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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of replacing the Environment Land Management scheme with an area-based payment scheme on efforts to halt biodiversity decline by 2030.

HM Government has reiterated its commitment to environmental protections and we are not scrapping Environmental Land Management schemes. Subsidies are untargeted, poor value for money, and they undermine efficiency and productivity improvements.

As set out in the Growth Plan, we will be looking at the frameworks for regulation, innovation and investment that impact farmers and land managers, to make sure that our policies are best placed to both boost food production and protect the environment. This includes looking at how best to deliver the Environmental Land Management schemes to see where and how improvements can be made, and we will continue to work closely with the sector to ensure these are designed and delivered in their best interests.

Farmers and land managers will play an essential role in halting the decline in species, including farmland birds and insects, by 2030.

We will publish more information on Environmental Land Management schemes by the end of the year.