To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much Natural England has spent on the administration of agri-environment schemes under the Rural Development Programme for England in each year of the programme; and how many (a) administration and (b) operational staff it employed on the administration of such schemes in each such year. (315005)

Natural England was allocated £13,600,000 in 2008-09 to cover its direct costs associated with delivering the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). In addition to this, £22,400,000 was allocated to Natural England to cover the costs of DEFRA’s Genesis IT system, which is the IT system used to manage and administer the Rural Development Programme for England. These running cost includes depreciation, cost of capital and system support.

In 2009-10 these figures equated to £14,600,000 for direct costs and £23,700,000 for DEFRA Genesis IT costs.

The number of staff employed on RDPE administration- related tasks is 334 and on operational activity is 128. Staff numbers have remained the same in 2008-09 and 2009-10. However, Natural England has already realised productivity gains of over 20 per cent. due to improvements in processes and the significant increase in volume of agreements that these staff are handling.