About the Rural Payments Agency
(RPA)
The Rural
Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency of the UK Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), delivering over £2 billion in
payments to farmers, traders and landowners each year. We are a Civil Service
Operational Delivery Profession organisation, with the majority of our people
delivering day to day services to our customers and stakeholders. We manage
over 40 schemes, and also make payments on behalf of Natural England, to ensure
we have a healthy rural economy, strong and sustainable rural communities, and
to protect and enhance the natural environment.
The RPA Five Year Strategy sets out our
purpose of helping agricultural and rural communities to create a better place
to live. We will achieve this by meeting
both customer expectations and policy needs, delivering a quality service, and
being an exemplar of the Civil Service Operational Delivery Profession.
We have made
great progress on delivering our 5 year strategy and we now wish to look beyond
that and build the value that we provide to our customers and taxpayers.
Our values
underpin the way we approach our work and drive us daily as we strive to be an
outstanding place to work.
Our values
are:
Visible,
Engaging, Respectful, Inclusive, Trusted, Accountable and Supportive (VERITAS).
The
role and structure of the RPA Management Board
The role of RPA
Management Board is primarily to give advice and support to the Chief Executive
through assisting him in managing the Agency’s reputation, building networks of
influence, providing expertise in operational delivery and ensuring appropriate
strategic challenge but is not itself a decision-making body.
The Management
Board is responsible for establishing and taking forward the strategic aims and
objectives of the RPA consistent with its overall strategic direction and
within the policy and resources framework determined by the Secretary of State.
The Management
Board ensures there is a framework of prudent and effective controls which
enables risk to be assessed and managed. It also provides advice on strategy
and the deliverability of policies and key objectives, achieving value for
money, scrutinises performance and provides support and challenge in the
delivery of RPA responsibilities and the exercise of the Chief Executive Officer’s
(CEO) responsibilities as Accounting Officer.
The Board has
set up an associated Audit Risk and Assurance Committee (ARAC) chaired by an
Independent Non-Executive member to provide independent advice and assurance on
risk management to the department's Audit and Risk Committee. The Board is
expected to assure itself of the effectiveness of the internal control and risk
management systems.
The structure of
the RPA Management Board is agreed with Defra, by the Defra Director General (DG)
for Food, Biosecurity and Trade and the RPA CEO. The RPA Management Board is
chaired by a lead Non-Executive (‘the RPA Board Chair’) who is responsible to
the sponsor minister and will report through the CEO and DG as appropriate. The
RPA Management
Board comprises of three other Non-Executive Directors, four Executive
Directors (including the CEO) and the Defra Director of the Farming and
Countryside Programme. The RPA Board
meets a minimum of six times a year.
The role of the Non-Executive Director Chair of the
RPA Management Board
The
role of the Chair is to:
- Chair Board meetings and maintain a high standard of
discussion and debate, helping to steer the agency by collective working.
- Ensure the Board operates effectively providing
appropriate influence, expert advice, support and constructive challenge,
bringing external experience and expertise to the Board’s discussions on
strategic and operational issues.
- Develop key relationships at the highest levels of
Defra Group and across Government to both explain and advocate for the work of
RPA but also to bring salient advice back to the Board for it to act on.
- Assist RPA and provide assurance to Defra on setting
and the delivery of key objectives (including payment performance, workforce
planning, people engagement and customer service).