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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

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

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

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

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