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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect all valid claims from farmers in 2015 to the Rural Payments Agency to be paid.

The 2015 Basic Payment Scheme payment window runs between December 2015 and June 2016. As of the end of January the Rural Payments Agency had paid around 66,800 farmers approximately £1 billion. The Rural Payments Agency is focused on paying the remainder as promptly as possible.

2015 was the first year of the new complex Common Agricultural Policy. The Rural Payments Agency anticipates improvements on payment performance for the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme.