Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative assessment he has made of the potential impact of closing the Sustainable Farming Initiative in England on farmers in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive is an England-only scheme. We therefore have undertaken no such assessment.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on the timeframe for rebuilding of Airedale Hospital as part of the Hospital Rebuilding Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 20 January 2025, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced a new, realistic timeline to deliver schemes on the New Hospital Programme; the abolition of NHS England should not impact these timelines.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications that were started but are unsubmitted are held by the Rural Payments Agency for SFI24.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive Expanded Offer (SFI EO) is an online application and as of the 12 March there are 6,626 applications currently started but not submitted on the Rural Payments Portal.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department made projections on the number of Sustainable Farming Incentive applications it would receive in financial year 2024-25.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We monitor forecasts of scheme uptake and spend against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. We committed to spending £2.6 billion in 24/25 and are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.
Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising from multi-annual agreements. We monitor the uptake of our demand led schemes which have a budgetary impact on future years (such as SFI) on a regular basis, increasing the frequency of this as the level of commitment approaches the budget available in future years.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the spend breakdown of (a) the farming budget for this year to date and (b) the proposed breakdown for 2025-2026.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested can be found publicly available here.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish key performance indicators of SFI24 alongside department targets.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is tracking contributions to outcomes and is planning to publish information this year. We recently published statistics on the area within agri-environmental schemes, which showed that 64% of England’s farmed area is in a scheme. 3.3 million hectares is in SFI 2023 and over 380,000 hectares in the SFI expanded offer.
We have published quarterly data on SFI uptake and are preparing publications on how schemes are contributing to environmental outcomes as part of our comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programme.
An update on the farming budget was recently published on our Farming Blog. It shows the following spend over the next two years (24/25 and 25/26). The information requested can be found publicly available here: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2025/03/12/update-on-the-farming-budget/ .
The first process evaluation report covering the launch of SFI22 and SFI23 will be published this Spring.
We will update this with further evaluation work for SFI24 once this is completed. In addition, process, impact and value for money evaluations for the SFI pilot will be published this Autumn.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what targets her Department has for the proportion of young people who should (a) go to university, (b) complete an apprenticeship and (c) take another form of higher education.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government’s missions include breaking down barriers to opportunity and delivering economic growth. Every young person should be able to follow the pathway that is right for them, whether through a high-quality apprenticeship or going to university or college. This includes ensuring all young people have access to expert careers advice and guidance, offering high-quality vocational and technical training such as Higher Technical Qualifications and T Levels, introducing foundation apprenticeships as part of our Growth and Skills Levy, and reforming the higher education system so that it delivers better value for money for students and taxpayers.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the private children's' care capacity of private care homes within (a) Bradford, (b) Leeds, (c) Calderdale and (d) Kirklees Council area.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department collects data on children looked after by local authorities. The latest available information on the number of children in care by each requested local authority within private care homes on 31 March 2024 is shown below:
Local Authority | Number of Children |
Bradford | 193 |
Leeds | 122 |
Calderdale | 29 |
Kirklees | 20 |
The figures include children looked after in secure children’s homes, children’s homes subject to Children’s Homes Regulations and residential care homes under private provision. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.
Ofsted’s latest annual publication of ‘Inspection and regulation of children’s social care providers’ shows the following private children’s homes and places as at 30 September 2024:
Local Authority | Children’s Homes | Places |
Bradford | 30 | 92 |
Leeds | 16 | 46 |
Calderdale | 30 | 86 |
Kirklees | 34 | 103 |
This publication can be accessed in full at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspection-and-regulation-of-childrens-social-care-providers.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of children in care within private care homes in (a) Bradford Council, (b) Leeds Council, (c) Calderdale Council and (d) Kirklees Council.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department collects data on children looked after by local authorities. The latest available information on the number of children in care by each requested local authority within private care homes on 31 March 2024 is shown below:
Local Authority | Number of Children |
Bradford | 193 |
Leeds | 122 |
Calderdale | 29 |
Kirklees | 20 |
The figures include children looked after in secure children’s homes, children’s homes subject to Children’s Homes Regulations and residential care homes under private provision. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.
Ofsted’s latest annual publication of ‘Inspection and regulation of children’s social care providers’ shows the following private children’s homes and places as at 30 September 2024:
Local Authority | Children’s Homes | Places |
Bradford | 30 | 92 |
Leeds | 16 | 46 |
Calderdale | 30 | 86 |
Kirklees | 34 | 103 |
This publication can be accessed in full at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspection-and-regulation-of-childrens-social-care-providers.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that local opinion is considered during the development of large-scale renewable energy infrastructure.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This government has a very simple principle: if you live near new clean energy infrastructure, you should benefit from it. That's why the Planning and Infrastructure Bill proposes much-needed reforms, including direct bill discounts for communities, easier access to community funds, and a streamlined, less burdensome planning process. We know that to deliver on our mission we must bring communities with us.