Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 29 September 2008.
Mark Harper
Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what systems are in place to create and safely store historical records relating to single farm payments.
Jonathan R Shaw
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Marine, Landscape and Rural Affairs) and Minister for the South East), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
holding answer
The Rural Payments Agency maintains numerous systems and controls to safeguard customer records throughout their lifecycle. These systems and controls conform with the latest Cabinet Office requirements and with European Union requirements for handling CAP data. They are kept under constant review and regularly audited by the European Union and National Audit Office.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Parliamentary questions are conventionally answered within seven days of being lodged, or on a particular day for so-called "Named Day" questions. (Source: House of Commons Information Office, Factsheet P1, "Parliamentary Questions")
A holding answer may be issued by a Minister if, for whatever reason, a substantive or final answer to the question cannot be provided in the time available.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
