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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to Agricultural Property Relief on the (a) Agricultural Transition Plan and (b) Food Security Strategy.

The Agricultural Transition Plan was the policy of the previous Government and covers the period 2021 to 2024. This Government remains committed to supporting the farming industry by carrying on the transition away from payment for land ownership and towards paying to deliver public goods for the environment. This is why we are investing £5 billion of funding in the farming budget which this Government secured over a two-year period for sustainable farming and nature. More than 50,000 farm businesses and more than half of all farmed land is now being managed in Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, including over 38,000 multi-year live Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements covering 4.3 million hectares of land.

The food strategy is about working through partnership across the food system and Government to make our food system one that we can be proud of, protects British traditions, grows the economy, improves people’s health and strengthens food security. We are in the process of developing outcomes and delivery mechanisms for the food strategy, through a programme of stakeholder engagement, alongside expert advice and partnership across Government and the four nations.