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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for how many farmers and landowners in Derbyshire has a Rural Payment been reduced or withheld as a result of failure to comply with access and footpath requirements, in each of the last three years.

Two rural payments claimants in Derbyshire breached the cross compliance Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 7b Public Rights of Way rules in the last three scheme years. These were found in 2019. One received a reduction to payments, the other received a warning letter. In both cases, a right of way had been wilfully obstructed.