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1730176

registered interest
date	04/10/2024
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, whether he plans to commission an impact assessment of the agricultural transition plan.
tabling member constituency	South Holland and The Deepings
tabling member printed	Sir John Hayes
uin	5867
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/10/2024 answer text <p>The present Government will not be over-turning the applecart. We are fully committed to the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes set out in the previous Government’s Agricultural Transition Plan. We will optimise these schemes in an orderly way to ensure they produce the right outcomes for farmers.</p><p> </p><p>We plan to increase the transparency of these schemes by publishing data on the impact they are having. We will confirm next steps in the rollout of other ELM schemes, including how we will publish this data, in due course.</p> answering member constituency Cambridge answering member printed Daniel Zeichner question first answered 09/10/2024 10:25:06 answering member 4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner
tabling member	350 label Biography information for Sir John Hayes

1714841

registered interest
date	30/04/2024
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 his Department's spending on agricultural payment schemes in the financial year 2022-2023.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	24213
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/05/2024 answer text <p>In September 2023, the Farming and Countryside Programme (FCP) published an annual report for financial year 2022 to 2023. This set out that the FCP spent a total of £2.230 billion on our existing, and new farming schemes.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 03/05/2024 10:26:24 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1689265

registered interest
date	16/02/2024
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 take steps to ensure that future multi-annual farming support funding is given in seven-year blocks.
tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
tabling member printed	Steven Bonnar
uin	14188
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>The farming budget is set through UK government funding settlements which typically cover 3-5 year period.</p><p> </p><p>Environmental land management agreements are funded over different time periods, retaining flexibility for farmers within our offers, with options for longer agreements where farmers want or need those.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 23/02/2024 13:25:50 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	4748 label Biography information for Steven Bonnar

1689266

registered interest
date	16/02/2024
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 guarantee funding for farming subsidies after 2025.
tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
tabling member printed	Steven Bonnar
uin	14189
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>Defra has guaranteed the annual budget for the farming sector for the life of this Parliament. Future budgets will be decided by future governments.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 23/02/2024 13:22:45 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	4748 label Biography information for Steven Bonnar

1684860

registered interest
date	24/01/2024
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, whether he plans to replace the cross-compliance regulations for rural payments which ceased to have effect on 31 December 2023.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	11301
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/02/2024 answer text <p>Farm standards following the end of cross compliance are being maintained through existing and ongoing domestic regulations that protect the environment, public, animal and plant health and animal welfare. These regulations cover most of the cross-compliance rules. Almost all of the rules that are not in underlying legislation have cover through existing and forthcoming guidance, regulation or incentives. We will seek to regulate to maintain hedgerow protections when parliamentary time allows.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 06/02/2024 17:04:18 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1684861

registered interest
date	24/01/2024
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 environmental impact of the end of cross-compliance regulations for rural payments on (a) hedgerows, (b) soil cover and (c) watercourse buffer strips.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	11302
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/02/2024 answer text <p>An assessment of the environmental and economic impacts of the removal of direct payments and cross compliance was published in September 2018, during the passage of the Agriculture Bill.</p><p> </p><p>We will seek to regulate to maintain hedgerow protections when parliamentary time allows. The gaps between cross compliance rules and regulatory requirements in regard to water buffer strips and soil cover are either mitigated by regulation such as through generalised provisions in Farming Rules for Water and the Water Resources Act, guidance like the Code of Practice of the use of Plant Protection Products, and standards in the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 06/02/2024 17:21:47 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1679114

registered interest
date	19/12/2023
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, whether he plans to ensure that farmers are able to (a) access and (b) use capital grants.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	7537
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/01/2024 answer text <p>We have a range of capital grant offers which are readily accessible to our farmers, foresters and land managers to help improve our environment by planting trees and hedges, reducing air pollution and improving water quality. We also offer opportunities for them to invest in the equipment, technology and infrastructure that will help their businesses to prosper, while improving their productivity and enhancing the environment. These grants will continue to be available next year.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 08/01/2024 15:08:57 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1678451

registered interest
date	18/12/2023
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 progress his Department has made towards developing a new regulatory regime to be implemented once cross-compliance ends in 2024.
tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
tabling member printed	Mr Toby Perkins
uin	7314
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/01/2024 answer text <p>Defra has been working to ensure we deliver fair, effective regulation of farming and maintain our important environmental and animal health standards. All Defra group regulators have been involved in creating a better shared regulatory approach. Recent improvements include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>publication of a <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fguidance%2Frules-for-farmers-and-land-managers&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C2358b902182641582bbe08dc013689e2%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638386580941387919%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=VmY5%2BCnhR0reaiR7f4a7tti5vJi6ObK0vHVlme6NSNA%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">single navigation page</a> for rules for farmers on GOV.UK, developed with farmers, making it easier to find out what rules apply</li><li>increasing the advice offered by the Farming Advice Service so we can reach more farmers.</li><li>expanding the regulatory resource for the Environment Agency with a test and learn approach on how we best enable compliance.</li><li>opening Round 2 of our slurry infrastructure grant, as part of our commitment to spend over £200m on infrastructure and equipment grants to help to help livestock farmers in England tackle pollution from slurry.</li><li>consulting on how we can best protect hedgerows as we phase out farm subsidies and cross compliance rules.</li></ul><p> </p><p>As part of the Shared Regulatory Approach, we have worked with:</p><p> </p><ul><li>the Environment Agency in how it supports farmers to undertake farming activities in a way that minimises risk to environmental outcomes</li><li>Natural England in how it helps farmers protect and enhance Protected Sites and biodiversity</li><li>the Rural Payments Agency and the Animal and Plant Health Agency in how they help farmers to protect the health of our plants and animals and to maintain biosecurity</li><li>the Forestry Commission in how it helps farmers protect and enhance our trees and woodlands.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 08/01/2024 14:59:34 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

1678727

registered interest
date	18/12/2023
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to permitting farmers transitioning from Basic Payments to Delinked Payments to discount one or more of the years in the reference period as a result of (1) events outside their control, or (2) a mistake; and whether they intend to review and amend the Agriculture (Delinked Payments and Consequential Provisions) (England) Regulations 2023 in this regard.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham
uin	HL1305
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/01/2024 answer text <p>Delinked payments will be based on the average Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payment made to the farmer during the 2020 to 2022 reference period. The Government considers that using an average over three years is fair as any anomalies will be evened out. This takes account of responses to our 2021 consultation on delinked payments.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, where a farmer suffered exceptional circumstances which affected their ability to meet the BPS rules in the reference period, they were able to apply at the time under the BPS force majeure rules. In such cases, the Rural Payments Agency may not have applied a reduction to the BPS payment for non-compliance with the rules.</p> answering member printed Lord Douglas-Miller question first answered 04/01/2024 15:30:03 answering member 5006 label Biography information for Lord Douglas-Miller
tabling member	4940 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham

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