Asked by: Jake Berry (Conservative - Rossendale and Darwen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications to the Basic Payment Scheme have been approved to date.
Answered by George Eustice
As of the 8th July we have received 88,125 Basic Payments Scheme (BPS) applications. These will need to be validated and verified over the next few months.
Asked by: Jake Berry (Conservative - Rossendale and Darwen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for the Basic Payment Scheme were received (a) before and (b) after the 15 June 2015 deadline.
Answered by George Eustice
Subject to ongoing reconciliation work, as of the 8th July, we received (a) 87,267 BPS Applications prior to the 15th June, and (b) 858 after the 15th June.
All claims will need to be validated and verified over the next few months and the Rural Payments Agency has said it will be making full payments as early as possible in the payment window, which runs from December 2015 to June 2016.
Asked by: Jake Berry (Conservative - Rossendale and Darwen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Basic Payment Scheme applications made (a) before and (b) after 15 June 2015 will result in payments being received in December 2015.
Answered by George Eustice
Subject to ongoing reconciliation work, as of the 8th July, we received (a) 87,267 BPS Applications prior to the 15th June, and (b) 858 after the 15th June.
All claims will need to be validated and verified over the next few months and the Rural Payments Agency has said it will be making full payments as early as possible in the payment window, which runs from December 2015 to June 2016.
Asked by: Jake Berry (Conservative - Rossendale and Darwen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether applications for the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme will be made online or by paper.
Answered by George Eustice
We will consider carefully a range of options for the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme using our experience of the implementation of the new approach for 2015.
Asked by: Jake Berry (Conservative - Rossendale and Darwen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on resolving issues with the online application process for the Basic Payment Scheme.
Answered by George Eustice
The core of the Rural Payments system is working well and we will use lessons learned from the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme to inform our preparations for 2016.