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These initiatives were driven by Baroness Rock, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
Baroness Rock has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Baroness Rock has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
Following consultation, the Government implemented new provisions to help resolve disputes relating to requests for variations to Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy agreements. This is because these agreements were negotiated over 30 years ago in a very different policy and commercial context than we have today, and they are more likely to need variation and modernisation. Consultation responses did not support the same changes to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 because Farm Business Tenancies are modern agreements more recently negotiated and entered into by both parties.
The Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 enables the tenant and landlord to agree at the start of a tenancy that diversified activity (such as environmental activities) can take place on the holding whilst still confirming they intend it to remain a Farm Business Tenancy throughout the length of the agreement. The Government encourages landlords and tenants of Farm Business Tenancies to work together to find solutions to agreed diversifications including using the land for environmental improvements which can often be delivered alongside agricultural production. To encourage this further, the Tenancy Reform Industry Group, which includes representatives of tenants and landlords, has recently produced a Code of Good Practice providing guidance to help tenants, landlords and their advisers take a positive approach to agreeing variations to tenancy agreements.
The Government is working to ensure that the design of our future farming schemes is accessible to as many land managers as possible, including tenant farmers. As part of this, we are considering questions around landlord consent and length of scheme agreement and we are exploring and testing how our new schemes might work in practice across different types of holdings and different types and lengths of tenancy agreements. The Government is grateful for the ongoing constructive contribution that industry representatives of agricultural tenants and landlords are making to this process as we move through the agricultural transition period.
The Tenant Farmers Association provides a constructive contribution to considerations on the letting of agricultural land. The Government recognises that the fiscal framework plays a role in landowners' decisions on whether to let land and on the length of tenancy terms offered. Other factors are important too such as the size, quality and location of the land, and personal motivations for owning land. The Government is committed to a fair and sustainable tax system and keeps all taxes under review as a matter of course. The impacts and potential unintended consequences of tax reform need careful analysis to ensure confidence in the let sector is maintained.
Officials from Defra and HM Treasury have regular discussions to share information and feedback views from farming stakeholders. A third of all farmland in England is tenanted and a vibrant tenanted sector is vital to the future of agriculture. The Government is working with the Tenants Farmers Association and others to ensure our future farming policy provides an enabling environment for tenant farmers, including ready access to the Sustainable Farming Incentive and other future schemes. Minister Prentis recently met with George Dunn of the Tenant Farmers Association where a wide range of issues relating to tenant farmers were discussed, including the importance that tenant farmers can join environmental schemes without consequences on their tenancy agreements.
The Tenant Farmers Association provides a constructive contribution to considerations on the letting of agricultural land. The Government recognises that the fiscal framework plays a role in landowners' decisions on whether to let land and on the length of tenancy terms offered. Other factors are important too such as the size, quality and location of the land, and personal motivations for owning land. The Government is committed to a fair and sustainable tax system and keeps all taxes under review as a matter of course. The impacts and potential unintended consequences of tax reform need careful analysis to ensure confidence in the let sector is maintained.
Officials from Defra and HM Treasury have regular discussions to share information and feedback views from farming stakeholders. A third of all farmland in England is tenanted and a vibrant tenanted sector is vital to the future of agriculture. The Government is working with the Tenants Farmers Association and others to ensure our future farming policy provides an enabling environment for tenant farmers, including ready access to the Sustainable Farming Incentive and other future schemes. Minister Prentis recently met with George Dunn of the Tenant Farmers Association where a wide range of issues relating to tenant farmers were discussed, including the importance that tenant farmers can join environmental schemes without consequences on their tenancy agreements.
Our approach to environmental land management is the cornerstone of our new agricultural policy. Farming efficiently and improving the environment can go hand in hand.
The Government is working to ensure that the design of our future farming schemes is accessible to as many farmers as possible including tenant farmers. For example, we have designed the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme rules for 2022 to have shorter agreements and more flexibility, to better suit tenant farmers, and we have removed the requirement to demonstrate landlord consent. We are exploring and testing how our new schemes might work in practice across different types of holdings and different types and lengths of tenancy agreements.
As part of the development of our new schemes, we have considered the needs of tenants and worked closely with a number of organisations including the Tenant Farmers Association, Country Land and Business Association and National Farmers' Union. We are looking into the problem raised, and will work with these organisations and other stakeholders, to understand whether there is anything we need to do to ensure tenants are not excluded from schemes.
We are also working with tenants through our pilot, test and trials and user research.
To keep the expressions of interest for the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme pilot as simple as possible for farmers, we decided to ask only for information that was not already known to us. The Rural Payments Agency, our delivery body for this pilot, already holds the relevant information regarding land occupation (use and tenure) for those farmers who are eligible to take part. Any gaps in our information will be picked up and addressed through this pilot and any future piloting of this scheme.