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1045493

registered interest
date	21/01/2019
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 discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for the proposed new Environmental Land Management Schemes after 2022.
tabling member constituency	South Cambridgeshire
tabling member printed	Heidi Allen
uin	210558
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State and I have regular meetings with the Chancellor on a wide range of issues. Funding of all government business after 2022 will be determined as part of the next Spending Review.</p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 29/01/2019 12:42:47 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4516 label Biography information for Heidi Allen

1045495

registered interest
date	21/01/2019
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 role of public advice in the effective delivery of the proposed new Environmental Land Management Schemes.
tabling member constituency	South Cambridgeshire
tabling member printed	Heidi Allen
uin	210559
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2019 answer text <p>We will be introducing a new Environmental Land Management (ELM) system that will pay land managers for delivering environmental public goods.</p><p> </p><p>The government will work with farmers and land managers who wish to improve the environment by entering into multi-annual ELM contracts in which land managers commit to take certain actions to deliver environmental goods and benefits in return for funding.</p><p> </p><p>We believe that those managing the land are best placed to decide how to deliver the environmental benefits they have signed up to provide. We propose that land managers should have access to the information and advice they need to enable them to develop holistic management plans for their land.</p><p> </p><p>Evidence from previous agri-environment schemes suggests that the effectiveness of measures and the quality of environmental benefits can depend on the quality and extent of advice from trusted advisers. We propose that an approved specialist adviser should be readily available to help the land manager to deliver desirable environmental outcomes. We want land managers to establish trusted relationships with their adviser. We are therefore exploring the role that third party advisers could play. For example, an adviser could be an agronomist who a farmer has worked with in the past and trusts, or an adviser from a local organisation who can advise on local conditions. We expect that these advisers would need to be approved to demonstrate their level of capability and to ensure sufficient protection for the spending of public money. The appetite for existing advisers training to deliver advice within ELM, and the market for delivering this training, is being tested through a combination of policy development, Testing and Trials and social science involvement, with an intelligence assessment in development.</p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 29/01/2019 12:29:36 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4516 label Biography information for Heidi Allen

1038555

registered interest
date	09/01/2019
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, when he plans to lift the minimum five hectare qualification for receiving farm subsidy payments.
tabling member constituency	Bristol East
tabling member printed	Kerry McCarthy
uin	206819
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2019 answer text <p>We have no plans to remove the five hectare minimum qualification for receiving Direct Payments under the Basic Payment Scheme in England.</p><p> </p><p>We will pay Direct Payments for the 2019 scheme year on the same basis as for 2018. We also plan to allocate the money paid in Direct Payments for 2020 in much the same way that we do now. We will, however, look to make simplifications to make it easier to apply for and administer Direct Payments to increase value for money. We will do this as soon as we can, and in line with the terms of the implementation period.</p><p> </p><p>The future agriculture policy outlined in the Agriculture Bill does not envisage area based direct payments in the longer term.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 14/01/2019 17:31:40 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	1491 label Biography information for Kerry McCarthy

1013122

registered interest
date	23/11/2018
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 cost to date of the Government's CAP IT system.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh North and Leith
tabling member printed	Deidre Brock
uin	195104
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2018 answer text <p>The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Delivery Programme was a combined effort between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rural Payments Agency, Government Digital Service and other bodies to develop new systems and processes to support the implementation of the CAP in England. It was established in 2012 to address failings in how it was previously delivered and to adapt to the increased complexity of the new CAP.</p><p> </p><p>More information on the programme costs and benefits can be found at: <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/early-review-of-cap-delivery-programme-15-16/" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/early-review-of-cap-delivery-programme-15-16/</a></p><p> </p><p>The Programme for England was formally closed in March 2017 at a cost of £216 million. Since programme closure it has cost circa £3m per year to make year on year improvements to the system such as making it available online and on-going maintenance and support.</p><p> </p><p>Costs incurred in other regions is a Devolved issue.</p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 05/12/2018 13:40:59 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4417 label Biography information for Deidre Brock

1005699

registered interest
date	12/11/2018
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 a programme of capital grants will be continued and apply throughout the UK to assist farmers in adopting methods of agricultural production that maximise efficiency, environmental responsibility and welfare improvements.
tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
uin	190415
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>The Countryside Productivity scheme provides funding, including grants, for projects in England which improve productivity in the farming and forestry sectors. In October this year we committed £30 million for further rounds of the Countryside Productivity Small Grant scheme, which helps farmers buy equipment they need to boost productivity, increase yields, and become more environmentally efficient.</p><p> </p><p>The Agriculture Bill sets out the foundations for the future. It includes provisions which would allow for financial assistance to be given to improve the productivity of agricultural activities. This will allow us to make payments to enable farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure that will help them to improve their productivity. The payments will also help farmers to deliver public goods, such as environmental benefits and animal health and welfare enhancements that are significantly above the regulatory baseline.</p><p> </p><p>We are developing a policy for England. Agriculture is devolved, and so it is for the devolved administrations to determine their own policies and decide how they spend their money.</p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 20/11/2018 14:41:27 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

992855

registered interest
date	22/10/2018
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 the farm subsidy system he plans to introduce after the UK leaves the EU will award subsidies based on farm hectares.
tabling member constituency	Clwyd South
tabling member printed	Susan Elan Jones
uin	182191
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2018 answer text <p>We want to move away from a system that awards subsidies based on the amount of land held. We will create an ambitious new system based on paying “public money for public goods”. Public goods will include improving air and water quality, mitigating climate change and providing habitats for wildlife.</p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 25/10/2018 13:40:58 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	3956 label Biography information for Susan Elan Jones

968237

registered interest
date	05/09/2018
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 he is taking to ensure that support payments are paid by the Rural Payments Agency in a timely manner, in light of the dry weather in summer 2018.
tabling member constituency	Hove
tabling member printed	Peter Kyle
uin	170859
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2018 answer text <p>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is fully focused on getting Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2018 payments issued promptly. Given the prescriptive EU requirements in making advance payments, the RPA will concentrate on making payments from the opening of the payment window in December. In addition we are reviewing options, such as bringing forward bridging payments, for those BPS claimants who will not have received their BPS 2018 payments in December.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 10/09/2018 12:23:55 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4505 label Biography information for Peter Kyle

968245

registered interest
date	05/09/2018
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 representations he has received from industry organisations and farmers requesting flexibility in the application of CAP schemes or agri-environment schemes, in light of the dry weather in summer 2018.
tabling member constituency	Hove
tabling member printed	Peter Kyle
uin	170864
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2018 answer text <p>Farmers in the UK, Ireland and across northern Europe, have experienced a difficult time this year with the hot, dry weather. The impacts are likely to be most severely felt by grazing livestock due to the shortage of grass, but the full effect may not be realised until later in the year. We have prioritised practical solutions to help farmers increase access to fodder and bedding both now and in the coming months. These actions will help farmers to limit the impact of extra feed costs by allocating land to forage growth and grazing, but we will keep the situation under review.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Particular measures the Government has taken to help farmers are:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>We have clarified that English farmers, unlike farmers in other EU countries where derogations have been sought, have been able to use fallow land for grazing since 1 July. That is because our legislation reflects what we consider to be the minimum EU requirement.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>We were the first Member State to raise a concern with the Commission to establish Ecological Focus Area (EFA) catch crops by 20 August: Other Member States agreed with us and the Commission agreed that “force majeure” would apply in these circumstances, so we could waive penalties for farmers in this situation.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>We are seeking a derogation from the requirement to sow only certain seed types which are unpalatable to livestock in EFA areas as catch crop. The derogation we expect to secure shortly will allow for grass and herbaceous forage to be grown in those areas, and for those areas to be grazed.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>On Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and forestry legacy agreements farmers are able to ask Natural England to agree a temporary variation to the agreement conditions, either as an Environmental Stewardship Derogation (to date, over 130 have been granted) or a Countryside Stewardship Minor and Temporary Adjustment (over 30 have so far been granted). We will allow farmers to derogate temporarily from specific prescriptions to provide bedding, fodder and grazing for livestock without materially affecting the environmental benefits of their agreement.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I will monitor whether the fodder import scheme that has been introduced in Ireland has an appreciable effect on supplies of fodder and bedding within the UK. We have also made the point to the European Commission that whilst the UK is committed to working to identify appropriate responses to this year’s weather impacts, these should not interfere with the normal functioning of the market or obscure the focus of farmers in mitigating weather impacts.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Opportunities such as the ones described above were discussed with a wide range of stakeholders at the National Farmers’ Union “Dry Weather Summit” on 1 August 2018 and we have received some further representations in writing from farming industry organisations. Further discussions took place at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) Industry Partnership Group meeting in Reading on 20 August 2018. Additionally, a small number of individual farmers have made representations through the RPA’s Helpline. All representations received have been considered in the round and informed the approach we are taking to offering all available support to alleviate the impacts of the recent extreme weather conditions for farmers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice grouped question UIN 170410 170411 170417 170418 170556 question first answered 10/09/2018 12:18:32 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4505 label Biography information for Peter Kyle

967860

registered interest
date	04/09/2018
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 has plans to make changes to the Rural Payments Agency as a result of the recent summer dry weather to ensure that support payments are paid in a timely manner.
tabling member constituency	Canterbury
tabling member printed	Rosie Duffield
uin	170416
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2018 answer text <p>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is fully focussed on getting Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2018 payments issued promptly from the opening of the payment window in December. In addition we are reviewing options, such as bringing forward bridging payments, for those BPS claimants who have not received their BPS 2018 payments by the end of December.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 11/09/2018 11:57:28 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4616 label Biography information for Rosie Duffield

967861

registered interest
date	04/09/2018
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 representations he has made to the European Commission on introducing flexibility on greening and agri-environment schemes as a result of the 2018 summer’s dry weather.
tabling member constituency	Canterbury
tabling member printed	Rosie Duffield
uin	170417
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2018 answer text <p>Farmers in the UK, Ireland and across northern Europe, have experienced a difficult time this year with the hot, dry weather. The impacts are likely to be most severely felt by grazing livestock due to the shortage of grass, but the full effect may not be realised until later in the year. We have prioritised practical solutions to help farmers increase access to fodder and bedding both now and in the coming months. These actions will help farmers to limit the impact of extra feed costs by allocating land to forage growth and grazing, but we will keep the situation under review.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Particular measures the Government has taken to help farmers are:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>We have clarified that English farmers, unlike farmers in other EU countries where derogations have been sought, have been able to use fallow land for grazing since 1 July. That is because our legislation reflects what we consider to be the minimum EU requirement.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>We were the first Member State to raise a concern with the Commission to establish Ecological Focus Area (EFA) catch crops by 20 August: Other Member States agreed with us and the Commission agreed that “force majeure” would apply in these circumstances, so we could waive penalties for farmers in this situation.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>We are seeking a derogation from the requirement to sow only certain seed types which are unpalatable to livestock in EFA areas as catch crop. The derogation we expect to secure shortly will allow for grass and herbaceous forage to be grown in those areas, and for those areas to be grazed.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>On Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and forestry legacy agreements farmers are able to ask Natural England to agree a temporary variation to the agreement conditions, either as an Environmental Stewardship Derogation (to date, over 130 have been granted) or a Countryside Stewardship Minor and Temporary Adjustment (over 30 have so far been granted). We will allow farmers to derogate temporarily from specific prescriptions to provide bedding, fodder and grazing for livestock without materially affecting the environmental benefits of their agreement.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I will monitor whether the fodder import scheme that has been introduced in Ireland has an appreciable effect on supplies of fodder and bedding within the UK. We have also made the point to the European Commission that whilst the UK is committed to working to identify appropriate responses to this year’s weather impacts, these should not interfere with the normal functioning of the market or obscure the focus of farmers in mitigating weather impacts.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Opportunities such as the ones described above were discussed with a wide range of stakeholders at the National Farmers’ Union “Dry Weather Summit” on 1 August 2018 and we have received some further representations in writing from farming industry organisations. Further discussions took place at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) Industry Partnership Group meeting in Reading on 20 August 2018. Additionally, a small number of individual farmers have made representations through the RPA’s Helpline. All representations received have been considered in the round and informed the approach we are taking to offering all available support to alleviate the impacts of the recent extreme weather conditions for farmers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice grouped question UIN 170410 170411 170418 170556 170864 question first answered 10/09/2018 12:18:31 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4616 label Biography information for Rosie Duffield