Our governance
Source: gov.uk (2025-07-16)

The main decision-making, executive and managerial bodies at the Rural Payments Agency.

Agency Management Board

As an Executive Agency, the Public Bodies Handbook (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5aaa590b40f0b66b5fb4bb76/Executive_Agencies_Guidance.PDF) states that RPA are required to have a board made up of non-executive directors, a sub-set of RPA’s directors and a Defra representative. This group form the Agency Management Board (AMB), who meet 6 times a year.

The purpose of the AMB is to:
- provide leadership
- advise on whether the strategic aims and objectives of the RPA are consistent with its overall strategic direction, and are within the policy and resources framework determined by the Secretary of State
- maintain high standards of corporate governance
- ensure that controls are in place to manage risk and scrutinise performance
AMB is supported by the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) that has responsibility for risk assessment, auditing and accounting.

Board members
- Adrian Belton (AMB chair)
- Neil Hornby, Interim RPA Chief Executive Officer
- Dan Gilbert, RPA Finance Director
- Marie Hardeman, RPA Customer Director
- Peter Crewe, RPA Grants Functional Standard Director
- Mark Ashenden, RPA Strategy, Planning, Capability Director
- Sophia Haughton, RPA HR Director
- Mike Rowe, Farming and Countryside Programme Director
RPA Executive Team

The RPA Executive Team (ET) is made up of the Chief Executive Officer and a team of executive directors. The purpose of ET is to:
- have overall authority to run the Agency day-to-day, including budget delegations
- set the policy and direction for the Agency and take responsibility for the delivery of the Agency’s Strategic Plan and Annual Action Plan in line with Defra’s overall strategy and priorities
- approve and set a full range of targets for the organisation and consider progress against them
- make decisions that are not delegated and consider escalations to AMB
- consider reports and escalations from sub-committees and sub-groups
- consider people management related issues for the Agency, review budgets and communications, and manage change initiatives
ET members

ET is led by Neil Hornby, the RPA’s Interim Chief Executive Officer (and Accounting Officer). Other core ET members are:
- Emma Appleby, Business Transformation Director
- Peter Crewe, Grants Functional Standard Director
- Tom Foster, Land Service Owner Director
- Marie Hardeman, Customer Director
- Charlotte Inman, Data, Insight and Outcomes Director
- Ali Johnson, Customer Delivery Director
- Mark Ashenden, Strategy, Planning, Capability Director
ET is also supported by the following business partners from the Defra Group’s corporate services:
- Sophia Haughton, RPA HR Director
- David Painter, Defra Digital Data and Technology Services Director
- Dan Gilbert, RPA Finance Director
Non-Executive Directors

Adrian Belton - Chair of AMB
- Adrian was Chief Executive of the Government’s Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) from 2009 to 2014, having established it from a 4-way merger including the Central Science Laboratory (where he was Chief Executive from 2008) and the UK Government Decontamination Service.
- As Chief Executive of the Construction Industry Training Board from 2014 to 2016, he stepped down from full time Executive work to pursue a non-Executive career. He was chair of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust from 2017 to 2021, since when he has been a non executive director of NHS Property Services Ltd.
- He was also a lay member of the Council of the University of Sheffield from 2014 to 2023, having been interim chair of Council during 2022. In 2023, Adrian was appointed Chair of St Luke’s Hospice in Sheffield. He previously chaired the Board of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment from 2008 to 2013.
Julia Grant – Member of ARAC
- Julia Grant has held leadership roles in global consulting firms, financial services and the not for profit sector in a career spanning 30 years. She has deep experience of the link between the business and non-business worlds, including investing for impact.
- She has extensive non-executive and board experience including previous Ministerial Appointments at the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Surrey Learning and Skills Council. She is a Forestry Commissioner and a Non- Executive Member of the Investment and Delivery Committee at the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.
- She is currently a Trustee at Education Development Trust, a major player in international and UK education and at Right to Succeed, working with children in communities of high deprivation. Previous trustee roles have included Shelter and the Community Foundation for Surrey.
- She has an MA (Oxon) in Politics Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and holds an MBA from London Business School.