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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many rejected applications for funding from the Countryside Productivity Scheme there have been in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

To date 618 applications have been received for Countryside Productivity grants and 175 have been rejected. Of the 175 applications for funding which have been rejected, 164 of these were rejected in 2015 and 11 in 2016. Countryside Productivity grants were not available prior to 2015.

298 grant funding agreements have been issued for capital grants with a total value of £6,670,284. 108 agreements were issued for a total value of £1,170,980 in 2015. 190 funding agreements were issued for a total value of £5,499,304 in 2016.

Of the remaining applications, 34 were incomplete, 94 were withdrawn, 2 have been recently received and are being checked for completeness before appraisal, 6 are in appraisal and 9 have been recently approved but are waiting for contracts.