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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what appeals process is available for farmers who are subject to deductions from single farm payments for (a) cattle passport contraventions and (b) breaches of the conditions of the Rural Stewardship Scheme in (i) Cambridgeshire and (ii) England; and if he will make a statement.

Complaints against deductions made by the Rural Payments Agency to a farmer's payments under the Single Payment Scheme should be made to the Agency. Complaints are reviewed within the Agency. If a farmer disagrees with the Agency's final decision, they may ask for an independent review by the Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel, who will make a recommendation to me to make a final decision.

The Agency's full complaints procedure is set out online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/rural-payments-agency/about/complaints-procedure

Deductions from payments under the Single Payment Scheme are not made in respect of breaches of Environmental Stewardship scheme conditions alone. Where a breach of these conditions is found, an appropriate penalty would be applied in respect of the Environmental Stewardship payments received or due to be received. Natural England, which administers the scheme, has a formal appeals procedure described in section 5.7.4 of the Entry Level Stewardship Handbook, available online at:

http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/2781958