To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many individual
environmental land management scheme projects he plans to establish to test and trial
(a) climate change mitigation and adaptation, (b) supporting public access to farmland
and better understanding of the countryside, (c) preventing, reducing or protecting
from environmental hazards (including pesticides) and (d) widening the range of farm
sectors represented, including agri-environment programmes, horticulture, pigs and
poultry.
<p>These questions have been answered as one to enable the Environmental Land Management
Scheme (ELM) approach to be outlined in full in a single place.</p><p> </p><p>An ELM
is being developed to pay land managers public money for delivering environmental
public goods. This is a large programme of work with 81 full time staff with grades
ranging from Administrative Officer to Deputy Director.</p><p> </p><p>The Government
has taken a number of steps to ensure it has strong risk and programme management
foundations in place and will continue to assess and manage these as appropriate.
It is not Government policy to publish departmental risk registers given the inherent
risks involved.</p><p> </p><p>ELM is scheduled to be rolled out from late 2024, with
a National Pilot beginning in late 2021. Detailed planning of the pilot is in train.
The pilot will run for three years, and will aim to assess the end-to-end operability
and deliverability of the scheme and allow us to identify and refine any issues or
barriers that occur in practice.</p><p> </p><p>To support the development of ELM we
are undertaking a number of test and trials. The work is being facilitated by a range
of stakeholders, including farmer groups, representative bodies and non-governmental
organisations, and covers a range of geographies and sectors. 47 proposals are being
taken forward in phase 1. We are working closely with stakeholders to finalise these.
Depending on the complexity of the test or trial we anticipate the first of these
commencing in Autumn 2019. We have received over 200 proposals for phase 2. We will
prioritise those proposals that fill gaps in scheme delivery components, outcomes
and land management sectors identified from the coverage of the first 47 proposals.</p><p>
</p><p>We are working with stakeholders to understand how much funding they might
require from the Government to support the delivery of the tests and trials in line
with value for money principles.</p><p> </p>
