Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the NCF - Water Works, Great Fen Grant.

The Defra funding was a contribution to a larger paludiculture (wetland farming) trial which received £1 million from the People's Postcode Lottery Dream Fund, offering good value for money to Government. The Defra funding supported the establishment of the trial site and allowed the project to run over three years instead of two, allowing more time for the innovative crops to become established. The funding was successfully used in the establishment of the paludiculture trial site, and the findings of the project are feeding into policy development on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farmed peat and paludiculture.