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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures will be included in a future environmental land management scheme as outlined in the policy statement of 12 September 2018 on health and harmony: the future for food farming and the environment in a green Brexit, to ensure all farm businesses can create land management plans and participate in the new payment schemes.

The new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme will give farmers and land managers incentives to deliver a wide variety of environmental benefits through paying public money for delivering environmental public goods. In developing ELM, we are exploring how to maximise participation to increase the environmental benefits that are delivered. To support this, we are undertaking a number of tests and trials which include the role of land management plans and expert advice for farmers and land managers.