Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to increase the level of financial support available to dairy farmers.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the challenges facing the dairy sector. The Prime Minister set out new support for farmers to strengthen food security and grow the economy at the Farm to Fork Food Summit on 16 May 2023. This includes the creation of a £1 million programme to help dairy businesses, particularly SMEs, to seize export opportunities.
In addition, the Government has acted to support the agricultural sector, including dairy farmers, in a number of ways.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy for temperate rainforest initiatives to become eligible to participate in the Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes from 2024.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Recognising the success of Countryside Stewardship, we have decided to evolve the scheme instead of developing a new ‘Local Nature Recovery’ scheme. Both Countryside Stewardship and the new Landscape Recovery scheme support temperate rainforest.
There are five woodland options in Countryside Stewardship, including a woodland improvement option (WD2) which is designed to help restore plantations on ancient woodland sites, enhance priority habitats, enhance priority species and improve resilience to climate change through continuous cover forestry. We plan to open a new round of applications for woodland management in early 2024. We will continue to develop this offer as we evolve Countryside Stewardship.
Landscape Recovery round two opened on 18 May and will focus on net zero, protected sites and habitat creation. Landscape scale projects which will create and enhance temperate rainforest are eligible to apply.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms in Enfield North constituency are part of Countryside Stewardship scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of 21 April 2023 there are two farms in Enfield North that have Countryside Stewardship agreements.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision to end cross-compliance and the accompanying Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition 7b on public rights of way and local highway authority teams.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 7b in cross compliance sets out rules to keep public rights of way accessible and open. These rules must be met by all recipients of former Common Agriculture Policy schemes (Basic Payment Scheme, Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and Woodland Schemes). The rules within this GAEC are also in the Highways Act 1980 and therefore apply to all farmers and land managers. The Highways Act 1980 legislation will continue following the end of cross compliance and will be enforced by local highway authorities as it is currently. This means that the rules that protect public rights of way will remain in place after the end of cross compliance and all farmers and land managers will need to continue to adhere to them. The loss of GAEC 7b does not change the role or remit of local highway authority teams.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to support beef farmers in (a) the North East and (b) North Yorkshire.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has acted to support the agricultural sector, including beef farmers in the North-East and North Yorkshire, in a number of ways. During 2022 we took several actions to support farmers respond to the increase in input costs. These included:
Additionally in January 2023, I announced more money for farmers and landowners through both the Countryside Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes, which will provide more support to the industry and drive uptake at a time of rising costs for farmers as a result of global challenges. I also confirmed an expanded range of actions under the schemes, which farmers could be paid for, would be published soon.
We are working closely with the industry to identify where further mitigations are available to tackle the challenges they face. We continue to keep the market situation under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. We have also increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real time intelligence.
Support also continues to be available through the Farming Investment Fund. Launched in November 2021, it is helping farmers invest in the equipment, technology and infrastructure they need to drive their businesses forward. As of March 2023, £31.5 million worth of funding has been paid out to over 3,000 farmers.
Finally, the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway is central to the Government’s manifesto commitment to protect and enhance farm animal health and welfare, and to maintain and build on our existing world-leading standards. This includes a programme of financial support for farmers in the pig, cattle, sheep, and poultry sectors to improve animal health and welfare. The Pathway offers livestock farmers an exciting opportunity to focus on the improvements they would like to make on their own farm.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support her Department provides to farmers in Bolton South East constituency.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise that global factors outside the Government’s control are increasing farmer’s input costs, particularly fertiliser, feed, fuel and energy, and that increased input costs can be challenging to cashflow.
To support farmers in England, the Government decided that the 2022 Basic Payment Scheme payment will be made in two instalments each year for the remainder of the agricultural transition period, to help farmers with their cashflow. We are also increasing revenue payment rates for the Countryside Stewardship scheme by ca. 30% to reflect the change in costs since 2013.
To further help with high input costs, Government has removed the 25% tariff on maize imports from the USA to help with animal feed costs. We have also introduced measures to help with the impact of global impacts on fertiliser supply chains. These include a fertiliser industry roundtable, delayed changes to the use of urea fertiliser, encouraging use of organic fertiliser and new technologies.
We have supported farmers through the worst global outbreak of Avian Flu in many years through an improved the Avian Flu compensation scheme for farmers and eased marketing rules to give certainty over business planning.
Government announced 45,000 visas for seasonal workers for the horticulture sector to ensure they have the labour they need, up 15,000 from start of 2022.
Other support includes changes to guidance on farmers using manures, increased grants for farmers and growers, boosting research and development, and supporting farmers to build the health and fertility of their soil through the Sustainable Farming Incentive.
We have committed to spend around £600 million on grants and other support for farmers to invest in productivity, animal health and welfare, innovation over three years and paid out over £30 million so far in grants for technology and equipment, having increased the original budget from £17 million and committed £90 million to our Innovation Programme.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 21 March (HL6420), what steps they are taking to provide financial (1) assistance, or (2) compensation, to those carrying out Statutory Plant Health Notices.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Statutory Plant Health Notices (SPHNs), requiring the felling and/or destruction of infected trees or the containment of susceptible material, are issued to prevent the spread of tree pests and diseases.
It has been the policy of successive governments not to pay compensation for plant health measures, as we believe that resources should be directed at the detection of pests and diseases, risk management and research. Protecting plant health is not an issue for the Government alone. The current arrangements ensure that everyone shares a common understanding of biosecurity and their role and responsibilities.
Individual landowners are responsible for the care and management of trees on their land; however, Government advice and financial support is available. Detailed case-specific advice is available from Forestry Commission Woodland Officers, who can support landowners with undertaking SPHN actions, and the Countryside Stewardship Scheme provides financial support for those affected by certain tree diseases. This includes support for the removal of Phytophthora ramorum infected trees and rhododendron, and grants for restocking following clearance because of this and other diseases (e.g. ash dieback and sweet chestnut blight).
In 2021, we launched a series of pilot grant schemes for land managers, which test and refine different ways to slow the spread of tree pests and diseases and build the resilience of our treescape in the North West, the South East (including London) and the West Midlands. The Forestry Commission will support the felling and restocking of trees as well as providing maintenance payments for restock sites. Land managers are eligible if they have:
In 2023 we introduced the tree health advice package for all SPHN holders[1], which aims to build land managers knowledge and awareness of tree health issues and woodland management, through providing funding for forestry/land agent advice and consultation to assist in creating a biosecurity management plan, and funding for biosecurity training and a personal biosecurity kit.
[1] Statutory Plant Health Notice (SPHN) advice package - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) improve access to the countryside and (b) ensure that footpath and green lanes are properly maintained.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and are working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We committed in our Environmental Improvement Plan published on 31 January to work across government to help ensure that everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space.
The Government is delivering a number of policies to increase access to nature including:
Local authorities are responsible for the management and maintenance of public rights of way including green lanes. Landowners are responsible for the maintenance of permissive paths. The UK Forestry Standard clearly states that existing rights of access must be respected and not obstructed. In England and Wales, responsible access must be allowed on mapped access land, including woodland dedicated under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, unless a Direction is in place to restrict or exclude access. All government supported planting, such as under our England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) and Countryside Stewardship Scheme, must comply with these requirements.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - Devizes)
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 is taking steps to (a) support and (b) require landowners to (i) undertake repairs to (A) footpaths, (B) stiles, (C) gates and (D) other rights of way and (ii) improve public access to the countryside under Environmental Land Management schemes.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports the health and wellbeing benefits that access to the countryside can bring, including improving physical and mental health and supporting local communities and economies.
Landowners have a statutory duty to keep public rights of way in good working order and therefore this is not covered by Environmental Land Management Schemes, unless they choose to upgrade to provide additional access, e.g. from a stile to a gate via under Countryside Stewardship (option AC1).
Under Countryside Stewardship, we currently pay for the following actions to help improve public access to the countryside:
Public access is also supported by our Landscape Recovery scheme, with projects being assessed for the benefits they will deliver for a wide range of objectives. Under the England Woodland Creation Offer, higher payments are available if woodland is located close to settlements within the 40% most deprived areas in England, or if it will provide new long-term permissive access for recreation.
Additionally, through our Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, we provide funding to support and improve Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks. We pay for projects providing opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage, including permissive access.
We do want to offer further support for access to our countryside, and so under our Environmental Land Management Schemes we are also now exploring how we can pay for:
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to help support crop-growing farmers with higher costs due to inflation.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise that input costs have increased over the last year or so mainly due to the war in Ukraine. The Government has acted to support the agricultural sector, including crop-growing farmer, in a number of ways.
During 2022 we took several actions to support farmers respond to the increase in input costs. These included:
Additionally in January 2023, Farming Minister Mark Spencer announced more money for farmers and landowners through both the Countryside Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes, which will provide more support to the industry and drive uptake at a time of rising costs for farmers as a result of global challenges. He also confirmed an expanded range of actions under the schemes, which farmers could be paid for, would be published soon.
We are working closely with the industry to identify where further mitigations are available to tackle the challenges they face. We continue to keep the market situation under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. We have also increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real time intelligence.