Rural Payments Agency
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The RPA was created on 16 October 2001 from the amalgamation of the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce and the Defra Paying Agency[1] as a single paying agency for most Common Agricultural Policy schemes in England and certain schemes throughout the whole of the UK.[2] Most notably the agency is responsible for administering and distributing the Single Payment Scheme to farmers in England. It also enforces the European Union's regulations on the size and shape of vegetables and fruit sold in shops, by warning and advising businesses, and occasionally prosecuting under section 14 of the Agriculture and Horticulture Act 1964.[3]
The RPA delivers payments to farmers and traders in excess of £2 billion per year. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, RPA operates on behalf of the devolved administrations through agency agreements.[4]
Part of the role of the agency is to issue holding numbers and vendor numbers to landowners in England who wish to take advantage of the various schemes DEFRA offers.
In 2003 the British Cattle Movement Service was amalgamated into the RPA, it manages the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) for the whole of Great Britain, it maintains a register of births, deaths and imports of cattle to be used for animal health and subsidy control purposes; issues cattle passports; records where individual cattle are as well as operating a dedicated helpline and provide online facilities for delivering its services.[5]
The Rural Land Registry is also a part of the RPA, and this division sends land maps to landowners in the United Kingdom.
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[edit] Offices
RPA has six main offices which are all located in England.[6] They are situated in the following towns:
- Carlisle
- Exeter
- Newcastle
- Northallerton
- Reading (Head Office)
- Workington
The Agency also has a number of smaller drop-in centres which are also all located in England.[7]
[edit] Criticism
The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee published on 18 January 2006 a highly critical interim report [1] into the agency's IT systems and activity.
On 15 March 2006 the Chief Executive Johnson McNeil was sacked when a deadline of 14 February for calculating Single Payment Scheme entitlements was missed.[8]
The payments are overdue,[9] and farmers complain they are being taxed on money they haven't received and incurring interest costs and emergency loan charges, at a time when ex-farm prices are low.
Further, on 12 June 2006 the RPA confirmed[10] that an internal inquiry was under way into "outrageous behaviour" in the agency office in Newcastle.
[edit] References
- ^ RPA website "About RPA"
- ^ RPA website "Background to RPA"
- ^ Rohrer, Finlo (2008-11-12). "Will we eat wonky fruit and veg?". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7724347.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- ^ RPA website "What we do"
- ^ RPA website "British Cattle Movement Service"
- ^ List of Offices
- ^ Drop-in centre opening times for 2008
- ^ "Head of countryside Quango sacked". Daelnet. 2006-03-15. http://www.daelnet.co.uk/countrynews/country_news_16032006_6.cfm.
- ^ "Tories urge farm minister to quit". BBC. 2006-03-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4850382.stm.
- ^ "Downfall of the naked civil servant". Metro: p. 16. 2006-06-13.
[edit] External links
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