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1689265

	registered interest
	date	16/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that future multi-annual farming support funding is given in seven-year blocks.
	tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
	tabling member printed	Steven Bonnar
	uin	14188
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>The farming budget is set through UK government funding settlements which typically cover 3-5 year period.</p><p> </p><p>Environmental land management agreements are funded over different time periods, retaining flexibility for farmers within our offers, with options for longer agreements where farmers want or need those.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 23/02/2024 13:25:50 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4748 label Biography information for Steven Bonnar

1689266

	registered interest
	date	16/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will guarantee funding for farming subsidies after 2025.
	tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
	tabling member printed	Steven Bonnar
	uin	14189
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>Defra has guaranteed the annual budget for the farming sector for the life of this Parliament. Future budgets will be decided by future governments.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 23/02/2024 13:22:45 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4748 label Biography information for Steven Bonnar

1684860

	registered interest
	date	24/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to replace the cross-compliance regulations for rural payments which ceased to have effect on 31 December 2023.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	11301
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/02/2024 answer text <p>Farm standards following the end of cross compliance are being maintained through existing and ongoing domestic regulations that protect the environment, public, animal and plant health and animal welfare. These regulations cover most of the cross-compliance rules. Almost all of the rules that are not in underlying legislation have cover through existing and forthcoming guidance, regulation or incentives. We will seek to regulate to maintain hedgerow protections when parliamentary time allows.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 06/02/2024 17:04:18 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1684861

	registered interest
	date	24/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the environmental impact of the end of cross-compliance regulations for rural payments on (a) hedgerows, (b) soil cover and (c) watercourse buffer strips.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	11302
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/02/2024 answer text <p>An assessment of the environmental and economic impacts of the removal of direct payments and cross compliance was published in September 2018, during the passage of the Agriculture Bill.</p><p> </p><p>We will seek to regulate to maintain hedgerow protections when parliamentary time allows. The gaps between cross compliance rules and regulatory requirements in regard to water buffer strips and soil cover are either mitigated by regulation such as through generalised provisions in Farming Rules for Water and the Water Resources Act, guidance like the Code of Practice of the use of Plant Protection Products, and standards in the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 06/02/2024 17:21:47 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1679114

	registered interest
	date	19/12/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to ensure that farmers are able to (a) access and (b) use capital grants.
	tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
	tabling member printed	Tim Farron
	uin	7537
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/01/2024 answer text <p>We have a range of capital grant offers which are readily accessible to our farmers, foresters and land managers to help improve our environment by planting trees and hedges, reducing air pollution and improving water quality. We also offer opportunities for them to invest in the equipment, technology and infrastructure that will help their businesses to prosper, while improving their productivity and enhancing the environment. These grants will continue to be available next year.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 08/01/2024 15:08:57 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1678451

	registered interest
	date	18/12/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department has made towards developing a new regulatory regime to be implemented once cross-compliance ends in 2024.
	tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Toby Perkins
	uin	7314
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/01/2024 answer text <p>Defra has been working to ensure we deliver fair, effective regulation of farming and maintain our important environmental and animal health standards. All Defra group regulators have been involved in creating a better shared regulatory approach. Recent improvements include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>publication of a <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fguidance%2Frules-for-farmers-and-land-managers&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C2358b902182641582bbe08dc013689e2%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638386580941387919%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=VmY5%2BCnhR0reaiR7f4a7tti5vJi6ObK0vHVlme6NSNA%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">single navigation page</a> for rules for farmers on GOV.UK, developed with farmers, making it easier to find out what rules apply</li><li>increasing the advice offered by the Farming Advice Service so we can reach more farmers.</li><li>expanding the regulatory resource for the Environment Agency with a test and learn approach on how we best enable compliance.</li><li>opening Round 2 of our slurry infrastructure grant, as part of our commitment to spend over £200m on infrastructure and equipment grants to help to help livestock farmers in England tackle pollution from slurry.</li><li>consulting on how we can best protect hedgerows as we phase out farm subsidies and cross compliance rules.</li></ul><p> </p><p>As part of the Shared Regulatory Approach, we have worked with:</p><p> </p><ul><li>the Environment Agency in how it supports farmers to undertake farming activities in a way that minimises risk to environmental outcomes</li><li>Natural England in how it helps farmers protect and enhance Protected Sites and biodiversity</li><li>the Rural Payments Agency and the Animal and Plant Health Agency in how they help farmers to protect the health of our plants and animals and to maintain biosecurity</li><li>the Forestry Commission in how it helps farmers protect and enhance our trees and woodlands.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 08/01/2024 14:59:34 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

1678727

	registered interest
	date	18/12/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	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.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham
	uin	HL1305
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/01/2024 answer text <p>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.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p> answering member printed Lord Douglas-Miller question first answered 04/01/2024 15:30:03 answering member 5006 label Biography information for Lord Douglas-Miller
	tabling member	4940 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham

1672732

	registered interest
	date	23/11/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the guidance on cross compliance updated on 14 February 2023, which (a) cross compliance standards and (b) rules for participants in the Basic Payments Scheme or Countryside Stewardship will cease to have effect in 2024 and are not otherwise provided for in their entirety in English law as of 23 November 2023.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	3459
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) cross compliance rules 1, 4, 5 and 7a are not fully replicated in existing domestic legislation as follows.</p><p> </p><p>GAEC 1, which requires the maintenance of green cover, non-cultivation of land and spraying of pesticides within two metres of a water course. Domestic legislation, the Farming Rules for Water, however, provides rules preventing the application of manure and fertiliser close to a water course. It also prescribes that farmers must take all reasonable precautions to prevent pollution from cultivation practices, such as spraying pesticides. The use of pesticides is also set out in the Code of Practice for using Plant Protection Products.</p><p> </p><p>GAEC 4 and GAEC 5, which require a minimum soil cover and measures to minimise soil erosion. Again, the Farming Rules for Water sets out generalised soil cover and erosion measures where it may prevent agricultural diffuse pollution. There is no reference to mitigation of wind erosion in the Farming Rules for Water. GAEC rules 4 and 5 are not covered elsewhere in domestic legislation.</p><p> </p><p>GAEC 7a, which requires the maintenance of green cover within two metres of the centre of a hedge and the prohibition of cutting a hedge between 1 March and 31 August. Also, the removal of stone walls, earth and stone banks. Defra has recently consulted on new legislation to replace the cross compliance hedgerow protections. As set out in January 2023 Defra plans to pay, as part of Environmental Land Management schemes, for new actions to maintain drystone walls, stone and earth banks in good condition.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 04/12/2023 16:41:19 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1668061

	registered interest
	date	07/11/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution that the (1) Sustainable Farming Incentive, (2) Countryside Stewardship, and (3) Landscape Recovery schemes will make to delivering (a) the fifth carbon budget, and (b) the objectives of the Government's Environmental Improvement Plan.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville
	uin	HL8
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2023 answer text <p>In the Net Zero Growth Plan (published 30 March 2023) and the Environmental Improvement Plan (published 31 January 2023) the Government has set out how its environment land management schemes will contribute to the reduction in carbon emissions and delivering against the ambitious environmental goals.</p><p> </p><p>The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery are key interventions through which the government will support farmers and land managers to deliver on ambitions. A detailed programme of monitoring and modelling supports the design of these interventions and their respective contributions to a range of objectives for the environment and climate.</p><p> </p><p>The SFI will reduce the requirement for fertilisers by incentivising herbal lays or legume mixes. Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery are anticipated to provide large carbon sequestration opportunities through tree planting, peatland restoration and agroforestry as well as continuing to offer capital grants that improve slurry storage all of which will deliver for the fifth carbon budget.</p><p> </p><p>The SFI, Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery are designed to support delivering the goals within the Environmental Improvement Plan. As set out in March 2023, this will include contributions to thriving plants and wildlife, clean air, clean and plentiful water, using resources from nature sustainably, mitigating and adapting to climate change, and enhancing beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment.</p><p> </p><p>As the environment land management schemes continue to be implemented the Government is undertaking ongoing research and analysis to quantify and refine the impacts these interventions are making and how they are delivering against the goals of the Environment Improvement Plan.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon question first answered 14/11/2023 11:46:07 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
	tabling member	4285 label Biography information for Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

1668062

	registered interest
	date	07/11/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the impact of the (1) Sustainable Farming Incentive, (2) Countryside Stewardship, and (3) Landscape Recovery schemes on (a) reductions in carbon emissions, (b) increased species abundance, and (c) the delivery of their commitment to protect 30 per cent of land and sea for nature by 2030.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville
	uin	HL9
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2023 answer text <p>In the Environmental Improvement Plan (published 31 January 2023) and the Net Zero Growth Plan (published 30 March 2023) the Government has set out how its environment land management schemes will contribute to environmental targets and reducing carbon emissions.</p><p> </p><p>The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery are key interventions through which the Government will support farmers and land managers to deliver for the environment and to reduce carbon emissions. A detailed programme of monitoring and modelling supports the design of these interventions and their respective contributions to a range of objectives.</p><p> </p><p>It is estimated that across the SFI, Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery there will be significant contribution to Defra’s effort share to reduce carbon emissions through agricultural decarbonisation, tree planting, peatland restoration and other on farm changes. These interventions will also support the commitment to create or restore 500,000ha of habitat outside of protected areas to improve species abundance and halt species decline, this includes a commitment to support bespoke species recovery in key sites. Additionally, the interventions will ensure land is delivering for nature and new habitat created will be of sufficient quality to be protected, we have committed to ensuring that sites of special scientific interest are brought up to or remain in favourable condition.</p><p> </p><p>As the environment land management schemes continue to be implemented the Government is undertaking ongoing research and analysis to quantify and refine the impacts these interventions are making.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon question first answered 14/11/2023 11:44:23 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
	tabling member	4285 label Biography information for Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

1659854

	registered interest
	date	11/09/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to pause the phasing out of existing farm payments until Sustainable Farming Incentive payments are in place.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL10045
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2023 answer text <p>The Government has no plans to pause the phasing out of Basic Payment Scheme payments.</p><p> </p><p>Our priority is to roll out Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in a way that ensures the service works as straightforwardly as possible for all our customers and aligns with the closing date for Countryside Stewardship.</p><p> </p><p>The SFI 2023 scheme has been expanded and made more flexible in response to farmers’ feedback. There are 23 actions on offer under the new and improved 2023 scheme, including on soil health, moorland, hedgerows, integrated pest management, farmland wildlife, buffer strips, and low input grassland.</p><p> </p><p>The scheme will open for applications from 18 September. Before then farmers can contact the Rural Payments Agency to join the thousands of farm businesses that have already expressed their interest in applying.</p><p> </p><p>Recently, we have run an extensive communications and engagement programme with farmers and farming organisations, including through webinars and our presence at agricultural shows. This has enabled us to promote the options available to farmers and feedback is of increased awareness and interest in what is on offer.</p><p> </p><p>Information on the scheme is available in one handbook and on 10 August we published voluntary ‘How to Guidance’ which farmers can follow if helpful for them. We know that applicants to date have welcomed the simple, automated online application process which again will support uptake in the coming months.</p><p> </p><p>We know the importance of getting agreements and payments out as quickly as possible, which is why we’ll be working to get as many people as possible on board as quickly as possible after 18 September. What is more, in recognition of the challenges faced with inflation and rising input costs, the Government has confirmed farmers will receive a payment in the first month of their SFI 2023 agreement to help with cashflow.</p><p> </p><p>We remain committed to our target of 70% of farms and farmland being in schemes by 2028.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon grouped question UIN HL10044 question first answered 18/09/2023 12:24:31 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1653539

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding through the Basic Payment Scheme has reduced in each year since 2020; and by how much she plans to reduce payments in each of the next three years.
	tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
	tabling member printed	Tim Farron
	uin	194405
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2023 answer text <p>Defra reports expenditure under agricultural support schemes by financial year rather than calendar year.</p><p> </p><p>Applying reductions to Direct Payments frees up money to be spent on financial assistance under our other schemes for farmers and land managers. As set out in our Future Farming and Countryside Programme annual report, published in October 2022, we spent £1.654 billion on Direct Payments in financial year 2021 to 2022. That was part of a total spend of £2.294 billion on existing farming schemes and our new financial assistance schemes, as set out in that report.</p><p> </p><p>Information about spend on Direct Payments, and financial assistance under our other schemes, for later financial years will be included in future annual reports.</p><p> </p><p>The reductions that we plan to apply to Direct Payments up to, and including, the 2024 scheme year were set out in our Agricultural Transition Plan in November 2020. The Government intends to continue to make gradual reductions in Direct Payments across the rest of the transition until the last year of Direct Payments in 2027.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 24/07/2023 14:30:43 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1588356

	registered interest
	date	22/02/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding redirected from the Basic Payment Scheme to Agricultural Transition Plan schemes has been disbursed to farmers.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	150508
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2023 answer text <p>The farming budget in England is an average £2.4bn per year to 2024/25. We are now two years into our 7-year transition period where we are phasing out farm subsidies and instead investing the money in farming and the environment. The budget available for the sector is the same. We are committed to being transparent about the budget and how it is spent. We included in the Agriculture Act a requirement for government to publish an annual report about the budget, and we did this for the first time in 2022. <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Ffuture-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022%2Ffuture-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022-html-version&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C8f4f579fcae243a3991e08db166346ee%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638128387860364244%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=KahJwzDAfOQu0CsOldaOZ4ZrftxImx3xySjKOhEm9RU%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Future Farming and Countryside Programme annual report, 2021 to 2022 (HTML version) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p> </p><p>That report set out that during 2021/22 a total of £2.294bn was spent, including £2.274bn being paid to farmers and land managers. £20m was spent on Technical Assistance to support the design, implementation and delivery of schemes within the programme, including staff and contractors, representing less than 1% of the total spend. That amount aligns with the levels spent under CAP.</p><p> </p><p>There is not a like for like comparison of the reductions applied to Direct Payments being invested in new schemes in a given year since the original composition of the £2.4bn included RDPE schemes as well as Direct Payments and the budget is an average across this Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer grouped question UIN 150509 question first answered 27/02/2023 13:40:42 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1588358

	registered interest
	date	22/02/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding redirected from the Basic Payment Scheme to new schemes as part of the Government’s Agricultural Transition Plan has been spent on additional staff and contractors for her Department.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	150509
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2023 answer text <p>The farming budget in England is an average £2.4bn per year to 2024/25. We are now two years into our 7-year transition period where we are phasing out farm subsidies and instead investing the money in farming and the environment. The budget available for the sector is the same. We are committed to being transparent about the budget and how it is spent. We included in the Agriculture Act a requirement for government to publish an annual report about the budget, and we did this for the first time in 2022. <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Ffuture-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022%2Ffuture-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022-html-version&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C8f4f579fcae243a3991e08db166346ee%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638128387860364244%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=KahJwzDAfOQu0CsOldaOZ4ZrftxImx3xySjKOhEm9RU%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Future Farming and Countryside Programme annual report, 2021 to 2022 (HTML version) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p> </p><p>That report set out that during 2021/22 a total of £2.294bn was spent, including £2.274bn being paid to farmers and land managers. £20m was spent on Technical Assistance to support the design, implementation and delivery of schemes within the programme, including staff and contractors, representing less than 1% of the total spend. That amount aligns with the levels spent under CAP.</p><p> </p><p>There is not a like for like comparison of the reductions applied to Direct Payments being invested in new schemes in a given year since the original composition of the £2.4bn included RDPE schemes as well as Direct Payments and the budget is an average across this Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer grouped question UIN 150508 question first answered 27/02/2023 13:40:42 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1567568

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding was released from the Basic Payment Scheme following the reduction of direct payments to farmers in England in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	125434
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2023 answer text <p>Applying reductions to Direct Payments frees up money to be spent on financial assistance under our other schemes for farmers and land managers. As set out in our Future Farming and Countryside Programme annual report, published in October 2022, we spent £1.654 billion on Direct Payments in financial year 2021 to 2022. That was part of a total spend of £2.294 billion on existing farming schemes and our new financial assistance schemes, as set out in that report.</p><p>Information about spend on Direct Payments and financial assistance under our other schemes for financial year 2022 to 2023 will be included in an annual report to be published later this year.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 24/01/2023 15:01:05 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1567569

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated to each of the schemes available to farmers in England under the Agricultural Transition Plan for Financial Years (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	125435
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2023 answer text <p>We will not have fixed allocations (or 'pillars', as they were known whilst we were in the EU) of money ring-fenced to different schemes. Instead, we will learn as we go and find the best ways to manage the overall budget to respond to demand in a way that helps us achieve our intended outcomes. This means we will keep the allocation of funding between different schemes under review over time.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 24/01/2023 15:13:59 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1567570

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department provided to farmers under each scheme within the Agricultural Transition Plan in England in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	125436
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2023 answer text <p>In 2021-22, we spent £2.294 billion on our schemes within the Agricultural Transition Plan. We’ve laid before Parliament the spend at scheme level for 21-22 and we will continue to provide annual financial reports. The annual report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022/future-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022-html-version.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 24/01/2023 15:11:25 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1567571

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farm businesses have accessed at least one of the schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan in the financial year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	125437
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2023 answer text <p>Outside the bureaucratic Common Agricultural Policy, we are freeing farmers to enhance the natural environment alongside food production, supporting our drive to reach net-zero by 2050. We will deliver this by pressing ahead with our Environmental Land Management schemes and phase out direct payments.</p><p><br> As we set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan, we are providing a package of ongoing funding and one-off grants to support farmers with environmental actions, food production and productivity. We’ve already opened two new environmental land management schemes – the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Landscape Recovery - and already have thousands of farmers applying. That’s alongside Countryside Stewardship, which continues to offer payment for environmental actions, and will be enhanced to deliver our high environmental ambition. In parallel to the schemes, we have launched a number of grants for one-off funding to support productivity, such as money for new equipment and technology, slurry storage and water management. We urge all farmers to look at our schemes and grants and to decide what works for their farm business.</p><p><br> In 2021/22 there were at least 39,000 instances of businesses accessing at least one of the schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan. And so far in 2022/23, the number of businesses is at least 48,000 businesses. Of these 32,000 businesses (2021/22), and 36,000 businesses (2022/23) accessed at least one of the environmental land management schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 25/01/2023 17:06:18 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1567850

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on farm businesses of the withdrawal of the Basic Payment Scheme.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
	uin	HL4827
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2023 answer text <p>In October 2021, the Government published the Agriculture in the UK Evidence Pack. This publication included static analysis showing the profitability of farms in the absence of Direct Payments for the years immediately prior to the start of the agricultural transition. In 2019 the Government published the farming evidence compendium. This publication provided an in-depth assessment of the impacts of removing Direct Payments with analysis by sector, location in England and type of land tenure. This publication also provided analysis on how farm businesses, across all sectors, can offset the impact of Direct Payments.</p><p>The money freed from Direct Payments is being re-invested in our other schemes for farmers and land managers. For example, the Government has recently increased the payment rates of Countryside Stewardship to help more than 30,000 farmers and is introducing a new management payment for the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The Government is also offering grants to improve farm productivity and benefit the environment through our Farming Investment Fund. Farmers affected by the phasing out of Direct Payments can also receive free business advice and support through our Future Farming Resilience Fund.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon question first answered 25/01/2023 17:25:06 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
	tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1566232

	registered interest
	date	12/01/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate she has made of the number of payments made to farmers by the Rural Payments Agency.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	902965
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2023 answer text <p>By 31 December, the Rural Payments Agency had made over 107,000 payments worth more than £1.6 billion across the Basic Payments, Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship schemes. This means that 97.9% of farmers had received at least one payment during the first month of the opening of the payment window.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 12/01/2023 15:10:44 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1539046

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the level of Basic Payment Scheme funding was in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022; and whether this was a reduction on the level of funding in previous years.
	tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
	tabling member printed	Tim Farron
	uin	78670
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2023 answer text <p>£1,625 million and £1,371 million were available to be claimed and paid for the 2021 and 2022 BPS scheme years respectively. We have already set out plans for progressive reductions from 2021 onwards to all BPS payments, increasing payments for Countryside Stewardship and new Environmental Land Management schemes over the same period. Details of progressive reductions published online can be found here: Funding for farmers and land managers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 18/01/2023 11:11:34 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1524098

	registered interest
	date	19/10/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department spent in total on direct payments broken down by payments (a) under £30,000, (b) £30,000-£50,000, (c) £50,000-£150,000 and (iv) more than £150,000 in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	67056
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/11/2022 answer text <p>The table below sets out the number of Direct Payments made over the last five full scheme years.</p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Grouping</strong></p></td><td colspan="5"><p><strong>Scheme Year</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2019</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Under £30K</p></td><td><p>68,518</p></td><td><p>67,328</p></td><td><p>67,158</p></td><td><p>67,089</p></td><td><p>68,401</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£30K - £50K</p></td><td><p>8,241</p></td><td><p>8,218</p></td><td><p>8,250</p></td><td><p>8,197</p></td><td><p>8,182</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£50K - £150K</p></td><td><p>7,341</p></td><td><p>7,445</p></td><td><p>7,499</p></td><td><p>7,690</p></td><td><p>6,977</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £150K</p></td><td><p>1,038</p></td><td><p>1,055</p></td><td><p>1,090</p></td><td><p>1,133</p></td><td><p>743</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>85,138</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>84,046</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>83,997</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>84,109</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>84,303</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 08/11/2022 15:38:15 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1520146

	registered interest
	date	10/10/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to replace the single farm payment.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Boycott
	uin	HL2395
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2022 answer text <p>We intend to phase out untargeted Direct Payments in England by the end of 2027.</p><p> </p><p>We are making a range of offers available to suit all farm types. Everything we are offering contributes to our 3 goals: supporting viable businesses; maintaining food production at its current level; and achieving animal health, welfare and climate outcomes.</p><p> </p><p>We are offering a range of environmental land management schemes. In addition, we are offering other schemes and grants to help achieve our 3 goals. We launched funding for equipment, technology, and infrastructure that improves farm productivity and benefits the environment through the Farming Investment Fund.</p><p> </p><p>Through the Farming Innovation Programme, we intend to unlock further innovation within the farming sector and contribute towards growth by supporting the development and adoption of new innovation by farmers and growers to ensure it can make a real difference.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon question first answered 26/10/2022 15:38:05 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
	tabling member	4704 label Biography information for Baroness Boycott

1489050

	registered interest
	date	13/07/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of farm businesses in England have received the advance payment of their Basic Payment Scheme from the Rural Payments Agency.
	tabling member printed	The Earl of Leicester
	uin	HL1738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2022 answer text <p>As of 22 July 2022, 42.74% of farm businesses have been issued with Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) advance payments. This equates to a total value of £54.7M released in advance BPS funding.</p><p> </p><p>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is forecasting to have paid over 60,000 farmers (approx. 73%) by the end of the month. By the end of the second week of August, they expect to have paid 82,000 farmers who are eligible to receive a payment at this time. Prior to the payment run, RPA undertook preliminary checks to ensure the agreed funds were ready for release on schedule. There will inevitably be a small number of farmers who cannot be paid, for reasons such as: low claim value (under £1k); outstanding probate; and absence of bank details. RPA made efforts to contact all customers ahead of time where bank details were not held, in order to minimise the number of farmers whose payments could not be made. RPA will write to all farmers they believe are unlikely to receive their payment by the end of August.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon grouped question UIN HL1739 question first answered 01/08/2022 12:03:03 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
	tabling member	4919 label Biography information for The Earl of Leicester

1489051

	registered interest
	date	13/07/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money they have paid out to farm businesses in England in advanced payment of the Basic Payment scheme.
	tabling member printed	The Earl of Leicester
	uin	HL1739
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2022 answer text <p>As of 22 July 2022, 42.74% of farm businesses have been issued with Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) advance payments. This equates to a total value of £54.7M released in advance BPS funding.</p><p> </p><p>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is forecasting to have paid over 60,000 farmers (approx. 73%) by the end of the month. By the end of the second week of August, they expect to have paid 82,000 farmers who are eligible to receive a payment at this time. Prior to the payment run, RPA undertook preliminary checks to ensure the agreed funds were ready for release on schedule. There will inevitably be a small number of farmers who cannot be paid, for reasons such as: low claim value (under £1k); outstanding probate; and absence of bank details. RPA made efforts to contact all customers ahead of time where bank details were not held, in order to minimise the number of farmers whose payments could not be made. RPA will write to all farmers they believe are unlikely to receive their payment by the end of August.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon grouped question UIN HL1738 question first answered 01/08/2022 12:03:03 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
	tabling member	4919 label Biography information for The Earl of Leicester

1484767

	registered interest
	date	29/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 26 April to question 9907, what estimate he has made of the value of payments in excess (a) £100,000 (b) £200,000 (c) £250,000 (d) £500,000 in Basic Payments in (i) 2022, (ii) 2023, (iii) 2024, (iv) 2025, (v) 2026 and (vi) 2027.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	27633
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2022 answer text <p>We have estimated the value of payments based on 2021 but have adjusted by an additional 15% Progressive reduction each year.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2022</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2024</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>between £100,000 and £200,000</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>£148,141,196</p></td><td><p>£91,463,336</p></td><td><p>£49,116,903</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>between £200,000 and £250,000</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>£23,729,115</p></td><td><p>£14,170,641</p></td><td><p>£6,210,273</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>between £250,000 and £500,000</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>£31,611,515</p></td><td><p>£16,378,597</p></td><td><p>£11,097,775</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>greater than £500,000</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>£18,686,508</p></td><td><p>£13,096,347</p></td><td><p>£5,456,333</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>These estimates take account of the progressive reductions that we intend to apply to the payments, as announced in our Agricultural Transition Plan in 2020.</p><p> </p><p>We have not provided estimates for years 2025 to 2027 as the Government has not yet announced the progressive reductions which will be applied to Direct Payments in those years as we continue to phase the payments out.</p><p> </p><p>Money saved by Direct Payment reductions will be directly re-invested into English agriculture through our new schemes. These include our new environmental land management schemes as well as grants to enable farmers to invest in equipment, technology, and infrastructure. These will improve efficiency and productivity while also benefiting the climate and environment.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 05/07/2022 15:02:32 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1473084

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of direct payments made to farmers were (a) less than £30,000, (b) £30,001 to £50,000, (c) £50,001 to £150,000 and (d) more than £150,000 in the most recent financial year for which information is available.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	24606
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2022 answer text <p>This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.</p><p> </p><p>Direct payments in England are made to farmers through the Basic Payment Scheme, which is administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). The scheme runs on the calendar year, but the figures provided cover all payments released by RPA in the 2021/22 financial year, irrespective of which scheme year they relate to.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Grouping (£)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>21-22 Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>% Proportion by Volume</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£0&gt;=£30,000</p></td><td><p>68,482</p></td><td><p>81.15%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£30,001&gt;=£50,000</p></td><td><p>8,186</p></td><td><p>9.70%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£50,001&gt;=£150,000</p></td><td><p>6,971</p></td><td><p>8.26%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>&gt;£150,000</p></td><td><p>746</p></td><td><p>0.88%</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/07/2022 13:42:57 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1473086

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department paid to farmers in (a) direct payments, (b) Countryside Stewardship funding, (c) Environmental Stewardship Scheme funding, (d) other payments and (e) in total in the financial years (i) 2020-21 and (ii) 2021-22.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	24607
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2022 answer text <p>This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.</p><p> </p><p>Direct payments in England are made through the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). Payments under BPS, as well as Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship, are based on the calendar year. The figures provided relate to payments released within the specified financial years irrespective of the scheme year to which individual payments are related. They only cover payments that are provided to farmers by the Rural Payment Agency.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Total Funding</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020-21 Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021-22 Financial Year</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Direct Payments (BPS)</p></td><td><p>£1,832,933,680</p></td><td><p>£1,649,698,145</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Countryside Stewardship</p></td><td><p>£190,633,860</p></td><td><p>£275,940,285</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Environmental Stewardship</p></td><td><p>£148,607,064</p></td><td><p>£151,436,091</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other Payments</p></td><td><p>£75,390,708</p></td><td><p>£75,406,300</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>£2,247,565,312</p></td><td><p>£2,152,480,821</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>We will present and publish a retrospective view of the financial assistance provided through all of our schemes under the Agriculture Act 2020 by 1 October each year, covering the previous financial year as required under the Agriculture Act 2020. We have committed that the total level of investment will be at around £2.4bn a year across the parliament.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 12/07/2022 08:24:57 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1469893

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has removed the requirement to be an active farmer to claim funding from the Basic Payment Scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
	tabling member printed	Tim Farron
	uin	16905
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2022 answer text <p>You must be a farmer to claim under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and must have land ‘at your disposal’. This means, for example, that where land is let under a Farm Business Tenancy, it is the tenant and not the landlord who can use that land to claim BPS.</p><p> </p><p>Previously the BPS rules included an active farmer test. We removed this in 2018 because it was ineffective and created unnecessary confusion for farmers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 21/06/2022 15:05:33 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1467422

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to increase the level of support to British farmers to grow food crops in the context of the global food security situation.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	11633
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2022 answer text <p>This Government will maintain the total investment in the farming sector throughout this parliament. In England, the budget of £2.4 billion per year is being re-purposed in a way that will support farmer’s resilience and food security for years to come.</p><p> </p><p>By gradually phasing out the untargeted Basic Payments of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, and replacing them with a flexible range of targeted grants and ongoing payments for farmers, we are increasing the level of support available for delivering on the priorities of farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare. All the money coming out of Basic Payment Scheme will go back into the sector each year, there will be no gap in investment.</p><p> </p><p>We are not fixing allocations of ring-fenced money for schemes, as happened under the EU, but will learn and respond to demand and developments from the sector – keeping the spread of investment under review over time.</p><p> </p><p>We have already seen uptake and enthusiasm from farmers in certain areas and have been able to adapt flexibly to this demand. For example, the budget for the new Farming Equipment and Technology fund was increased to account for high demand. As a result, more than 4,000 farmers can invest in new equipment and technology, supporting and improving domestic food production.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has recently released further information on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) - designed to help farmers move to new alternative sustainable farming methods gradually, improving environmental conditions of the land, whilst building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The SFI is one of three new schemes under Environmental Land Management which will maintain productive land, delivering for both farmers and the environment.</p><p> </p><p>Our schemes will ensure our long-term food security by investing in the foundations of food production: healthy soil; water; and biodiverse ecosystems.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that we know can impact farm income and productivity, as well as food security. The Secretary of State recently announced several other measures to support our farmers in the current uncertainty, notably regarding the use of urea fertiliser - helping farmers manage their costs better, as well as improving the statutory guidance for the use of slurry.</p><p> </p><p>I recently launched and chaired the first session of a new industry fertiliser roundtable, aiming to work through issues regarding slurry to develop our understanding of current pressures on farmers and identify solutions. The Fertiliser Taskforce is just one example of where the Government is working with closely with industry to improve market confidence - providing farmers with the information needed to make business decisions, in these challenging times.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 20/06/2022 08:22:54 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

1466384

	registered interest
	date	26/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, where the funds removed from the basic payment scheme in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022 were reallocated.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	9903
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/06/2022 answer text <p>Defra reports expenditure under agricultural support schemes by financial year rather than calendar year.</p><p> </p><p>The Department, as required by section 5 of chapter 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020, will prepare an annual report about the financial assistance given during each financial year, starting with financial year 2021-22. The first report will be laid before Parliament and published before 1 October 2022. It will contain details of where funds freed up from BPS have been spent.</p><p> </p><p>We will have the same requirement in 2022-23, where the reduction in basic payments will enable the launch of the Sustainable Farming Incentive in June 2022, an increase of Countryside Stewardship payment rates and a rise in demand for the scheme from farmers, and the continued rollout of other schemes to improve prosperity and reward environmental delivery including forthcoming grants for slurry stores.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 06/06/2022 15:44:57 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1466385

	registered interest
	date	26/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide details of his Department's expenditure on all agricultural support schemes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	9904
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2022 answer text <p>We have committed to maintain the farming budget for England at £2.4 billion for every year of this parliament. We are repurposing that budget to better support our farmers, but the amount spent will be the same.</p><p>Spend for the financial year 2020-21 is summarised in the table below against the buckets of spend outlined in the Agricultural Transition Plan, published in November 2020.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Scheme costs £m</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>20/21</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Direct Payments</p></td><td><p>1,873</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Environmental and animal welfare outcomes</p></td><td><p>457</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Improving farm prosperity</p></td><td><p>120</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total scheme costs</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2,450</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The Department, as required by section 5 of chapter 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020, will prepare an annual report about the financial assistance given during each financial year, starting with financial year 2021-22. The first report will be laid before Parliament and published before 1 October 2022.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 13/06/2022 17:08:52 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1466445

	registered interest
	date	26/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses expected to receive over (a) £100,000 (b) £200,000 (c) £250,000 and (d) £500,000 in Basic Payments in (i) 2022, (ii) 2023, (iii) 2024, (iv) 2025, (v) 2026 and (vi) 2027.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	9907
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2022 answer text <p>We have estimated the number of farm business in England which could receive Direct Payments above the specified amounts as follows:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Payment amount</strong></p></td><td colspan="3"><p><strong>Number of farm businesses by scheme year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2022</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2024</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £100,000</p></td><td><p>1,136</p></td><td><p>701</p></td><td><p>375</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £200,000</p></td><td><p>107</p></td><td><p>63</p></td><td><p>29</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £250,000</p></td><td><p>99</p></td><td><p>52</p></td><td><p>32</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £500,000</p></td><td><p>23</p></td><td><p>18</p></td><td><p>7</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>These estimates take account of the progressive reductions that we intend to apply to the payments, as announced in our Agricultural Transition Plan in 2020.</p><p> </p><p>We have not provided estimates for years 2025 to 2027 as the Government has not yet announced the progressive reductions which will be applied to Direct Payments in those years as we continue to phase the payments out.</p><p> </p><p>Money saved by Direct Payment reductions will be directly re-invested into English agriculture through our new schemes. These include our new environmental land management schemes as well as grants to enable farmers to invest in equipment, technology, and infrastructure. These will improve efficiency and productivity while also benefiting the climate and environment.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 13/06/2022 16:17:01 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1464951

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of uplifting support payments and grants to farmers in England in the context of the rates of agricultural inflation.
	tabling member constituency	Henley
	tabling member printed	John Howell
	uin	6738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>We are not at this time planning on applying inflation indices but we will review payment rates for our offers so that they remain credible and attractive to farmers.</p><p> </p><p>In light of recently rising input costs and price volatility around certain agricultural commodities such as nitrogen fertiliser, the Government is planning to change the way we make payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in 2022. Eligible farmers will now receive their payment in two instalments - half from the end of July and the rest from December 2022. This will be a permanent change to Direct Payments that will remain for the rest of the agricultural transition. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on the increase in revenue payment rates for the Countryside Stewardship scheme to reflect the change in costs since 2013, which Defra announced in January 2022. The majority of payment rates increased, on average by around 30%, although rate changes vary from option to option. These changes affected around 30,000 agreements and show we are willing and able to respond as and when there is a clear case.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2022, Defra began rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to recipients of the BPS. SFI will help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in crops to substitute some fertiliser requirements for the coming season, as well as reducing the dependence on manufactured fertilisers which are impacted by the price of gas. Rising fertiliser prices highlight that we need to find alternatives and move towards more organic-based fertiliser products. SFI is designed to help farmers move to these new sustainable farming methods gradually - which will improve environmental conditions of the land, while building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. Defra has also created the Fertiliser Taskforce - where Government and industry are working together to help improve market confidence and provide farmers with the information they need to make business decisions on fertiliser use.</p><p> </p><p>Towards the end of this year, farmers will be able to apply for slurry storage grants, helping them to meet the Farming Rules for Water and reducing their dependence on artificial fertilisers. This grant will contribute towards the costs of covered slurry store construction projects, helping farmers to get six months storage capacity. We will set the rates based on our assessment of the market at the time, as is our usual practice.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is supporting investment in technology and research to further improve productivity. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has offered grants of up to £48m to over 4,000 applicants - enabling farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure. We have also announced a new Adding Value theme - a £30 million fund helping farmers and growers to process, diversify and add-value to their products again using up to date market information.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that can impact farm income and productivity, as well as take-up of our agri-environment and other schemes. Defra will use the findings to inform our plans throughout the agricultural transition.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 6739 question first answered 01/06/2022 08:31:29 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1606 label Biography information for John Howell

1464952

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of applying inflation indexes to support payments and grants available to farmers in England.
	tabling member constituency	Henley
	tabling member printed	John Howell
	uin	6739
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>We are not at this time planning on applying inflation indices but we will review payment rates for our offers so that they remain credible and attractive to farmers.</p><p> </p><p>In light of recently rising input costs and price volatility around certain agricultural commodities such as nitrogen fertiliser, the Government is planning to change the way we make payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in 2022. Eligible farmers will now receive their payment in two instalments - half from the end of July and the rest from December 2022. This will be a permanent change to Direct Payments that will remain for the rest of the agricultural transition. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on the increase in revenue payment rates for the Countryside Stewardship scheme to reflect the change in costs since 2013, which Defra announced in January 2022. The majority of payment rates increased, on average by around 30%, although rate changes vary from option to option. These changes affected around 30,000 agreements and show we are willing and able to respond as and when there is a clear case.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2022, Defra began rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to recipients of the BPS. SFI will help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in crops to substitute some fertiliser requirements for the coming season, as well as reducing the dependence on manufactured fertilisers which are impacted by the price of gas. Rising fertiliser prices highlight that we need to find alternatives and move towards more organic-based fertiliser products. SFI is designed to help farmers move to these new sustainable farming methods gradually - which will improve environmental conditions of the land, while building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. Defra has also created the Fertiliser Taskforce - where Government and industry are working together to help improve market confidence and provide farmers with the information they need to make business decisions on fertiliser use.</p><p> </p><p>Towards the end of this year, farmers will be able to apply for slurry storage grants, helping them to meet the Farming Rules for Water and reducing their dependence on artificial fertilisers. This grant will contribute towards the costs of covered slurry store construction projects, helping farmers to get six months storage capacity. We will set the rates based on our assessment of the market at the time, as is our usual practice.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is supporting investment in technology and research to further improve productivity. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has offered grants of up to £48m to over 4,000 applicants - enabling farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure. We have also announced a new Adding Value theme - a £30 million fund helping farmers and growers to process, diversify and add-value to their products again using up to date market information.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that can impact farm income and productivity, as well as take-up of our agri-environment and other schemes. Defra will use the findings to inform our plans throughout the agricultural transition.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 6738 question first answered 01/06/2022 08:31:29 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1606 label Biography information for John Howell

1464056

	registered interest
	date	18/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing support payments and grants to farmers in England in the context of rates of agricultural inflation.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	4535
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>In light of recently rising input costs and price volatility around certain agricultural commodities such as nitrogen fertiliser, the Government is planning to change the way we make payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in 2022. Eligible farmers will now receive their payment in two instalments - half from the end of July and the rest from December 2022. This will be a permanent change to Direct Payments that will remain for the rest of the agricultural transition. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on the increase in revenue payment rates for the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme to reflect the change in costs since 2013, which Defra announced in January 2022. The majority of payment rates increased, on average by around 30%, although rate changes vary from option to option. These changes affected around 30,000 agreements.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2022, Defra began rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to recipients of the BPS. SFI will help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in crops to substitute some fertiliser requirements for the coming season, as well as reducing the dependence on manufactured fertilisers which are impacted by the price of gas. Rising fertiliser prices highlight that we need to find alternatives and move towards more organic-based fertiliser products. SFI is designed to help farmers move to these new sustainable farming methods gradually - which will improve environmental conditions of the land, while building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. Defra has also created the Fertiliser Taskforce - where Government and industry are working together to help improve market confidence and provide farmers with the information they need to make business decisions on fertiliser use.</p><p> </p><p>Towards the end of this year, farmers will be able to apply for slurry storage grants, helping them to meet the Farming Rules for Water and reducing their dependence on artificial fertilisers. This grant will contribute towards the costs of covered slurry store construction projects, helping farmers to get six months storage capacity.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is supporting investment in technology and research to further improve productivity. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has offered grants of up to £48m to over 4,000 applicants - enabling farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure. We have also announced a new Adding Value theme - a £30 million fund helping farmers and growers to process, diversify and add-value to their products. Furthermore, we have announced new Research Starter Projects - open to individual farming, growing or forestry businesses in England to develop feasibility studies to accelerate research and development.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that can impact farm income and productivity, as well as take-up of our agri-environment and other schemes. Defra will use the findings to inform our plans throughout the agricultural transition.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/06/2022 08:35:40 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1460143

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to review the impact of reductions in Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments to farmers in the period 2021-27 on the viability of English farms in the context of rising fertiliser and other input costs.
	tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
	tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
	uin	158898
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 28/04/2022 10:57:01 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1459848

	registered interest
	date	22/04/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of postponing the phase out of direct payments to farmers until 2024 in the context of the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global food production.
	tabling member constituency	South Staffordshire
	tabling member printed	Sir Gavin Williamson
	uin	157559
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>We are not going to change the profile of Direct Payments reductions.</p><p>Area based subsidy gave half the farming budget to 10% of landowners. The Basic Payment Scheme did not support food production and did nothing to stop the decline in nature. We must seize the opportunity to establish a different system of rewards and incentives in agriculture. I am pleased that we are supporting farmers with the choices that they make for their own holdings.</p><p>Defra has been engaging with industry via various forums to understand significant impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on individual industries and supply chains in Defra's sectors. No impacts have been reported that will severely disrupt entire markets.</p><p>Last month we announced steps to assist farmers with the availability of fertilisers for the coming growing season, to help address uncertainty amongst growers and help keep costs down for farmers.</p><p>The planned changes to the use of urea fertiliser will be delayed by at least a year, helping farmers manage costs and giving them more time to adapt to pressures on the supply of ammonium nitrate fertilisers. We are also encouraging farmers to make use of organic fertilisers. Farmers will be further supported by new slurry storage grants introduced this year.</p><p>Alongside this, we have published further details of the early rollout of Sustainable Farming Incentive. The scheme will help farmers move towards more sustainable farming practices over time; supporting farmers to build the health and fertility of their soil, and to reduce soil erosion which are essential for food production, helping to bolster food security and the longer-term resilience of the sector.</p><p>Defra will continue to keep the situation under review going forward.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 28/04/2022 07:43:25 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4108 label Biography information for Sir Gavin Williamson

1459215

	registered interest
	date	21/04/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will suspend incremental reductions in Basic Payment Scheme for 2022 and 2023 as a result of potential uncertainly and higher cost of production across all sectors.
	tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
	tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
	uin	157269
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2022 answer text <p>We will not change the profile of Direct Payments reductions.</p><p>Area based subsidy gave half the farming budget to 10% of landowners. The Basic Payment Scheme did not support food production and did nothing to stop the decline in nature. We must seize the opportunity to establish a different system of rewards and incentives in agriculture. I am pleased that we are supporting farmers with the choices that they make for their own holdings.</p><p>Last month we announced steps to assist farmers with the availability of fertilisers for the coming growing season, to help address uncertainty amongst growers and keep costs down for farmers.</p><p>The planned changes to the use of urea fertiliser will be delayed by at least a year, helping farmers manage costs and giving them more time to adapt to pressures on the supply of ammonium nitrate fertilisers. We are also encouraging farmers to make use of organic fertilisers. Farmers will be further supported by new slurry storage grants introduced this year.</p><p>Alongside this, we have published further details of the early rollout of Sustainable Farming Incentive. The scheme will help farmers move towards more sustainable farming practices over time; supporting farmers to build the health and fertility of their soil, and to reduce soil erosion which are essential for food production, helping to bolster food security and the longer-term resilience of the sector.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 26/04/2022 15:17:03 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

1401461

	registered interest
	date	10/01/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the total agricultural subsidy in each year of the next seven years; and what his timetable is for reviewing that level of spending.
	tabling member constituency	South Antrim
	tabling member printed	Paul Girvan
	uin	100655
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/01/2022 answer text <p>We have committed to maintain the farming budget for the duration of this parliament. On 1 January 2021 the agricultural transition period in England commenced. Between 2021 and 2027 the Government will seize the opportunity of EU exit to increase the sustainability, productivity and resilience of the agriculture sectors by:</p><ul><li>fulfilling the commitment to maintain total farm support in every nation of the UK worth a cumulative £3.7 billion a year.</li></ul><ul><li>progressing the Agricultural Transition in England including the roll out of Environmental Land Management schemes to pay farmers for delivering climate and environmental benefits while producing the nation's food.</li></ul><p>Figure 1 of the Agricultural Transition Plan, published in November 2020, sets out our high-level spending plans across the rest of the parliament.</p><p>This is the first four years of the agricultural transition period and is covered by the Government's commitment to maintain current levels of spending in England, based on 2019 funding levels when the manifesto commitment was made. This amounts to an average of £2.4 billion a year over that period.</p><p>In 2021/22, the period covered by the Government Spending Review, total spend is expected to be £2,415 million. Of that we intend to spend £1,644 million on Direct Payments, £562 million on new and existing schemes for environmental outcomes and £210 million on schemes supporting prosperity in the sector in addition to contributing to environmental and animal health welfare outcomes.</p><p>We will quantify spending plans for meeting the manifesto commitment in future years as part of future Spending Reviews and subject to final policy designs.</p><p>As we move through the transition, we need to be able to adjust our funding allocations in-year as we see what works, and what schemes and support farmers are interested in.</p><p>We will keep adjustments to a minimum, to provide as much certainty as possible, and we will make any changes in an open and transparent way. We intend to continue to make gradual reductions in Direct Payments across the rest of the transition until the last year of Direct Payments in 2027.</p><p>We continually review our spending plans as we learn more about farmer uptake in our schemes, iterate policy development and roll out new schemes.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 19/01/2022 16:42:24 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4633 label Biography information for Paul Girvan

1383913

	registered interest
	date	01/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish further clarifications of the assistance that farmers will receive from the Rural Payments Agency before such changes are implemented; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
	tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
	uin	85185
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2021 answer text <p>I am happy to say that on 2 December this year , we published a document called <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fsustainable-farming-incentive-how-the-scheme-will-work-in-2022&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7Cd62a292d548d4044ec6208d9be2e653d%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C637749928745252432%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=GTs4Nz0j2JYUvcKa3EoUQNagPzj%2BM9CUgXEvFmHba1A%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Sustainable Farming Incentive – how the scheme will work in 2022</a>.</p><p>The new document builds on the information we published about the scheme in the <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fagricultural-transition-plan-june-2021-progress-update&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7Cd62a292d548d4044ec6208d9be2e653d%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C637749928745262423%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=wCmO7QG5ET27DhcTiLQM1fprvUdtajIgwFQC%2B53qx7A%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Agricultural Transition Plan: June 2021 progress update</a>. It includes a wealth of information – including detail on eligibility, applications, payments, the Annual Health and Welfare Review and more. It also provides even more information on the standards that will be available from 2022, and how we intend to expand the scheme until the full offer is available in 2025.</p><p>This document provides the next level of detail necessary for farmers to make the right decisions for them and their business.</p><p>We will be releasing more information on the Local Nature Recovery scheme and Landscape Recovery soon.</p><p>Farmers can keep up to date on the latest information about changes to farming, including on Landscape Recovery applications and guidance, by signing up to the Defra e-alert, and subscribing to our Future Farming blog.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 14/12/2021 14:51:56 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

1329568

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of lost revenue from reductions in Basic Payments Scheme payments that farmers will be able to recoup through the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	10406
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>We will soon be announcing the initial standards that we will be offering to farmers in the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme for 2022. The scheme will expand over time and evolve to deliver continued progress against our climate and environmental priorities and reflect any changes to the regulatory baseline.</p><p> </p><p>The scheme will give farmers an opportunity to secure a complementary income stream to their farm business by undertaking sustainable farming actions that benefit the wider environment.</p><p> </p><p>It will be up to individual farmers to decide which standards they take up on their farm and how much of their land they decide to put into the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, alongside other agri-environment schemes that such as Countryside Stewardship or Environmental Stewardship.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 14/06/2021 12:21:31 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1329574

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of farms under five hectares not receiving basic payments that are expected to benefit from the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Environmental Land Management schemes.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	10410
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>When the Sustainable Farming Incentive begins in 2022 it will be open to Basic Payment Scheme recipients only, but, subject to what we learn from piloting the Sustainable Farming Incentive, as the scheme expands we intend to open eligibility so that in 2024 it is open to all farmers. Our aim is to make it attractive and straightforward for everyone to take part, including the many farmers who are not currently in an agri-environment scheme.</p><p>We only monitor commercial farms,[1] which account for 98% of total agricultural activity. At this stage it is not possible to estimate how many farms with less than 5 hectares will benefit from the environmental land management schemes.</p><p>_______________________________________________________________________________________________________</p><p>[1] Commercial farms are those with significant levels of farming activity. These significant levels are classified as any holding with more than 5 hectares of agricultural land, 1 hectare of orchards, 0.5 hectares of vegetables or 0.1 hectares of protected crops, or more than 10 cows, 50 pigs, 20 sheep, 20 goats or 1,000 poultry.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 14/06/2021 12:39:46 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1329575

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of UK farms received Basic Payment Scheme in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	10411
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>Unfortunately we cannot provide accurate estimates of the proportion of the whole farming population in England claiming Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). Estimates of the entire farming population are collected using criteria which do not correspond to those governing how BPS claimants are classified, and therefore no direct comparison can be made.</p><p> </p><p>Over the last five years (2016-2020) the following numbers of farms/businesses in England received a payment from the BPS:</p><p> </p><p>2016 - 85,837</p><p>2017 - 85,127</p><p>2018 - 84,020</p><p>2019 - 83,947</p><p>2020 - 83,852</p><p> </p><p>BPS is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only and is for registered farms/businesses.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 14/06/2021 16:11:43 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1329120

	registered interest
	date	27/05/2021
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether for tax purposes there is any distinction between payments made to farmers under (1) the EU Basic Payment Scheme, (2) the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, and (3) the Environmental Land Management system.
	tabling member printed	Lord Marlesford
	uin	HL670
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2021 answer text <p>There is no distinction for tax purposes between payments made under the three listed schemes. It is necessary to analyse the purpose and function of any government grant in order to form a view as to how it is likely to be treated for tax purposes. The tax treatment of a payment under any relevant scheme will depend on whether it is a trading receipt, whether it is capital or revenue in nature, and how it is recognised in the accounts of the farmer’s business.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 08/06/2021 11:43:35 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	1854 label Biography information for Lord Marlesford

1313958

	registered interest
	date	12/05/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the transition away from Basic Payments Schemes on commoners and upland agricultural businesses.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	764
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2021 answer text <p>The Government published a comprehensive evidence compendium, updated in September 2019. This set out the impacts of removing Direct Payments, including analysis by sector, location in England and type of land tenure. It also provided analysis on how farm businesses, across all sectors, can offset the impact of Direct Payments.</p><p>We are planning to publish further analysis by autumn this year. This will analyse farm incomes and how these will change between now and 2027.</p><p>Our latest preliminary findings are consistent with previous analysis that is publicly available. We know that those farm types which are prevalent in the uplands and areas of common land, particularly grazing livestock and tenanted farmers, currently have a high reliance on Direct Payments.</p><p>These farms can be rewarded under our new environmental land management schemes. They are therefore well placed to benefit as more public money is provided through such schemes and we will ensure that these schemes work for upland farmers. In designing these schemes, we know that the payment rates need to be attractive to achieve the levels of uptake and environmental outcomes we need to see, as well as set at a fair rate.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 21/05/2021 13:28:51 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1305634

	registered interest
	date	24/03/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that landlords cannot take a disproportionate share of their tenant's delinked farm payments.
	tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
	tabling member printed	Tim Farron
	uin	174791
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2021 answer text <p>Eligibility for delinked payments will be based on a reference period. For example, it may be necessary to have claimed, and been eligible under the Basic Payment Scheme, in a particular scheme year or years. Where land is let to a tenant, it is the tenant and not the landlord who is eligible to use it to claim under Basic Payment Scheme. Similarly, we expect that tenants who received a Basic Payment Scheme payment during the reference period will usually be eligible to receive a delinked payment. We are consulting with the industry on the detail of how delinked payments will work.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 19/04/2021 14:52:56 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1300417

	registered interest
	date	08/03/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of direct payments made to farmers were (a) less than £30,000, (b) £30,000 to £50,000, (c) £50,001 to £150,000 and (d) more than £150,000 in the most recent financial year for which that information is available.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	164502
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2021 answer text <p>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has a number of schemes providing direct payments to the rural economy. The three main land schemes, which offer an annual payment, are Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS) and the Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ES).</p><p> </p><p>For the current 2020 Scheme year the figures are below:</p><p> </p><p><strong>BPS Paid Population = 83,593</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>BPS </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion of Payments</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>a)</p></td><td><p>less than £30,000</p></td><td><p>79.8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>b)</p></td><td><p>£30,000 to £50,000</p></td><td><p>9.8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>c)</p></td><td><p>£50,001 to £150,000</p></td><td><p>9.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>d)</p></td><td><p>over £150,000</p></td><td><p>1.3%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>CS Paid Population = 12,409</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>CS </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion of Payments</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>a)</p></td><td><p>less than £30,000</p></td><td><p>95.7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>b)</p></td><td><p>£30,000 to £50,000</p></td><td><p>2.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>c)</p></td><td><p>£50,001 to £150,000</p></td><td><p>1.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>d)</p></td><td><p>over £150,000</p></td><td><p>0.1%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>ES Paid Population = 8,300</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>ES </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion of Payments</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>a)</p></td><td><p>Less than £30,000</p></td><td><p>89.0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>b)</p></td><td><p>£30,000 to £50,000</p></td><td><p>6.4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>c)</p></td><td><p>£50,001 to £150,000</p></td><td><p>4.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>d)</p></td><td><p>Over £150,000</p></td><td><p>0.4%</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 11/03/2021 15:52:07 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1284786

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of payments made by the Rural Payments Agency are received on time.
	tabling member constituency	West Dorset
	tabling member printed	Chris Loder
	uin	150940
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/02/2021 answer text <p>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has a number of schemes which provide financial support to the rural economy. The three main land schemes, which offer an annual payment, are Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS) and the Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ES).</p><p> </p><p>Famers submitting a valid claim under these schemes will normally receive a payment between 1 December and 30 June the following year.</p><p> </p><p>For 2019 we released by 30 June:</p><p>o BPS 2019 – 84,225 (99.9%) payments worth £1.79bn</p><p>o CS 2019 – 10,899 (94.2%) worth £88.46m</p><p>o ES 2019 – 12,020 (97.7%) worth £182.22m</p><p> </p><p>There are several reasons for why payments may be delayed beyond the 30 June such as ongoing discussions with claimants, the resolution of probate, or ongoing fraud investigations.</p><p> </p><p>Payments for 2020 claims began in December and are ongoing. The RPA delivered its best ever December payment performance, paying around 98% of BPS claims by the end of the year, despite the challenges caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 15/02/2021 16:19:02 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4751 label Biography information for Chris Loder

1280068

	registered interest
	date	25/01/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assumptions his Department has used on the level of rents for agricultural land as Basic Payment Scheme payments are phased out.
	tabling member constituency	Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport
	tabling member printed	Luke Pollard
	uin	143087
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/02/2021 answer text <p>Rent prices could fall for tenant farmers as Direct Payments are removed. There is evidence that Direct Payments inflate farm rent prices, meaning some of the payment supports the income of the landowner, not the tenant farmer.</p><p> </p><p>Academic evidence suggests that an average of 20 to 25 cents per euro paid to tenants across the EU goes to the landlord, though the land market conditions in England give reason to believe the figure could be different here. A combination of high demand for farmland, varied rental agreements and re-directed Direct Payment spend means that any fall in rents is difficult to estimate with certainty. Additionally, it's likely there would be large regional and local variations linked to considerable differences in demand and supply of land across the country.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 02/02/2021 13:13:40 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4682 label Biography information for Luke Pollard