Orchard staff were not told to stop pay

The scheme provides financial support to farmers and landowners for adopting farming practices that enhance our countryside.

UUP MLA Robin Swann asked “why Orchard House, Londonderry, has been instructed to stop the payment of NICMS monies by her Department, after it was stated that all NICMS inspections were complete and payments had commenced in September and would be completed by early November.”

The Minister said staff had not been instructed to stop payments.

“Following the completion of inspections, payment processing for 2011 claims has been on-going since September 2012. At October 8, 2012, 106 payments had been processed out of 903 claims.

“The speed at which payments progress depends on a number of issues including the number of queries that arise during claim validation and the possible need to carry out additional inspections to meet EU requirements.

“The on-going payment of claims will continue into November and the timescale for completion of payment may be affected by the requirement to complete additional inspections.

“Claims cannot be paid until my Department is satisfied that all work claimed has been completed to the required standard,” she explained.