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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of imposing fines on the Rural Payments Agency for late Basic Payment Scheme payments to farmers.

2015 has been a challenging year for a number of well documented reasons. We understand the importance of Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments for farmers and their particular frustration in the first year of this new scheme.

From 1 December 2015, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) made full and accurate 2015 BPS payments which continued throughout the payment window. As of 3 July, some 85,852 (98.6%) of 2015 BPS claims have now been completed and 86,760 have received a payment amounting to some £1.3billion.

The RPA remain focused on making full and accurate payments as promptly as possible. They are also committed to improving payment performance in 2016, and 2016 should be easier as we will have both the systems and data already in place. Ministers have regular meetings with the RPA and closely monitor its performance.