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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Basic Payment Scheme applications made (a) before and (b) after 15 June 2015 will result in payments being received in December 2015.

Subject to ongoing reconciliation work, as of the 8th July, we received (a) 87,267 BPS Applications prior to the 15th June, and (b) 858 after the 15th June.

All claims will need to be validated and verified over the next few months and the Rural Payments Agency has said it will be making full payments as early as possible in the payment window, which runs from December 2015 to June 2016.