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Rural Payments Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2007-2008

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Rural Payments Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2007-2008 Rural Payments Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2007/2008 Rural Payments Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2007/2008 Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 7(2) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 21 July 2008 HC521 London: The Stationery Offi ce £18.55 © Crown Copyright 2008 The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and other departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium providing it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document specifi ed. Where we have identifi ed any third party copyright material you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. For any other use of this material please write to: Offi ce of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU or e-mail: [email protected] ISBN: 978 0 10 295376 3 2 Contents Foreword 5–6 Business Review 7–15 Performance Against Targets 16 Public Interest 17–20 Management Structure 21–22 Remuneration Report 23–27 Statement of Accounting Offi cer’s Responsibilities 28 Statement on Internal Control 29–35 Certifi cate of the Comptroller and Auditor General 36–38 to the House of Commons Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General 39–40 to the House of Commons Accounts 41–81 Glossary 82–83 Contents 3 4 Foreword The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has made good progress during 2007/08 towards our aim of delivering a consistent service to our customers. A key theme for the Agency in 2007/08 has been the move from crisis to stability as we endeavour to meet the needs of our customers. There remains work to remedy issues from the past. This will include further improvements to the data and systems used for the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) and also addressing issues identifi ed by European Commission (EC) Auditors for other schemes administered by the Agency. These historical issues are being tackled and refl ect administrative shortcomings in previous years. We have consolidated the recovery measures put in place following previous diffi culties with SPS and we met our Ministerial targets to pay 75% by value of valid 2007 SPS payments Two years ago about 50% of the people in by 31 March 2008 and 90% by value by RPA were temporary workers. Over the 31 May 2008. last nine months we have been able to For those unpaid by this date we reduce this proportion and have invested continue to clear the outstanding in permanent staff with a learning and validation work as quickly as possible. development programme. The move We have the longer term aim of paying towards a more permanent workforce everyone earlier where we can. The need has, however, caused considerable staff to build on the progress made to improve movements and has meant that a farmer’s our services signifi cantly will remain our case worker may have changed on more central focus. than one occasion over the year. We expect to have fewer staff changes in the We continue to change the way we work future. by moving towards whole case working. Two signifi cant Information Technology In other areas we remain on target (IT) system improvements in 2008 will to complete our land and livestock give our case workers access to most inspections to the appropriate time and of the information they need about a quality standards. This year saw the farmer’s SPS claim, which will help them introduction of Sheep and Goats (SAG) to process claims and improve the inspections which were carried out to information we can give customers. agreed time and quality targets. We have also made sure that our trader based operations operate effectively. 5 We have made considerable progress in improving our SPS service over the last three years, as the graph below shows. SPS Total Value Paid by scheme year 100 80 2005 (includes partial payments) 60 2006 (includes partial payments) 2007 (Full payments) % Paid 40 Target of 96.154% 20 0 b r ec p ug ct D Fe A Jun A O 1 1 1 1 1 1 Our staff are, of course, crucial to the (CAP) Health Check. Indications are that way our services are delivered. Many these will have an impact on almost every have been through a very diffi cult period part of RPA and our endeavours with the and have shown great fl exibility and Department for Environment, Food and commitment. We have established a Rural Affairs (Defra) will be to minimise set of values for RPA and our people the impact on our customers and the which we will continue to promote and services we provide. embed. These values help to improve our services and the working environment. The challenges ahead should rightly cause us to assess and manage the risks. We must demonstrate that we can deliver Tony Cooper a reliable and acceptable service while Chief Executive implementing further improvements, upgrading the Rural Land Register (RLR) 14 July 2008 and implementing the policy changes from the Common Agricultural Policy 6 Foreword Business Review RPA is a major delivery body for Defra, The overall goal for RPA is to support the providing a range of services in support delivery of Defra’s strategic objectives for of the Department’s objectives. RPA sustainable farming and food, including administers a wide range of CAP animal health and welfare. This is done schemes including SPS, internal market by providing services and following the schemes covering dairy products, crops, relevant regulations as the Paying Agency fruits and vegetables, external trade for England. measures (export refunds, import and export licences), milk quotas and the Older Cattle Disposal Scheme (OCDS). Our Strategic Objectives We have a number of specifi c objectives to fulfi l this role: Objective 2007/08 Achievements To administer effectively SPS In 2007/08 we demonstrated improved payments, progressively reducing the performance against tighter targets (see cycle from claim to payment. page 16, Performance Against Targets) and saw increased customer satisfaction around payments, in independent surveys. To minimise disallowance particularly In 2007/08 we began the development around SPS. of a Disallowance Control Framework. We made partial payments to our customers on 2006 SPS claims in early 2007. These helped to avoid late payment penalties. Controls around SPS processing were reviewed and streamlined. New governance arrangements were established around disallowance. RPA supported Defra in discussions with the EC. To administer and regulate effectively In 2007/08 we commenced updating agricultural subsidy, RD, trade and work for CTS. livestock schemes (including Cattle We worked with Animal Health (AH) on Tracing System (CTS)). improvements to livestock tracing, for example the Livestock Partnership. We have continued to make payments under trader and RD schemes while delivering greater effi ciencies with reductions in staff. 7 Objective 2007/08 Achievements To provide effective services that Independent 2007/08 surveys of provide greater direct access for customers indicate improvements in customers and improve our customer the way we deal with telephone calls, service. and correspondence. We continue to change our operation towards whole case working for SPS. To develop leadership and learning so In 2007/08 we launched comprehensive that RPA improves the competence training packages throughout RPA. and performance of its people. To work closely and constructively In 2007/08 we worked closely with Defra with Defra and the Defra Network and our operational partners on a range including providing accurate and of programmes and saw improvements in timely delivery input to policy surveys which assess our relationship with development. Defra. To increase operating efficiency by In 2007/08 RPA committed to and managing resources better, utilising consolidated its position as a key provider technology, and sharing Government of services within the Defra Network. services. Our staff numbers reduced from an average during the year of 4,467 to 4,297 (Note 2.2 of the Accounts) in March 2008. Testing of major IT enhancements led to successful delivery of stronger programme and project management arrangements and we have effected better resource and workforce planning. 8 Scheme Performance Our Customers Our customers are farmers and traders Overview who take part in the schemes we run We deliver around £1.6bn of payments for Defra. They range from one person annually to farmers and traders under businesses through to multi national CAP. Around 60 schemes cover a wide corporations such as commodity and food range of products, commodities and land processors. usage such as Butter for Manufacture, Fish, Fruit and Vegetables, Pigmeat, Rice, Whisky, the Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) and SPS. The size of these schemes varies greatly, SPS has approximately 110,000 customers receiving payments of about £1.5bn, whereas some small scale trader schemes may total 10 applications in a year valued at less than £10,000. We also administer OCDS which is partly EC funded for compensation payments with the operating costs being borne by the Exchequer. Scheme Rules and Administration Customer Service Each EC scheme we operate is supported Following the challenges faced by the by a complex set of EC wide regulations. introduction of SPS we have focused on Failure to comply with the regulations improving our levels of customer service can result in a fi nancial correction in 2007/08. (disallowance) imposed by the EC which Achievements include: would result in the UK taxpayer being • Paying claims earlier. penalised. We have formal processes to administer and deliver each of 83% of fully validated SPS claims were the schemes in compliance with the paid by 31 March 2008 and 90% by regulations and have set up a series value by 31 May 2008.
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