Rural Affairs (Hansard, 27 February 2002)

§ Mr. Todd
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how the views of customers of the Rural Payments Agency are being accommodated in the design of its new business processes. [35284]

§ Mr. Morley
The views of Rural Payments Agency's (RPA) customers are being accommodated in the design of its new processes through the involvement of an RPA Industry Forum, drawn from key industry representatives, supported by commodity/scheme expert groups. Consultation will continue to take place and develop as the Change Programme progresses. This work is being supported through the delivery of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy and overarching European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Business Excellence and Balance Scorecard approach within RPA. This will incorporate research, targeting, performance monitoring and benchmarking against customer criteria.

§ Mr. Todd
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will place copies of the OGC Gateway one and two reports on the Rural Payments Agency project in the Library. [35278]

§ Mr. Morley
The RPA Programme has successfully passed both OGC Gateway one and two with the third Gateway review due in December 2002.
OPG Gateway two commented that:
RPA is currently well positioned to deliver a successful outcome, which reflects:

strong stakeholder engagement and support;

early industry participation; and

effective user involvement.

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The OGC Gateway process has been welcomed by the RPA as it has helped RPA management externally to validate the progress that is being made and identify areas for improvement, while benefiting from the experience and learning from previous projects and programmes.
Arrangements have been made to place copies of the OGC Gateway one and two reports in the Library.