Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the the Rural Payments Agency will not deal directly with hon. Members' offices over delayed payments to farmers and land owners.
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) established a dedicated MP Helpline in December 2016. The Helpline deals directly with hon. Members’ offices on all aspects of RPA activity. Members’ correspondence to the agency is reviewed at a senior level.
Farmers and landowners can also deal directly with the RPA through their main customer service helpline (03000 200 301). Call handlers can often resolve common queries and will offer a call-back from the team handling the claim if they are unable to resolve more complex queries at the first point of contact.
RPA continue to implement improvements to assist those farmers who cannot be paid straight away.