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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Rural Payments Agency is taking to clear outstanding quarterly rural payments to farmers; and what the average delay in making those payments has been in the last 12 months.

The vast majority of eligible quarterly Sustainable Farming Incentive payments have been made. As of 7 October 2026, RPA has made 98% of eligible SFI23 & SFI24 payments and continues to resolve outstanding cases as quickly as possible.