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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average award received through his Department's capital grant scheme was in (a) July, (b) August, (c) September, (d) October and (e) November.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) received a total of 5,470 applications for the capital grant scheme between July and November 2024 with 1,884 Agreements offered during this period with an average value of £14,011.

Across the summer, a much larger volume of applications, than expected, were received meaning more time was required to process.

In light of these higher volumes, offers on new applications were not made to allow monitoring of the impact on the intended scheme outcomes and to investigate the implications of the increased value of some applications

The monthly breakdown is as follows:

* The application may have been received prior to July 2024.

** This relates to all claims paid within July to November regardless of when the agreement started. Agreement holders have up to 3 years from start date to submit their claim.