During the week between Christmas and the end of the year, a question was raised by the Bishop of St Albans which was “what steps they are taking to assist farmers transitioning towards net zero”. That detail can be obtained from another page on this session which is here. Subsequently during the first week following the New Year a few more questions arose in Parliament, two of them were provided by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, Paul Williams. On Thursday he asked a second question relating to Farmers under the headline of ”Agriculture: Subsidies” The answer from the Government came from Lord Douglas-Miller, the Minister for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Robbie Douglas-Miller. The question and response is here

The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham: To ask His Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to permitting farmers transitioning from Basic Payments to Delinked Payments to discount one or more of the years in the reference period as a result of (1) events outside their control, or (2) a mistake; and whether they intend to review and amend the Agriculture (Delinked Payments and Consequential Provisions) (England) Regulations 2023 in this regard.

Lord Douglas-Miller: Delinked payments will be based on the average Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payment made to the farmer during the 2020 to 2022 reference period. The Government considers that using an average over three years is fair as any anomalies will be evened out. This takes account of responses to our 2021 consultation on delinked payments.

In addition, where a farmer suffered exceptional circumstances which affected their ability to meet the BPS rules in the reference period, they were able to apply at the time under the BPS force majeure rules. In such cases, the Rural Payments Agency may not have applied a reduction to the BPS payment for non-compliance with the rules.