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Rural Payments Agency

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File:RPA logo.jpg
The logo of the RPA

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) (previously the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce) is an executive agency of the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The RPA delivers payments to farmers and traders in excess of £2 billion. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, RPA operates on behalf of the devolved administrations through agency agreements

Part of the role of this department is to issue holding numbers and vendor numbers to landowners in England who wish to take advantage of the various schemes DEFRA offers.

The Rural Land Registry is also a part of the RPA, and this department sends land maps to landowners in the United Kingdom.

The RPA is now 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.[1]

Offices

RPA has six main offices which are all located in England.[2] They are situated in the following towns:

The Agency also has a number of smaller drop-in centres which are also all located in England.[3]

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.[4]

The payments are overdue [5], 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[6] that an internal inquiry was under way into "outrageous behaviour" in the agency office in Newcastle.

References

  1. ^ Rohrer, Finlo (2008-11-12). "Will we eat wonky fruit and veg?". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  2. ^ List of Offices
  3. ^ Drop-in centre opening times for 2008
  4. ^ "Head of countryside Quango sacked". Daelnet. 2006-03-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Tories urge farm minister to quit". BBC. 2006-03-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Downfall of the naked civil servant". Metro. 2006-06-13. p. 16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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