Countryside Stewardship Scheme

(asked on 27th April 2020) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to speed up payments due to farmers under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 4th May 2020

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has introduced a series of measures to simplify the guidance for Countryside Stewardship (CS) and make it easier to apply for the scheme. As of 24 April 2020, the RPA has issued full payments of £34 million to just over 56% of eligible CS 2019 annual revenue claims in comparison to 2018 where no full payments had been made. In recognition of the disruption caused by Coronavirus (Covid-19) we announced on 28 April that we will issue bridging payments, in May, for eligible 2019 CS annual revenue and Environmental Stewardship claims who have not received a full payment in order to help rural businesses with their cash-flow at this challenging time.

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