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Article: Whitehall uses sixth formers to clear farm cash crisis
- Article from:
- Yorkshire Post
- Article date:
- April 3, 2006
CopyrightCopyright 2006 Yorkshire Post. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Brian Dooks
SIXTH formers are the Government's latest weapon in the battle to
overcome a backlog in the payment of [Pounds]1bn of subsidies to
Britain's farmers.
The Rural Payments Agency office in Northallerton, North
Yorkshire, is paying local sixth formers to work between 6pm and 9pm
to help to sort out the chaos which had led to bitter criticism from
farmers' leaders.
A DEFRA spokesman confirmed yesterday that Northallerton was one
of several regional offices where "twilight shifts" had been
operating for a number of months to help with the processing of
subsidy payments.
"Staff have been recruited from local employment agencies to
undertake basic routine tasks. What this has done is it ...