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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce compliance costs for agricultural subsidies.

“Compliance costs” are the costs of complying with Government regulation. Our Environmental Land Management Schemes provide farmers and land managers with the support they need to help restore nature, which is vital to safeguard our long-term food security, support productivity and build resilience to climate change. Participation in these schemes is discretionary, and so they do not of themselves carry compliance costs.