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Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

5th Report - Performance of the Rural Payments Agency

HC 887 Published 15 May 2018

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Work of the Rural Payments Agency inquiry Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glanceGovernment response published 24 July 2018

The government's response

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government acknowledges that "some elements of RPA delivery are not meeting expectations" but "does not agree that the RPA is failing on multiple levels".

  • On the 2018 BPS payment target, the RPA says it "is committed to reducing the length of time it takes to complete validation and verification checks"; it reports around 96% of eligible farmers paid by the end of March 2018, and a Bridging Payment in early April for those not paid by then.
  • On letting farmers change online maps directly, the Government gives a reason for retaining the paper approach: "on value for money grounds", citing lessons learned, investment required and the short remaining lifespan of current CAP schemes.
  • On mapping key performance indicators, the Government states "RPA will not publish key performance indicators for mapping queries and associated resolution times", noting that it met all of its performance targets over the last two years.
  • On KPIs for Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship, which move to the RPA in autumn 2018, the RPA "will consider appropriate performance measures for CS and ES in due course".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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