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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications were accepted during the operation of her Department's Environmental Stewardship Scheme; and what the total cost of the scheme was to the public purse.

From 2005 until the scheme’s closure to applicants in 2014, 116,435 applications for Environmental Stewardship agreements were received. This figure includes renewal applications for a large number of five-year Entry Level Stewardship agreements from 2010 onwards. There are 48,541 remaining live Environmental Stewardship agreements.

Since 2007, the total cost of the scheme has been £640m from the UK exchequer and £1,692m through the EU.