Andrew Arbuckle: The promised bonfire of red tape will not set the heather alight

Tomorrow, Richard McDonald, former chief executive of the NFU of England and Wales, will present a report outlining how he believes the mountain of red tape in the farming industry can be reduced.

His appointment by the UK government to the task was an ideal choice as he had been in the cockpit of the main UK lobby body for a decade or more and he could see at first hand the rising tide of paperwork engulfing the industry.

McDonald and his colleagues on the Task Force on Farming Regulation have laboured on the issue for ten months.

There are believed to be some 200 recommendations in their 160-page report, which is expected to be welcomed by the UK government - one of whose aims has been to cut down on regulation and public controls.

UK farming minister Jim Paice, who has obviously seen the draft report, is already on record as saying: "I'm very optimistic about it and I hope we will be able to give it a very warm welcome and quickly start to implement it."

Meanwhile the UK government has also issued a "Red Tape Challenge", where it highlights the regulations relating to, say, the food sector and then encourages the public to comment on them.

Following that exposure, it promises that ministers will be required to react to the reaction.

Although it is based primarily south of the Border, the initiative was welcomed by NFU Scotland policy guru Scott Walker, who commented that anything that ensured there was no "gold-plating" of legislation would be good for farming.

Now, I am sure the new Scottish Government will claim that this is England only catching up as the Scottish environment and rural services initiative has already helped reduce the amount of paperwork building up on farm office desks.

However, no politician was ever elected on a promise to increase regulation and red tape and it is no surprise to see commitment number 23 in the new Scottish Government's rural manifesto proposing to set up a joint industry/agency working group involving the Food Standards Authority, local authorities and government bodies to report on how they can free up time and reduce bureaucracy for farmers.

The promise is that this new body will report back within six months so that by the first week in November - appropriately around about Guy Fawkes's Night - Scottish farmers will find out how big a bonfire they can make of their paperwork.

I think the first thing this Scottish working group should do is get a few copies of the English proposals and see which ideas they can lift. Looking over the neighbour's dyke and seeing what he is up to has always been one of the best and cheapest methods of improving any farming business.That is not an instruction to copy what is going on; sometimes it is wiser to do the opposite. However, it is wise to observe and learn, and this costs nothing.

The leaks from down south seem to indicate that the main thrust of the McDonald bureaucracy bonfire will be "trust the farmer; do not truss him up with red tape".

Sounds good, but before anyone runs away with the idea that there will be a massive conflagration outside every farm office, let us carry out a little reality check.

It should be remembered that some of the regulations are there to protect public cash and as such will have to remain in place.

A recent example is that even with inspections and controls, there have been allegations that some farmers down south have been trying to use the TB scheme to get rid of some of their poorer cattle, rather than getting rid of the disease.

And even although it was always recalled with a laugh, was there more than a whiff of truth behind the story of the hill sheep farmer telling his shepherd to run the flock "round the hill again" to ensure the on-farm inspector could get the head count to tally with the claim?

Other forms filling office desks relate to environmental schemes and there is little likelihood that any of the lobby groups linked to the countryside will allow any bonfire of bureaucracy to take place. So inspections and controls relating to taxpayers' money will remain in place.

Another area of paperwork outwith the reach of politicians are the volumes linked to super-market assurance schemes. These try and cover every eventuality, and end up with the primary producer feeling that whatever happens, the supermarket will be absolved. That is symptomatic of the "no blame" society in which we live.

In fact, as you inspect the various heaps of paper in most farm offices, you will find reasons why that piece of paperwork is necessary or why those forms are required. For most of them it's because at some point in time, some politician stood up and said: "Something must be done" or "This loophole must be closed".

No wonder the NFU's Scott Walker felt obliged to comment on the red tape war: "There has been a multitude of initiatives to reduce red tape. but it has always been easier to say than to deliver."