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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has for a further round of Countryside Stewardship schemes in (a) January 2018 and (b) other years.

On the 13 August, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that any agri-environment agreements signed or with funding agreements in place before the Autumn Statement will be fully funded, even when those agreements continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.

The Government will make a further announcement before the Autumn Statement about arrangements for assessing how guarantees could be given to projects that might be signed after the Autumn Statement, but while we remain a member of the EU.