The Apple and Pear Research Council was a quango and non-departmental public body[1] of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 2003. It was often used as an example of the ineffectiveness and pointlessness of quangos.
Creation and functions
editThe APRC was created in 1989 under the Apple and Pear Research Council Order 1989,[2] acting as a successor to the defunct Apple and Pear Development Council.[3] Its mission was to increase the industry's efficiency and productivity, improve and develop the industry's service to the community and to enable this to be done more economically.[2] This was done through undertaking or supporting studies into better production, manangement and labour methods, scientific research, the collection and formulation of industry statistics, and publicity for the industry in the UK.[4] For example, the APRC provided funding to several papers researching the epidemiology of Nectria galligena, a pathogen that apple trees are susceptible to.[5]
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was given the power to appoint members to the council: five members to represent growers' interests, one member to represent employee interests, one member who was a marketing and distribution expert, and two independent members who had no financial interests in the industry.[6]
The APRC was responsible for creating and managing a register of all apple and pear growers in England and Wales;[7] growers had a month to apply to the council to be registered.[8] With the consent of the agriculture minister, it also had powers to be able to charge growers to meet its administration costs and to require growers to give information on their activities in the industry that the council might need for its work.[9][10]
Criticism and closure
editIn 1993, David McKie reported that the APRC had a staff of just one person in an article questioning the efficiency and representativeness of quangos.[11] In 1997, after the Nolan inquiry recommended that quango heads should serve no more than two terms, the head of the APRC faced pressure to resign.[12]
The APRC, alongside the British Potato Council and the Commission on New Towns, was one of the quangos which Tim Ambler recommended be abolished in his working paper on cutting government costs and inefficiency.[13] The evaluation recommended that the APRC be folded into the Horticultural Development Council.[14] Despite concerns about potential increases in administrative costs,[15] the HDC was itself merged into the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board in 2008.[16]
References
edit- ^ Andrew Cole (20 November 2000). "All you ever wanted to know about quangos... but were afraid to ask". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- ^ a b "3 - Establishment of Development Council". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "Saving the quango". Third Way. March 1993. p. 11.
- ^ "Schedule 2 - Functions of the Apple and Pear Research Council". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ Stephen Richard Henry Langrell (April 2000). Molecular Phylogeny, Detection and Epidemiology of Nectria galligena Bres, the incitant of Nectria Canker on Apple (PDF) (PhD thesis). Wye College, University of London. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "4 - Constitution of Council". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "6 - Register of growers". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "7 - Registration of growers". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "8 - Returns and information". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "9 - Charges for expenses". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ David McKie (21 June 1993). "Why it still takes 114,000 (and £13,750m) to quango: Commentary". The Guardian. p. 18. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- ^ Michael Vestey (21 June 1997). "Woolly monsters". The Spectator. No. 8812. pp. 44–45.
- ^ Richard Girling (2005). Rubbish!: Dirt On Our Hands and Crisis Ahead. Random House. pp. 366–367. ISBN 1903919444.
- ^ "APRC and HDC link". Farmers Guardian. 19 April 2002. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- ^ "Levy rate rise 'could sink some businesses'". The Grocer. 20 October 2007. p. 68.
- ^ "The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Order 2008, Section 17 - Dissolution of existing bodies". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C13311191 http://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&Completed=0&ProjectID=13645 http://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=ProjectList&Completed=0&Keyword=Apple%20and%20Pear%20Research%20Council%20(APRC) https://www.proquest.com/docview/203395124?pq-origsite=primo http://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=ER02010_2510_FRP.pdf http://www.archiveofciderpomology.co.uk/ArchiveReports/Fireblight1996.pdf https://www.southeastfarmer.net/section/writers/review-and-reform-not-revolution https://institutions.newscientist.com/letter/mg15320747-200-letters-fruits-of-research/ https://watermark.silverchair.com/muu050.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAvAwggLsBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggLdMIIC2QIBADCCAtIGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMtFf3Q2qTpaLwCeAjAgEQgIICo6yPnSPp_PAj9ANwFGQDzICoOmoNwr8xncRPLxKPD0JH2b5_PkeYS5S44wa0RCnZflhvmN4YOizVOqXVA6i_dQjfQh8G79gvMxpUQbrrtOaG95c3-bZ0qMVZlf-ego3sRdqf5gX0D6Y75Q7JLAl3XuD5KUA7Q3W4Bu9t_W9R28SDHCaohsLxmKgPh5Lcb2dviMaMmyYGfIXgbo0BlGTR9I4h4Qk2rIEjI7sLJ5ACvLo8fXSeaH1bGy5eFe7FoPQCh8iZU43F0n3TXsjSnmEjoFwDuUETT9asMoZ1cRtZ7QaPnLbYY6gGUKirFagJ8H2yj2AY03a43bAHbDyXDHvkg3cnS0btb6pHq8CB1Y3NHjC4QKD5pmVIbmSCTJ1zGvNfDhkzMdsood7Npus9DhGe3i2T-pneBabmeLuzf5aOPbCXaS_RB3Z3532vM1ybB9KEFJvoKm-semTkm-jekN5uUMJNzNvuNmEx3olxFKBwinQEbl1z2X_-I0wdxiyj-mL0l_8Pgh7EMyPQaBELFbyCH-BKNTVwyDYKJIp6w-SPS3GsSDHh4YHfBnYI9KniE45dynpW0bmonci5FJFd3ZkporCvKjZGkWuSE3cV8Q4969OcQ80EbvUQrDl_4aJni2tvSbolwQiEPppvKypB1rfUvIKlAZNaxG7-Gj05u_y6pgD1duj_SqDGdb_c4g0qAey1x3w6c1RMkGeZAqbP80GV0guhzpCW74IeRj9uox-XebIHpzJor-fZ8ZptCiWOCCXREJROXcqSxZKTbwiOpBh6Yvi78bkT5vaKCYIFvfFwQA-lM6zlI1K_Ybis1SOYQpqaLZjdufnFn2JSM-ngSITE7sc_wlEvkd0m_Wvo62M7vu78QBpLkzCcVwusDX1XBOp63wqDDQ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2000/nov/20/policy.health1?CMP=gu_com https://media.ahdb.org.uk/media/Default/About%20AHDB/Request%20for%20views/levy-radcliffe-reviewOct05.pdf https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/people/kent-life-interviews-professor-ian-swingland-obe-7100664 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B3liAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA188&lpg=PA188&dq=%22Apple+and+Pear+Research+Council%22&source=bl&ots=G75QDggnj9&sig=ACfU3U1muK8OMV_ukzrZUmmFq1OEjz0fqw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-huGco5b4AhVSR0EAHfXQAZc4HhDoAXoECA4QAw#v=onepage&q=%22Apple%20and%20Pear%20Research%20Council%22&f=false https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/8140/1/Stephen_Richard_Henry_Langrell-2000-PhD-Thesis.pdf https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/2277/schedule/2/made https://www.legislation.gov.uk/primary+secondary?title=Apple%20and%20Pear%20Research%20Council