Barton concern at DAERA budget for animal health

Mrs Barton said: “It is interesting to note that the overall financial trend from the present net provision in DAERA is downwards, with areas like food and farming; veterinary service and animal health; environment, marina and fisheries; and forestry, all with reduced budgets, while the only significant budget increase being to AFBI.

“It is unusual that areas where we would assume there should be attempts to improve and increase input, like forestry, animal health and the environment are all on reduced budgets.

“The department have a very high level of staffing within their resource costs, with 71% of the department budget on staffing. While I fully understand the need for staff and the work they carry out, as they are largely a frontline service, it is vital that the level of staffing undergoes a detailed review, including assessments made on the balance of staff between senior management and frontline staffing.

“I note the Department of Finance approved a business case for expenditure of £44m capital and £27m resource for a DAERA digital transformation programme. I support the progress towards online services, however it needs to be carried out in conjunction with more widespread improvements on delivering rural high speed and broadband.

“There are a significant number of areas in my constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone and I’m sure in many other constituencies as well where there are very poor broadband speeds and in some cases no broadband accessibility.

“It is unfair to expect the rural community and particularly farm businesses to manage their business by digital methods if the core infrastructure is not available – it is like expecting to travel to London at short notice from Northern Ireland, but all airports are closed.”

Mrs Barton concluded: “It is vital that the agricultural economy has stability as Brexit continues to be implemented. There is a major onus on the NI Executive to be pro-active and robust in any negotiations or discussions, either with the UK or the EU about the future of the Northern Ireland agri-food economy, the people here expect and deserve nothing less.”