Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce interim payments under the Basic Payments Scheme for farmers who have not received their payments by the end of January 2016.

George Eustice

When part payments have been made in the past this has led to years of confusion for farmers and additional costs in processing and disallowance for the Rural Payments Agency. This is why the RPA continues to focus on making full payments on the remaining claims as quickly as possible.

As at 18 January the RPA had paid around two thirds of eligible Basic Payment Scheme claims received. The Agency continues to focus on making payments on the remainder of claims as soon as possible and remains on track to pay the vast majority of claims by the end of this month.