolished in 197 and replaced by the two-tiered region and district system and three island council areas. In 1996, this system was replaced by the local council areas (Local Authorities). for the information requested under 4b) the Local Authority area has been provided for each breach.

The financial penalty information requested under 4c) is shown as a percentage against each breach. This is the percentage reduction that would be applied to a beneficiaries support scheme payments were it the only breach. Where a beneficiary breaches several requirements a series of business rules are applied to calculate the overall penalty to be applied to a beneficiary's support scheme payments. The business rules are published on the cross compliance pages of the Rural Payments and Services website at https://www.ruralpayments.org/topics/inspections/all-inspections/cross-compliance/detailed-guidance/penalties-for-breaches-of-cross-compliance/

Not all 2022 payments for cross compliance dependant support schemes have been processed. The payments for the three remaining schemes (the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (Mainland and Islands), the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme and the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme) are expected to be issued by the end of May. Once all payments have been issued the financial value (£) of all penalties will be added to the spreadsheet and will be published on the cross compliance pages of the Rural payments and Services website at https://www.ruralpayments.org/topics/inspections/all-inspections/cross-compliance/inspectionoutcomes/cross-compliance-inspection-statistics/

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202300343459 - Information released

File type

Excel document

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162.7 kB