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 her Department's press release of 19 October 2014, on the reduction of subsidies for solar farms to safeguard farmland, what estimate she has made of the potential annual change in mW of solar-generated energy as a result of that policy.

The decision to make land covered by solar panels ineligible for the CAP Basic Payment Scheme reflects the fact that agriculture is no longer the predominant use of such land. The Government wants farmers to prioritise making the best use of their land for agriculture and food production. However, we have made no estimate of the potential annual reduction in generating capacity.