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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to communicate expected (a) processing and (b) payment timelines to applicants who submitted Sustainable Farming Incentive applications before 11 March 2025.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is (a) working through and will communicate with applicants individually through the application process. The RPA expects to complete all required checks and activity for the majority of eligible applications by late June. (b) The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme payment schedule is in line with the agreement start date. Agreement holders will normally receive payments quarterly and the first payment will be four months after their SFI agreement starts