Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Chris Loder (Conservative) on Monday, 8 February 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 February 2021. It was answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative) on Monday, 15 February 2021 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of payments made by the Rural Payments Agency are received on time.

Answer

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has a number of schemes which provide financial support to the rural economy. The three main land schemes, which offer an annual payment, are Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS) and the Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ES).

Famers submitting a valid claim under these schemes will normally receive a payment between 1 December and 30 June the following year.

For 2019 we released by 30 June:

o BPS 2019 – 84,225 (99.9%) payments worth £1.79bn

o CS 2019 – 10,899 (94.2%) worth £88.46m

o ES 2019 – 12,020 (97.7%) worth £182.22m

There are several reasons for why payments may be delayed beyond the 30 June such as ongoing discussions with claimants, the resolution of probate, or ongoing fraud investigations.

Payments for 2020 claims began in December and are ongoing. The RPA delivered its best ever December payment performance, paying around 98% of BPS claims by the end of the year, despite the challenges caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
150940
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Agriculture Subsidies
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk