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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will instruct the Rural Payments Agency to implement a manual system to process applications for ELM schemes on Common land.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) recognises the importance of commons to the delivery of environmental outcomes. The RPA is currently assessing how common land can access Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and is actively exploring both on and off system options, testing feasibility. Once this assessment is complete, the RPA will engage external stakeholders to discuss its planned approach.