Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers received the Single Farm Payment in 2017.

The Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) replaced the Single Payment Scheme from 2015. We have interpreted the question as relating to a BPS scheme year, rather than calendar year.

The payment window for making payments under BPS 2017 opened on 1^st December 2017 and runs until the end of June 2018.

Of the 86,015 applications received for BPS 2017, 85,039 are deemed valid for payment. As of 27 March 2018, 81,079 claims had been paid. Of these, 76,911 were paid in December 2017.