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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