§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the total cost of the Rural Payments Agency for each of the past three years; and what is the budget for the cost of the agency over each of the next three years. [HL693]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)The Rural Payments Agency's (RPA) gross expenditure, which mainly relates to the common agricultural policy (CAP) scheme payments, is as shown in the table below:
2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 £ billion £ billion £ billion £ billion £ billion £ billion Gross expenditure 2.8 3.1 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.5 RPA is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and was formed on 16 October 2001 as the paying agency responsible for administering CAP schemes in England and certain other schemes throughout the UK.
The detail supporting financial year 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 can be found in RPA's accounts under House of Commons publication numbers HC 1197, HC 940 and HC 1009 respectively.
Figures for future years reflect the position shown in the 2004 Pre-Budget Report (CM 6408) published on 2 December 2004, particularly the annually managed expenditure reflected in table 16 of the report.