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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

1280068

registered interest
date	25/01/2021
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 assumptions his Department has used on the level of rents for agricultural land as Basic Payment Scheme payments are phased out.
tabling member constituency	Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport
tabling member printed	Luke Pollard
uin	143087
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/02/2021 answer text <p>Rent prices could fall for tenant farmers as Direct Payments are removed. There is evidence that Direct Payments inflate farm rent prices, meaning some of the payment supports the income of the landowner, not the tenant farmer.</p><p> </p><p>Academic evidence suggests that an average of 20 to 25 cents per euro paid to tenants across the EU goes to the landlord, though the land market conditions in England give reason to believe the figure could be different here. A combination of high demand for farmland, varied rental agreements and re-directed Direct Payment spend means that any fall in rents is difficult to estimate with certainty. Additionally, it's likely there would be large regional and local variations linked to considerable differences in demand and supply of land across the country.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 02/02/2021 13:13:40 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4682 label Biography information for Luke Pollard

1279322

registered interest
date	21/01/2021
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 to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if will he provide further information on the new entrant support schemes outlined in the Agricultural Transition Plan 2021-2024.
tabling member constituency	Tatton
tabling member printed	Esther McVey
uin	141438
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2021 answer text <p>As set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan this Government will provide funding to create lasting opportunities for new entrants to access land, infrastructure and support to establish successful and innovative businesses.</p><p> </p><p>Funding for this new entrant scheme will be allocated from savings resulting from reducing direct payments helping new farmers to access opportunities in the sector in future.</p><p> </p><p>The details and eligibility criteria of the new entrant scheme are being developed through a consultative co-design process with stakeholders. The co-design steering group includes representatives of local authorities with council farm estates, new entrant farmers, providers of innovation support for new farmers, cooperative and community land organisations and private landowners. We will also be engaging a wide range of stakeholders through workshops on key issues between February and May 2021. We will report more details of the scheme in the summer of 2021 and aim to launch the scheme in 2022.</p><p> </p><p>During the agricultural transition the Government also intends to offer eligible farmers the option of a lump sum payment in place of future Direct Payments if they wish to leave the industry. By making it easier for those farmers who wish to retire to do so, the lump sum payment should free up more land for new entrants to start up. We plan to consult farmers on the details of our lump sum scheme shortly.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In addition, the Government is working with the Skills Leadership Group to introduce a professional body for agriculture and horticulture creating clear career pathways and promoting the sector as a progressive career choice to those wishing to enter the industry.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 141437 141439 141441 141443 141444 question first answered 29/01/2021 12:41:29 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey