Lesley Griffiths MS, Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales and Trefnydd
I wish to update Members of the Senedd on the number of 2022 Glastir claims paid at the end of January.
Rural Payments Wales (RPW) began making 2022 Glastir area payments yesterday, 31 January. More than 3,100 claims were paid on the first day, which included claims for the Glastir Entry and Advanced, Commons, and Organic schemes. This represents 85% of all claims received, worth over £28.5m to Welsh farm businesses, which contribute to our aims of conserving and enhancing biodiversity, improving our soil and water resources, and responding to the climate emergency.
This is an improvement on the number of payments achieved last year and I would like to thank everyone, including industry stakeholders, who have worked with us to deliver this excellent number of payments to Welsh farm businesses.
My officials will continue to work hard to process the remaining claims as soon as possible. I expect to meet the European Commission’s payment target ahead of 30 June, with all except the most complex claims to be paid by this date.
We have offered Glastir extensions up to December 2023 to enable farmers to maintain the environmental benefits achieved to date. We will be bringing forward the first Glastir 2023 payments to 1 December to ensure we meet the end of year deadline to make the final payments under the EU funded Wales Rural Development Programme.
In addition, I have announced we are making more than £200m available to support the resilience of the rural economy over the next three years. This includes funding for more sustainable farming practices to complement the development of the Sustainable Farming Scheme.