'What farmers were told just wasn't true' - Farming Minister grilled on SFI scheme - video Dailymotion

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00:00but the RPE website promised people six weeks notice. Why did they not get that?

00:07Now I understand, I think I might actually pass over to one of my

00:11colleagues here who's more engaged in the detail of how the scheme is administered.

00:16Why did we not get the six weeks notice that was promised on the RPE website?

00:20There was a choice to be made about how to ensure the maximum number of applicants could get

00:27fair access to the scheme and the choice that ministers took was to continue

00:31allowing people to apply naturally and close it when the funding had been

00:35exhausted. It has been closed to new applicants for now but ministers have

00:39been quite clear that we're now working to develop what the next iteration of

00:43the offer will look like and there will be details of that to come in July.

00:46So I mean what farmers were told just wasn't true then?

00:53Yeah, Jean?

00:56I think on the actual system there was something that said that there would be a six weeks notice before it closed.

01:05Was that a mistake on the system, on the form on the system then?

01:09I think it's probably not helpful for us to comment on the specifics of individual cases and concerns about exactly what people are expecting.

01:18If you don't comment on these things how can we understand what's been done?

01:23My best explanation for the committee is that the decision was made to close the scheme at the point when the funding had expired.