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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

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

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