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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department will maintain rural development funding for (a) community farms, (b) processing, (c) marketing and (d) local food should the UK leave the EU.

Our future policy will help farmers to continue to provide a supply of healthy, home-grown produce to high environmental and animal welfare standards. We will create an ambitious new system based on paying public money for public goods, which include improving air and water quality, and habitats for wildlife. During the transition to this new scheme, we will provide support for farmers to invest in equipment, technology, and infrastructure. This will help them to deliver public goods, improve their productivity and resilience, and put them in a strong position to take up offers through environmental land management.

Our manifesto committed to establishing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to reduce inequalities between communities by raising productivity, following departure from the EU. The fund will operate across the UK in urban and rural areas. We want to ensure that the fund works for rural businesses, communities and the environment, and the design of the fund will take into account the dynamics of rural economies and the particular challenges faced by rural communities. It is only right that we take final decisions about the design of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund after a cross-government Spending Review.