§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the role of the Rural Payments Agency. [164598]
§ Alun MichaelThe Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It is the accredited Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) paying agency responsible for CAP schemes in England and for certain schemes throughout the UK. In addition, it is the UK Funding Body, and as such is responsible for the receipt and administration of moneys from the Guarantee Section of the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) for funding the CAP schemes administered by all the UK Paying Agencies.
RPA is a major delivery arm of Defra and provides delivery experience and advice to policy divisions within Defra. It currently delivers over £2 billion of CAP payments to farmers and traders under existing 151W schemes. On 1 April 2003, RPA assumed responsibility for the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) which is Defra's center of expertise and service delivery on animal health and identification. RPA is responsible, through BCMS, for the Cattle Tracing System, including issuing of cattle passports and recording of cattle movements.