To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Rural Payments Agency failed to make full payments to applicants of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme with an agreement starting on 1 January 2017.
Answered on
28 June 2018
Natural England (NE), rather than the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), currently administer the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. That activity, together with that for Environmental Stewardship, will transfer to the RPA later this year. Around 83% of 2017 Countryside Stewardship claimants have so far received either a full or advance payment. Bridging payments are now being made to the remaining 17% of agreement holders. Performance has fallen well short of expectations on the delivery of 2017 payments. Defra, alongside its delivery bodies, is committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.