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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what is the (a) minimum and (b) maximum time permitted to complete the application process for (i) entry level stewardship and (ii) higher level stewardship for each region of England.

The Environmental Stewardship scheme closed to new applicants in 2014.

There were no minimum or maximum time periods to complete the application process for the Entry Level or Higher Level Schemes as agreements could start in any month of the year.

For the current scheme, Countryside Stewardship, EU law requires that all agreements take effect at the same date on 1 January. We have issued agreements in time to enable agreement holders to claim their first annual payment by the claim deadline. For 2018 this deadline is 15 June.