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Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
To ask His Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for rural communities over the next two years.
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)
My Lords, I am delighted to have this opportunity to debate such an important subject and am deeply grateful to have secured this Question for Short Debate. I declare my interests as honorary president of National Energy Action, honorary associate of the British Veterinary Association, and honorary vice-president of the Association of Drainage Authorities; I also work with the Dispensing Doctors’ Association. I look forward to all contributions this evening, but especially the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Elliott.
Rural communities face many challenges and are of a different nature from urban communities, yet in policy terms they are frequently overlooked. While the 2024 Labour manifesto did not specifically mention rural communities, many of the commitments it did include may damage them. There is a desperate need to support farming and other businesses in rural areas with better broadband and mobile connectivity. A lack of public transport in rural areas means that young people are unable to access jobs, while older people find access to hospitals and healthcare challenging for the same reason. The £2 bus fare has helped, but will the Government keep this? There is inadequate public transport in rural areas, but I see no point in devolving more powers to local communities and leadership for bus and other local transport provision if there are no additional resources to meet the new responsibilities.
Planning rules and guidance go some way to protecting rural communities—for example, the ban on building on flood plains and areas prone to flooding. However, rural communities are often used for the convenience of urban communities, with energy being a good example. Too often, energy is generated at sea or on land far away from where it is to be consumed. That energy then traverses rural communities, which are blighted by pylons, without gaining any of the benefits such far-flung, sparsely populated communities long for in often cooler climes with poorly insulated houses and residents on low incomes. It transpires from a Government-sponsored study that it can be cheaper to transfer electricity underground rather than through unsightly, environmentally unfriendly overhead-line transmission. Power lines should be placed underground, or alternatively, electricity generated from renewables should serve those closest to the source of the power generated.
Turning to public services, these are often more costly to deliver in rural than urban areas. Hospitals and GP surgeries can be difficult to access. Every increase in fuel duty affects the ambulance service. There is poor broadband mobile connectivity, meaning that dispensing doctors and rural GPs are unable to issue electronic prescriptions. There are inequalities of healthcare between urban and rural areas which need to be addressed. One hopes that the follow-up to the Darzi review will tackle these.
Rural communities have a desperate need for a smaller, affordable one-bedroom or two-bedroom homes, yet the Government are planning to build 300,000 houses a year, many in areas of water stress and on flood plains and mostly with four or five bedrooms. This will not address the shortage of affordable homes in rural areas but will create problems of increased sewage and houses with five or five times the amount of sewage coming out into inadequate water pipes which, when mixing with floodwater in combined sewers, will enter the sea and rivers.
Farming lies at the heart of the rural economy, yet farmers face great uncertainty. Farmers have a role to play in creating better self-sufficiency, energy and food security, generating power through renewables on their land, and they would like to sell into the national grid. In terms of storing floodwater on farmland, as we heard last week, farmers perform a public good, which should be recognised—along with other public goods that they perform—through the environmental land management schemes. Yet there is an underspend in Defra. I have seen one figure of £138 million and one of £350 million. There is also mounting concern over the forthcoming Budget, not least on the implications of inheritance tax for farms. The Government must give certainty and clarity to farmers by spending the moneys committed to farming in full and setting an increased multiannual agriculture budget for the duration of this Parliament.
To boost food security and self-sufficiency, we must consume more home-produced food and fewer substandard food imports from third countries. It would be very helpful to have an update on the land-use framework, the National Planning Policy Framework and planning policy guidance, to reflect farming being the primary role of the countryside. While environmental benefits sit comfortably with best farm practice, the mass development of solar panels, tree planting, carbon offsetting and housebuilding on Britain’s most productive and fertile land does not make good sense. In the Budget on 30 October, will the Government commit to reviewing the agricultural property relief in a compassionate way, to ensure that it remains available to those landlords prepared to let for the longest terms—10 years or more—to give tenant farmers greater security? When farmers do well, rural communities and market towns flourish.
Racing also plays a major role in rural communities. North Yorkshire plays host to racecourses at Ripon, my former constituency Thirsk, York, Wetherby and Doncaster, jewels in the crown of 54 courses dotted around the UK. Overall, racing is the second-largest spectator sport in Britain, yet it has experienced significant economic challenges recently, from the pandemic to inflationary pressures of the cost of living crisis. I urge the Government to consider ways to encourage racing, which supports 85,000 jobs across mostly small and medium-sized businesses and is a major employer in many areas, including my own former constituencies, the Vale of York, then Thirsk and Malton, providing career opportunities for young people as well as an outlet for leisure, hospitality and tourism.
The role of vets in rural communities is crucial. The veterinary profession is an integral part of the agricultural and food sector, working collaboratively with others to protect animals, people and the environment they share. Vets working across the meat sector underpin the economy, providing value to the £9.1 billion domestic meat industry and the £2.1 billion meat export trade. The vet/farmer relationship is an integral part of any farming team at every stage, from farm to fork, and facilitating trade too. Vets have a health and welfare role to play, not least at auction marts such as that at Thirsk, as well as on the farm.
A strong working relationship across the whole farming team is vital, yet an ongoing issue facing the veterinary sector in rural areas is the veterinary workforce shortage, which I hope that the Minister and the Government will address. The number of qualified vets joining the profession decreased when we left the European Union and it is felt that the new salary threshold will exacerbate the UK veterinary workforce shortage.
I welcome the Minister to her place as the rural communities Minister and ask her to value rural communities, to use the forthcoming spending review to restore the balance in spending in rural areas and to ensure a fairer spend on public services such as health, transport, housing and energy. That will give farmers—the largest sector in the rural economy—certainty and clarity of policy going forward, and ensure that all farmers can prosper and survive, whether they are arable farmers, livestock farmers, tenant farmers, owner-occupier farmers, family farms or larger farms.
Will the Government take the opportunity to create an energy policy that works for everyone, whether living north or south, in an urban or a rural community? I know that, in replying, the Minister will say that her hands are tied by both the forthcoming Budget and the spending review. However, the opportunity must not be lost to ensure a vibrant future for farming, for racing, for market towns and for auction marts, where everybody in rural as well as urban communities can prosper throughout the length and breadth of the land.
Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (UUP) (Maiden Speech)
My Lords, it is an honour and privilege to speak in your Lordships’ House for the first time. Before making this contribution, I spent some time listening to and reflecting on the debates and the work of this House. Like all debating and law-making Chambers, it has its own unique style, which is very different from those which I have been used to in the past. Some of those differences I would recognise as positive. Some others will take slightly longer to get used to. I was speaking to a Peer just yesterday who said that, after 25 years in the place, he still cannot get used to some of the practices and processes.
I offer my sincere thanks to Black Rod, her staff, the clerks, the doorkeepers, the security services, the police, the many members of staff, the Peers who have assisted me and all those who have provided a warm welcome to me since I came to this place last month. I also thank my two supporters, my noble friends Lord Rogan of Lower Iveagh and Lord Empey of Shandon, both of whom I have known for over 25 years. I also thank my wife and family for their continued support and help in this role.
As a humble rural farmer from the most westerly county of the United Kingdom, being a Member of this House is not something that I ever contemplated. Even during my political career, as a Fermanagh district councillor and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and in my short time in the other place down the Corridor, being a Peer was not on my radar. Although I have had a long political career, I think of myself not as a professional politician but as someone who came into politics by accident, and I continue to see myself as a community activist rather than a professional politician.
That community activity includes my chairmanship of Ballinamallard United Football Club, a small village club that has played in the top level of the Irish Premiership and punches well above its weight. I was a member of the Northern Ireland security services, of the Ulster Defence Regiment and of Royal Irish Regiment, through some of the darkest days of the Northern Ireland Troubles—it was a difficult time for everyone. I trust that my title of “Ballinamallard”, if noble Lords can pronounce it, will be a recognition of the small rural village and its hinterland where I, my siblings and my parents grew up and are very much part of that community.
I do hope that noble Lords understand my accent. My local rector was concerned at the weekend concerned that they would not. This reminds me of a story of a preacher who was new to the area. He heard a man at the back of the church regularly shouting out “Hallelujah”, so he went on for much longer than expected—only to be informed after church that the man was indeed shouting, “That’ll do ya”.
Moving swiftly to the Question, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, for asking it. I declare an interest as I own an operational farm. I want to highlight some issues that are similar throughout rural areas in the UK, using my experience of my immediate past chairmanship of the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
We all suffer from poor transport services, poor broadband and connectivity, rural isolation, poor health and well-being and the lack of youth services, but there are other aspects to rural communities that are deficient. For example, the widespread withdrawal of banking services has resulted in many rural dwellers and businesses not having a regular opportunity of face-to-face banking and financial advice. Development planning in many areas is not conducive to the indigenous rural population. It restricts opportunities for young rural dwellers and businesses to remain in that area and instead pushes them into urban areas, removing them from their natural area. In England approximately 19% of the population live in rural areas. However, in Northern Ireland that figure is approximately 37%, so there is a significantly larger proportion of rural residents in Northern Ireland who, obviously, have significantly more rural-based issues.
Then we have the largest rural economy: the farming and agricultural sector, which is finding it more and more difficult to operate and positively contribute to its community. It is a world leader in quality food production but continues to be pressurised. Pressurised is a modest term for me, as I was told not to be controversial in my maiden speech; I hope to be more forthright in future contributions. The farming sector continues to be held to ransom by many rules and regulations that are not adopted by other countries from which we import food. Thank you for now.
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)
My Lords, I first thank the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, for securing this important debate on rural priorities. I also acknowledge and congratulate my colleague from Northern Ireland, the noble Lord, Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard. He has served as a district councillor in Fermanagh District Council and as a Member in the Northern Ireland Assembly, to which we were elected at the same time in November 2003 and then re-elected on several occasions. We were leaders of our political parties at the same time, and we met regularly on a range of issues. We also served in the other place and now we serve in your Lordships’ House. The noble Lord, Lord Elliott, and I are also similar in age, although I edge upwards by being a few years older than he is. On a very personal level, I give him my best wishes and my congratulations on making his maiden speech.
The noble Lord, Lord Elliott, and I served and represented rural communities in fairly different parts of Northern Ireland, and we also have different perspectives on the constitutional position of Northern Ireland; he is an Ulster Unionist and I am a democratic Irish nationalist. But that does not prevent us working together on the issues that matter to the people; that has always been the case and will continue to be the case, and I am in no doubt about that.
Moving swiftly on to the Motion, I, like the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, want to give a perspective from Northern Ireland, where the local department is implementing the rural policy framework, the objective of which is to ensure that rural dwellers enjoy the same quality of life and opportunities as those in urban areas. Various rural priorities need to be addressed, undoubtedly. I am very pleased that my noble friend Lady Hayman of Ullock is on the Front Bench and has already met the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment on numerous occasions. She can report that in her response. No doubt she will have heard the various issues that confront rural communities, thereby necessitating a higher level of budget for farming and rural communities throughout the UK, but I would also say particularly in Northern Ireland.
The priorities for rural communities that need to be addressed, along with farming, are food production and food security, as well as better access and provision of sustainable services such as schools, broadband internet, mobile phone accessibility, the provision of banking hubs—we are all challenged in rural communities by the decrease and reduction in the number of bank branches—the provision and sustainability of shops and business development enterprises allied to the needs of those farming families, the restrictions on rural planning policy, and the provision of new housebuilding. None of us can gainsay that the issues in rural communities are different. There are many similarities and those need to be addressed.
Another factor is the potential for youth migration to urban areas. An important factor in knitting together rural communities is the continuing need for accessibility to good quality healthcare and allied services of acute hospitals. This also involves looking at the post-Covid-19 future and embracing the opportunities that green growth, climate change impacts, globalisation and technological innovation present. Therefore, a holistic approach to rural development is required to secure and underpin such communities and encompass many of the priorities that have already been raised by the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, and the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, in her introduction.
In Northern Ireland, our agriculture sector faces immense pressures due to rising production costs, the uncertainties of post-Brexit trade and the increasing impact of climate change. The 670,000 people living in rural communities in Northern Ireland and the 113,000 jobs in the food supply chain rely heavily on farming. There are also jobs linked indirectly to farms that rely on them for business. Northern Ireland’s farmers need increased financial support from the Treasury; and I know that, quite recently, the Ulster Farmers Union has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, regarding these matters, because its members wish to remain competitive, sustainable and resilient, as they have lost the EU Pillar 2 funding. I wonder if my noble friend could say something about the replacement for Pillar 2 funding and how the funding that could be provided could underpin and sustain rural communities.
In the post-Brexit world, it is important that, as part of the reset with the EU, the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Defra Secretary of State develop clear policies to facilitate smooth trade between Northern Ireland and the EU, and between GB and Northern Ireland, through the provision of funding for mitigating market disruptions caused by Brexit. It is important to increase investment in local food production and sustainable farming, and to promote renewable energy sources and energy efficiency within the agriculture sector. Undoubtedly agriculture is a holistic industry, along with rural development and rural services.
Therefore, in advance of the forthcoming Budget, it is important to recognise the economic pressures which the Government have told us about, but modest increases in agricultural funding will deliver substantial returns in food security and for the development of rural communities. I hope that my noble friend Lady Hayman of Ullock could detail some of those in turn, notwithstanding the budget pressures and the comprehensive spending review, because, at the end of the day, I want to see what joint working there is with the community, the voluntary sector and other government departments in the UK and the devolved nations and regions.
Baroness Humphreys (LD)
My Lords, I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, for securing this debate. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard, on an excellent maiden speech and welcome him to his place in this House.
I will deal with two issues—rural transport and farming—in brief. Like many who will speak in this debate, I live in a rural area. My hometown is a small market town in the Conwy Valley in north Wales. It is four miles north of the tourist honeypot village of Betws-y-Coed. Llanrwst is sometimes referred to as the capital of the valley and is an ancient market town that grew up alongside the wool trade. It has a proud history of independence, clockmakers, harp makers and Welsh poets. Today it is still the focal point for residents of villages and farms for a wide area, with people travelling in for work and shopping needs and the farmers’ livestock market but, as with many rural areas, the Conwy Valley has experienced a decline in bus services in our remote area. This has led to those without their own transport having difficulty accessing the services they need, and to feelings of isolation, especially among the elderly.
Transport for Wales, working in conjunction with Conwy County Borough Council, ensured that elderly residents of Conwy County were able to use their concessionary bus pass for journeys on the Conwy Valley rail line, which was really welcomed. In addition, in 2020, Transport for Wales and Conwy County Borough Council launched a fflecsi service: a demand-responsive service connecting Llanrwst and Betws-y-Coed with surrounding villages. Instead of picking up and dropping off passengers at a bus stop, fflecsi buses pick up and drop off within a service area. There is often no fixed timetable, pick-ups are at passenger request, and routes can be changed so that everyone can get where they want to go. Bookings can be made by phone or on a smartphone app. Over a 12-month period, 15,000 passengers used the service, with 95% giving it a five-star rating. The demand-responsive service was also extended to 11 different areas across Wales and has proved an excellent solution for those who live in remote and even isolated areas.
I am sure that similar systems exist in other parts of the UK, but what plans do the Government have to ensure that all areas of the UK are able to benefit from such schemes, to make sure that the elderly are not isolated in their homes?
Central to rural life are, of course, our farmers and our farming communities. For the Liberal Democrats, there are three main priorities which we want tackled in the next two years, in the form of a rescue plan for farmers—extra funding for the agricultural budget, the renegotiation of botched overseas trade deals, and addressing the worker shortages blighting the sector.
There should be an immediate injection of £l billion into agricultural and horticultural budgets to further support sustainable domestic food production. Our farmers already produce exceptional food, but funds are needed towards productivity improvements, training and technology to bring down prices for the long-term.
A priority should be the renegotiation of the Australian trade deal to ensure that British standards are not undercut. In just the first year of the implementation of this deal, Australian sheepmeat exports to the UK surged by 85%, reaching over 16,000 tonnes, with the potential, after 10 years, that the tariff-free quota will be eliminated completely. This could lead to our market being flooded with unrestricted Australian imports.
The Government should also introduce legislation to guarantee British standards on animal welfare. The current trade deal allows for imports from systems using practices banned in the UK. The practice, for example, of live lamb cutting remains widespread in Australia but was banned here in 2010. Those British standards should include environmental protection and the requirement to meet climate change conditions.
The new Government, if they want to make Brexit work, should consider letting farmers, fishers and the food-processing sector recruit the workers they need to boost our food supply by scrapping arbitrary visa salary thresholds. According to the NFU, a shortage of workers caused £60 million-worth of fruit and vegetables to go to waste in the first half of 2022. Farmers are the mainstay of our rural communities and particularly so in Wales. They are the guardians of our language and culture, but some are struggling and wondering how long their farms will survive. How does the Minister see the future of farming in the UK?
Lord Cameron of Dillington (CB)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, on introducing this debate, and the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, on his maiden speech.
There is a perception, in our towns and cities at any rate, that people in rural England lead a picture-postcard existence, but for the majority this is certainly not the case, and many struggle to live decent lives. In 2017, the Social Mobility Commission reported that social mobility and inter-generational poverty was as bad, if not worse, in rural England than in some of our most deprived urban slums. One of the reasons for this sad reality is the gross imbalance in the funding provided by government for nearly all our rural services. For example, in central government support for local government, urban areas get some 45% more per head than rural. This means that rural council tax payers pay an average of 17% more than their urban cousins —nearly £100 per head more. It also means that the services now provided in our rural shires are the bare minimum.
In education, our average rural LEAs get fewer grants per pupil than the urban LEAs. This is not fair on our rural young. Turning to health, I say that the most expensive time for anyone medically is from 65 to death. While the over-65s represent 16% of our urban population, in the countryside that figure is 24%—a big difference. In Devon, an attractive county to retire to, some 26% of the population are over 65. Why is funding for public health services in Devon some 40% lower per head than the national average? A similar nationwide discrepancy means that there are fewer than half the medical professionals per 1,000 people in rural England than urban England: 50 versus 109. That is quite a difference.
There are almost no magistrates’ courts left in rural England. To get justice in our countryside costs the individual a lot of time and money. Also, as has already been mentioned, reliable buses are pretty hard to find. Thus ordinary life in rural England— shopping, doctor’s visits or even sports for the kids—is immensely hard when your only, but vital, family car has to go to work with the breadwinner.
For me, the worst aspect of rural deprivation is that there are almost no affordable homes to be found in rural communities, either to let or certainly to buy. Rural houses sell at a huge premium. In rural Cornwall, where I live, the average house price is some 12 times the average wage. The young just have to leave. This Labour Government were right, in their election campaign, to major on this shortage of housing. I was as pleased as punch, but I hope that they actually deliver—not only in towns but, vitally, in rural communities—and maybe even create completely new rural communities.
I realise that Defra will not be able to solve any of the problems I have mentioned so far, but I sincerely hope that it is seriously engaged in rural-proofing and in driving an understanding of the difficulties of rural living in all other departments. That is the key to the future of our rural communities.
I move from the problems to my dreams. In the words of the old Mars advert, I believe that all rural communities should be places where you can work, rest and play, so we need workspace, first, to create local jobs within the community. It used to be the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker—and still could be—but now you can add to that the possibility of online services in almost every field known to man, including to man on the other side of the world. For that, we need fast broadband in every community and possibly a change of planning rules.
Above all, for our work, rest and play we need housing, especially affordable housing. As I have said before in this House, we need to restore council houses. After all, local authorities have lots of land available, but we have to abolish or at least amend the right to buy. My favoured amendment would mean that occupants have to live in a council house for at least 10 years, or even 12, before they can exercise their right. Above all, the money then raised has to go back to the local council to build more houses and not to the Treasury.
Given more time, I would have spoken on the huge potential for economic growth in our countryside, which we know is a priority for this Government. I just say this: a recent report said that, if our rural economy could rival the rural economies of Scandinavian countries in GVA per head, the Treasury could expect to see £9 billion to £19 billion extra revenue per annum. That is quite a lot.
If the Government want growth in our countryside, they have to provide workspace for new innovative businesses, good broadband, housing for employees, good roads and infrastructure, as well as a medical service that can cope and local authorities that are not on the point of going bankrupt.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, for getting this debate and I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, on his excellent speech. I declare my interest as president of the Rural Coalition.
Rural communities make up nearly 20% of the population. That is similar to the number of people living in London, yet our biggest metropolis, among others, often feels far more integral to our policy and governance than our rural communities do. Rural communities are not just the responsibility of Defra; they are a significant proportion of our population, businesses, services and economy, and they cut across every government department. The specific impacts and challenges of policy rollout in rural areas need to be baked into the decision-making process of every single government department—not an afterthought but integral to the development of policy from the very beginning. Rural concerns are so often given to Defra which, while it has the lead on rural affairs, has very few of the levers necessary to bring about change. The sustainability of our rural communities should be of critical concern to us all, regardless of where we live.
The Rural Coalition of which I am president—a coalition of 12 national rural organisations—has commissioned and recently published a report, Reigniting Rural Futures. It highlights the impact that years of underinvestment have had on the rural economy and the massive potential there is if we simply have the will and imagination to grasp it. I am not sure whether the Minister has read this report, but I would be very happy to leave her a copy at the end of this debate. It shows that, in the rural economy, productivity stands at just 82% of its non-rural counterpart and will decrease to 79% by 2040 if this trend continues. Those of us who champion rural communities have long been calling for fairer funding for rural, but I want to make the case as to why this is not just yet one more demand on already-tight government purse strings but an opportunity for growth.
The noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Dillington, helpfully referred to research that shows that, with the right policy framework, the rural economy could increase productivity significantly, leading to an additional income of something like £9 billion to £19 billion annually in tax revenues. The Treasury stands to gain from an invigorated rural economy; it is an opportunity that should not be ignored.
Historical underfunding in rural areas has resulted in fewer and poorer services, along with underinvestment in essential infrastructure and connectivity. There is a lack of access to suitable educational and job opportunities, along with a desperate lack of affordable housing, which often drives the part of the population that is economically active out of rural areas, making the problem ever worse.
I will make a few short points about rural affordable housing, as I know that His Majesty’s Government have made affordable housing for all a priority, on which I congratulate them. It is part of the plan to boost economic prosperity, but I hope that this mission will take account of the particular pressures around rural affordable housing. How will the Government ensure that the benefits of these policies reach rural areas?
In 2022 the most affordable homes were 8.8 times more expensive than average lower-quartile earnings in rural areas, compared with 7.7 times more expensive in urban areas excluding London. Housing waiting lists in rural areas grew by 20% between 2020 and 2023, compared with a growth of just 14% in urban areas. Rural homelessness has increased by 25% since 2021-22. It is clear that the lack of affordable housing in rural communities is a significant barrier to rural prosperity.
There is much more we could discuss around the premiums of rural service delivery caused by challenges, including sparsity, facing rural business. Remember that 23% of our businesses in this country are in rural areas. There is the problem of digital connectivity, and there are mental health and well-being challenges, with a higher suicide rate in rural areas. I hope that other noble colleagues will pick up these issues.
Finally, I emphasise once more the desperate need for a cross-governmental strategic approach to rural affairs. The consideration of rural communities must be addressed at the very beginning of the development of policies and right through the delivery process. With the proper investment, our rural communities can not only continue to be a vital economic asset to this nation but contribute significantly to its growth.
The Earl of Caithness (Con)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering on securing this debate on the important subject of rural communities.
I was privileged to sit on the Rural Economy Committee of this House in 2019. Our report, Time for a Strategy for the Rural Economy, is only five years old and, having reread it, I find it still very relevant today. We identified several problems that rural areas face in comparison with urban areas, many of which have got worse. It is not surprising that the evidence in the Regional Moorland Groups report, published a month ago and entitled The People’s Plan for the Uplands, shows that 97% of the people who live in these areas feel “abandoned by politicians”.
However, we also evidenced the opportunities that these areas could offer. I follow the right reverend Prelate and the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, in highlighting the £9 billion to £19 billion in extra revenue that is available. If I were a Treasury Minister again, I would be very keen to exploit that potential.
I will identify some other key facts. In 2021, rural workers’ productivity was 82% of that of non-rural workers, which is a significant productivity gap. If trends continue, rural productivity is expected to decrease to 79% of non-rural by 2040. In 2021, the non-rural economy was six times larger than the rural economy and is projected to grow to 6.5 times larger by 2040. A 2022 report for the Rural Services Network, when reviewing the then levelling-up White Paper, showed that, if rural communities were a distinct region, their need for levelling up would be greater than any other part of the country. The cost of living is higher in rural areas. The rural fuel poverty gap is nearly double the national average.
As other noble Lords have said, there is a shortage of housing of the right type and tenure. The National Planning Policy Framework should include measures suggested by the Rural Services Network in England, which would help increase the delivery of affordable homes that meet local needs in small rural communities. Without an adequate supply of affordable housing and workspaces, it is difficult for rural businesses to flourish.
Since our report in 2019, digital infrastructure has improved, although it is still far from adequate. Can the Minister confirm that the remainder of the Project Gigabit programme will be delivered? Will she place the focus on rural areas, which are still losing out, and redouble efforts to ensure the rollout of networks that will give the full fibre or gigabit capability of broadband connectivity? Without good connectivity, rural communities are being discriminated against and businesses are being made unprofitable.
Many reports have highlighted the unique challenges faced by rural communities and businesses. There is no lack of evidence. What is important for the Government to understand is that businesses, people and communities in rural areas are faced with the aggregate multiple impacts of all these issues. It is this that makes me stress the importance of our report’s first recommendation and title: the need to have a comprehensive rural strategy.
Will the Government commit to developing a specific, tailored rural strand within the Government’s economic growth strategy, with buy-in across Whitehall departments, including the Treasury? Such a strategy should include measures that will help diversify rural economies, raise productivity and attract quality job opportunities. Such a strategy will be more effective if all government legislation is thoroughly rural-proofed and has a place-based approach to reflect the diversity of the countryside and the capabilities and knowledge of those who live and work there.
I end with three further questions for the Minister. Given that farming is still an important component of our diversified rural areas, when do the Government intend to publish their land use strategy? In 2019, Defra’s in-house rural policy team comprised about 60 staff. What is the number today? Finally, can the Minister tell us what rural areas, if any, will benefit from yesterday’s inward investment summit?
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)
My Lords, I declare my position as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, for securing this important debate and for highlighting in her introduction the environmental, social and community destruction threatened by electricity pylon transmission ploughing through the countryside—something my honourable friend Adrian Ramsay, the MP for Waveney Valley, has very much focused on.
That is an illustration of a much broader issue: that the relationship between the countryside and urban areas is very often an extractive one. Public goods, whether electricity or food, are produced in rural areas, and then the benefits are carried by urban areas and the costs continue to be borne by the rural areas.
We have this idea of rural areas as a green paradise: idyllic ancient oaks, babbling brooks, green meadows, chocolate-box villages—the picture-postcard countryside described by the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Dillington. I will focus on the ways in which it can continue to look like that, yet sometimes the reality is deeply unhealthy in terms of public health and environmental damage. I will focus on three issues: ammonia and phosphate pollution, pesticide use, and manufacturing and chemical contamination. These tend to be thought of as urban issues, but they are increasingly affecting rural areas.
I start with nitrogen and phosphate pollution. The number of intensive poultry units in England and Wales needs to halve in the next 25 years to save our rivers, says the Soil Association. Here are some figures that might shock your Lordships’ House: 1 billion chickens pass through intensive poultry units each year in England and Wales. You might say that this is traditional industry but, year on year for the past decade, the number of chickens has increased by 1 million birds every month. Associated with that is real environmental damage in rural areas, particularly in Lincolnshire, Norfolk and the counties around the River Wye. Norfolk has some of the most polluting poultry facilities in the country. The River Wye region is now a huge matter of public concern due to the amount of pollution caused by that.
Turning to pesticides, again, we do not really think very much about the public health aspects of these for rural areas. However, Defra figures from 2022 show that pesticide usage was similar to 2010 levels by volume or by weight, but that the pesticides we are using are becoming more toxic all the time. I credit a campaigner, Georgina Downs, who has been working on this issue for many years, with showing me videos of pesticide use in rural areas. We think of this as being out in the fields, but we see sprayers within literally a couple of feet of people’s front or bedroom windows. Pesticides are being sprayed up and down fields every few days, and rural dwellers face seeing that all the time.
Turning to manufacturing, just today, the Environment Agency said that it lacks the budget to address growing understanding of so-called “forever” chemicals—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. Areas where the problems are concentrated include the former RAF base at Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire, Bentham in North Yorkshire, and Duxford in South Cambridgeshire. These issues are not confined to urban areas.
So, there are many public health issues, and then there is the issue of health services. Far too often, the health services that people in rural areas so urgently need are simply not available to them; and of course, there is often no public transport to get to health services in more urban areas. These are issues that other noble Lords have raised, and that the Government need to address.
Lord de Clifford (CB)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, on securing a debate in the Chamber on this important subject. I remind your Lordships of my interests as listed in the register: I live in a rural area and run an SME, a veterinary practice, in a rural town in Wiltshire. I express my belated congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, on her ministerial appointment and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, on his maiden speech—I will not attempt to pronounce the name of his home village.
In the veterinary business I run, a challenge has arisen in the past six months. For our ambulatory vets, there has been a deterioration in mobile coverage for voice calls, text messages and data services. This is hampering the ability to communicate, to increase business efficiency and to receive emergency messages. It also raises safety issues, as many of my vets are lone workers who work throughout the day and night.
The probable cause of this decline has been the switch-off by the mobile network providers of the 3G network. The 3G network had significantly more range from telecom masts of up to six miles, whereas the higher-speed 4G and 5G spectrums have ranges of three to four miles, and as little as two miles for 5G. Can the Minister say whether Ofcom could review mobile phone coverage, especially in rural areas, and what impact this is having on rural communities?
Internet connection is, as mentioned by many of your Lordships, a vital part for businesses and homes, especially with the recent trend in encouraging us all to use more data services. This is reflected today in the closure of bank services and all of us being forced to use online services for our daily banking. The continued need for good broadband connectivity is essential for rural communities to continue to prosper, as with similar services in urban areas. We welcome the Government’s manifesto promise to
“make a renewed push to fulfil the ambition of full gigabit and national 5G coverage”.
Rural areas need more government support to ensure that most rural towns and villages get gigabit services at an affordable cost as the number of providers is limited due to high installation costs, thereby reducing competition and opportunity for price competition.
Farming businesses are at the heart of the rural business community and support many secondary businesses such as the veterinary business I work in. Over the past year, dairy farmers in particular have found it hard to invest and make profits due to the low milk price. This has been reflected in our business in that some farmers are using only veterinary services that maintain herd health and other essential veterinary services.
The full range of skills and value that veterinary surgeons can bring to a farming business for the long term cannot be implemented as margins are so tight for farmers. They do not have the confidence to invest in such things as herd health planning for long-term productivity gains, and in the time and infrastructure projects needed to make farms more profitable and to adapt to the current and new challenges from the environment and changing weather patterns.
I am sure that the Minister is well informed on the NFU’s manifesto for certainty regarding agriculture support. It is not just about financial support but about safeguarding our food security and our farming environment. The protection of biosecurity of our national plants, herds and flocks is also particularly important, as we debated earlier this year. To continue to improve biosecurity in the UK, I ask the Minister what additional plans there are to further improve border surveillance and checks to protect the country from illegal imports of disease-infected meat products and plants.
I am sure this Government will support ensuring we have a level playing field with regard to animal health standards and will look to take on the challenge to ensure that all imported animals related to food are reared to the same animal health standards as farmers in the UK must adhere to. This is not only to create a level playing field for our farmers to trade in but, more importantly, to protect animals throughout the world so that they can have the same living conditions as those farmed in the UK.
Affordable housing is essential in rural villages. This is reflected across the employees that I work with in our business. Very few of our low-paid employees live in the market town of Malmesbury in Wiltshire. The majority commute using their cars, as public transport does not fit their working patterns, or is extremely slow. Can the Minister say what the Government have planned with regard to trying to address, again, the challenging issue of affordable housing in rural areas? Could the Minister also pass a message to the Treasury that increasing fuel duty has a disproportionate effect on rural communities and the low paid, as they need their cars to commute to work.
As a result of the high cost of living, there is a lack of childcare places for young parents to enable them to return to work to further their own prospects, and to further enhance rural communities. I have recently heard of a new parent having to put their child’s name down for a place at a nursery before their child is even born to ensure that they have a place when they return to work at the end of maternity leave. So any additional support from the Government for the childcare sector in the rural community across the nation would be welcome.
Lord Harlech (Con)
My Lords, I declare my farming and land management interests in Wales and congratulate my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering on securing this important and timely debate. I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard, on an outstanding maiden speech.
The primary barrier to rural economic development is the planning system. Currently, it does not appreciate the improvements that small-scale development can make to rural villages’ viability. In the planning and decision-making process, weight must be given to development that will improve a settlement’s sustainability, whether through the provision of new homes, services or facilities.
Our best and most fertile agricultural land must be saved for food production, and lower-quality agricultural land or brownfield sites must be prioritised for new housing and infrastructure projects. This would allow us to safeguard food security while investing in communities and infrastructure.
To reform rural planning and develop the rural economy, the Government should introduce permission in principle for rural economic development. This would encourage planning applications by reducing the risk of high financial input without guaranteeing consent. It should enable the repurposing of redundant agricultural buildings and sites. Planning applications to repurpose these sites are often rejected as they are not deemed sustainable development, whereas, in many cases, developing these sites would lead to economic growth.
As my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering said, the agricultural budget has remained static since 2014, despite significant shifts in the importance of domestic food security and recognition of the scale of environmental challenges. Modelling by the independent Andersons Centre showed that an annual agricultural budget of around £4 billion will be required to meet these aims and challenges. Respecting the nature of devolved governance, this would translate to a UK-wide budget of around £5.6 billion. In opposition, the Secretary of State for Defra and the Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs understood this and consistently argued that any underspend in the agriculture budget should be rolled forward to future years.
Farmers also face increasing financial damage from flooding. According to the Environment Agency, approximately 12% of agricultural land in England is at flood risk from rivers, the sea or both. Defra-commissioned research finds that winter floods cost farmers an average of £480 per hectare. Following recent reports that the Government are reviewing the farming recovery fund, it is worrying that many of those announced as eligible for the fund on 24 May 2024 have not yet received payment. Could the Minister clarify the position for land users entitled to compensation but who have not yet received it?
Crime is another issue for rural communities and the Government must recognise that tackling crime and increasing police visibility are priorities. While there is increasing awareness of the growing problem, this is not felt by the communities that live and work in the countryside, nor is it reflected in current government policy.
Research from the House of Commons Library shows that rural crime has increased by 32% since 2011, compared with 24% in urban areas. This includes nearly 130,000 more reported offences and an additional 30,000 cases of criminal damage and arson. These figures highlight a significant disconnect between rural issues and government policing policies.
We have a rural population simply putting up with the crime they experience and making do as best they can. There is often no escape from the effects of rural crime, with the fear of crime doing just as much damage as the crimes that are committed.
Good rural policing concerns more than the number of police officers on the ground. If we genuinely want to tackle rural crime, we must form effective partnerships between the police, communities and other authorities to ensure that the needs of our communities are genuinely understood and that the availability of services matches those needs.
British farmers face an array of challenges, from uncertain economic conditions to misinformation spread by activists about meat and dairy. Meat production faces criticism, leading to mandates for plant-based catering at councils and universities and proposals for a meat tax, yet studies confirm that UK livestock farming operates among the world’s highest sustainability and animal welfare standards. Research from the Committee on Climate Change found that British beef production is about half as carbon intensive as the global average. Additionally, game meat, such as venison, is a non-farmed alternative that is nutrient-dense and sustainably harvested, and its consumption supports conservation efforts.
Ultimately, the simplest way to shop sustainably is to purchase food locally, reducing food miles between farm and fork. This, in turn, helps the British farming sector thrive and prevents reliance on lower quality imports produced to lower welfare and sustainability standards. The Government must do everything they can to protect and champion British farmers and must listen to, understand and respond to rural communities’ needs and challenges. I look forward to the Minister’s response.
The Earl of Devon (CB)
My Lords, I am grateful to be permitted one minute in reply. I note my interests in rural Devon. I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard, another west county farmer, to our Benches.
The reason I did not put my name down to speak today is that I was at Ditchley Park, in Oxfordshire, taking part in a task force on rural retail. I will use the minute I have to emphasise the importance of community shops in rural areas and the huge stress that they are currently under. The supply of food and basic services into rural communities is really stressed. A number of the big wholesalers are no longer supplying these communities, so people who are unable to get outside the community—they may be challenged by mobility or by the cost of transport to bigger areas—are simply unable to get the basic provisions they need, and the larger supermarkets will not deliver into these rural communities. That is all I want to emphasise in my minute, and I hope the Minister can comment on it.
Baroness Pinnock (LD)
My Lords, this has been a wide-ranging debate as a consequence of the initiative taken by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering. When we think about rural communities, those of us in England usually have in mind the Yorkshire Dales, the Cotswolds or the West Country. In our minds, settlements in these areas comprise small towns and villages, and small, often isolated, hamlets and farmhouses. However, rural communities also exist on the fringes of large urban areas. For example, in West Yorkshire, where I live, the five councils together serve 2.5 million people who predominantly live in cities and towns, but there is a significant rural hinterland. In my council, small villages and isolated farmhouses high up in the Pennines share the challenges of rural communities everywhere. I beg that, when we think about rural communities, we include those rural communities as well—they too need to be in our thinking.
A huge number of issues have been raised in the debate but I want to focus on just two: the first is housing and the second is local government funding for councils that serve rural communities. The lack of appropriate housing exists in all our communities. However, rural communities have, in addition, their own particular challenges. A recent report by the CPRE highlighted a problem that has resulted in a 40% increase in homelessness over a five-year period and literally a lifetime’s wait for a home with a social rent. This report concurs with the policy solutions proposed by my party, the Liberal Democrats, and the urgent need to set an ambitious target for building housing with a social rent within a council’s local plan. To be effective, this will need to be supported as a policy by the Government and the independent Planning Inspectorate. To have a long-term benefit, new social housing has to be removed from right-to-buy legislation, otherwise the financial model is simply not viable. At this point, I shall make my usual comment that, in many cases, affordable housing is simply not affordable and so we need to think about housing for social rent.
As noble Lords have said, house prices in the countryside have increased at almost twice the rate of those in urban areas for the past five years, while rural wages have largely stagnated. The consequence is that young people are being forced to leave rural communities as a result of the housing crisis. This has a knock-on effect through the skills lost, a reduction in economic activity and vital public services being deprived of talent. An additional issue is the increasing number of second homes and short-term lets, which drive up rental prices and restrict supply. Control of the proportion of second homes and short-term lets in an area is essential to enable stable communities to survive.
That leads me neatly to consideration of the funding that the Government supply in support of rural communities. The Rural Services Network has long campaigned for a fairer allocation of funding to rural local authorities. In 2024-25, urban councils received 36% more in government funding spending power per head compared to rural councils. As a result of years of underfunding, rural councils have had to increase council tax, leading to a situation where rural residents pay, on average, 20% more per head than their urban counterparts. Rural residents receive less government funding, pay more in council tax and receive fewer services than those in urban areas. One of the ways that councils are partially bridging the funding gap is by making service provision contracts with parish councils that are able to raise income to fund basic services—for example, parks and play areas.
The question was what priorities we want to see for the next two years. For me, we must use the planning process to allocate more land for social housing, and see improved and fair funding for councils serving rural communities. I make a plea that we do not divide our communities by defining rural and urban as if they are totally separate.
Lord Roborough (Con)
My Lords, I declare my farming and land interests in Devon and Scotland as set out in the register. I add my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard, on his maiden contribution, in an area where he clearly has significant expertise. I am most grateful to my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering for securing this debate and to all noble Lords who have made contributions.
It is clear today that those living in rural communities have little idea what His Majesty’s Government regard as priorities for their benefit and desperately need reassurance. As my noble friend Lady McIntosh mentioned, the Government have made several significant commitments to developing renewable energy and energy transmission, as well as new housing. How can this be achieved while ensuring that local voices and rural areas are still heard in those decisions? I add my request to the Minister for an update on the land use framework and the NPPF.
The rural economy needs greater investment by the Government, rather than the rumoured cuts, in the short term to address food security and water quality, adapt to climate change and deliver our nature recovery obligations. I join other noble Lords in asking the Minister to fight to protect and increase the Defra budget and to commit to the continued rollout of ELMS, including the advanced SFI options that appear to be making limited progress. This is a critical segue into introducing private capital into creating these public goods. The Government can act as a catalyst for private sector investment, reducing that call on the Government in the medium to longer term and creating greater rural and societal prosperity providing they invest now as we work through our green finance strategy, ELMS and other measures.
The rural land-based economy has a tremendous opportunity from the introduction of private finance into natural capital. To allow this, Governments have to step in and create these markets to help to turn public goods into something the private sector will pay for. The fundamental requirement to develop these markets is that standards have integrity and can adapt to improving technology that allows better targeting and monitoring over time.
Our Government were working with the British Standards Institution on developing these standards. We had already created the woodland carbon code and peatland carbon code, which stand level with best standards globally. It is critical that the Government commit to similar standards for other aspects of natural capital that underpin market confidence. In a Written Answer, the Minister stated that this is:
“Subject to the outcome of the Spending Review”.
That is somewhat disappointing, and words we may hear repeated later today.
Confidence in payment for developing key aspects of natural capital follows from the integrity of the standards. If the WCC and PCC enter into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, land managers can have confidence that there will be a liquid market for the carbon management we are undertaking. We were told in a Written Answer from the Minister that we must wait until 2025 before we receive the government response to consultation on this. Please can we move faster?
We need similar financial incentives for other goods such as flood prevention and water quality. Can we provide incentives for the water companies to buy these goods and services from land managers? Can we require corporates, under the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, to invest in nature recovery?
Land managers are businessmen, and if we enable the right incentives they will act accordingly. In the words of my noble friend Lord Benyon, Defra must
“weaponise farmers and land managers”,
as they are the ones who will deliver sequestered carbon and biodiversity, and aid better water management. The most efficient and effective way of doing that is to enable trustworthy and liquid markets for those goods. A thriving natural capital market will bring a new advisory and financial services industry that we can lead the world in, and export high-value, rural, private sector jobs and tax revenue. I urge the Government to move at pace to continue investing and developing these markets.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)
My Lords, I start by congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, on securing this debate. It has been an important discussion and I welcome the opportunity to respond. I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, on his maiden speech and give him a warm welcome to this House. I very much look forward to working with him as we go forward on these issues.
I just want to look at the actual Question, which was:
“To ask His Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for rural communities over the next two years”.
I think this debate has gone much more broadly than that. Many of the issues that we have discussed are going to take more than two years to resolve, so I think much of what I am going to be talking about is also going to be long term as well as short term.
The Government are committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that the full potential of rural businesses and communities can be realised. To do this, we need to ensure that the needs of people in rural areas are right at the heart of policy-making and I think that has come across very strongly during this debate. I also reiterate that I genuinely value rural communities. They are my communities. I have always lived in a rural community and I will continue to be a strong voice for rural communities in the department.
Farming, forestry and other traditional land sectors are essential for delivering so much of what we value in our countryside. However, businesses found in rural areas are just as diverse as those in urban areas. We know that around 80% operate outside agriculture and related sectors. In addition, more people in rural areas are employed in microbusinesses than in urban areas and yet, as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans so clearly explained, there is significant potential for economic growth, with average productivity in rural areas being 86% of the England average. This was mentioned by the noble Earl, Lord Caithness.
Our manifesto was clear: sustained economic growth is the only route to improving the prosperity of our country and the living standards of working people. Our approach to delivering this growth right across the country will focus on three pillars: stability, investment and reform. We have already started to deliver on our commitment to restore stability for farmers by continuing the rollout of the sustainable farming incentive. We will go further by optimising our schemes and grants, ensuring that they produce the right outcomes for farmers, and that includes small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms, while delivering food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable way.
We have recognised the specific challenges and opportunities that make rural economies distinctive, acknowledging the importance of funds such as the £110 million rural England prosperity fund, which provides targeted support to rural businesses and communities. We also know that a prosperous rural economy will need to be underpinned by improvements in rural connectivity—both transport and digital—the availability of affordable housing and energy, and access to a diverse range of community services.
The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, was particularly concerned about housing and I thank him for his support of our ambitions in this area. Home ownership is out of reach for too many—too few homes have been built and very few are genuinely affordable, as the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, said. Our housing shortage drives high rents and high prices. We are committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas and part of addressing this is going to be through the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We want to work with councils and housing associations to build the capacity to ensure we deliver the homes that people need.
We will reform planning laws so we can build the homes our rural communities desperately need, while protecting our green spaces and the natural environment. Noble Lords mentioned the National Planning Policy Framework. We have launched a consultation to reform this and as part of that we will consider how to build more homes in the best way and introduce a wider set of growth-focused interventions that will build them in the places that people want to live in, supported by the correct infrastructure. A number of noble Lords asked about the land use framework. We intend to publish this later this year as a Green Paper.
The Government are also committed to tackling fuel poverty. It is our ambition that the warm homes plan will transform homes across the country by making them cheaper and cleaner to run, including the many households in rural areas that are not connected to the gas grid. That includes me. Decarbonising off-grid properties will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and build our energy independence. It will protect customers from high and volatile energy prices, keep us on track for net zero and, at the same time, improve air quality.
The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, talked about the fact that a lot of the energy projects will have little value for local communities. I make the point that nationally significant infrastructure projects, NSIPs— that includes large grid connections—have community benefit programmes as part of the process that they have to go through, and work very closely with local communities. We will also be setting up Great British Energy. It will support local and combined authorities and community energy groups to roll out small and medium-scale renewable energy projects in their areas.
The Government recognise that people living in rural areas often have greater distances to travel to access essential services, such as employment, education and training, and other social and recreational activities. That has come across clearly in this debate. We understand that it is much more costly and time-consuming when you have to travel great distances and the travel connectivity is not good. The noble Baroness, Lady Humphreys, talked about some of the transport challenges and gave examples in her area. One thing we are determined to do is to deliver better bus services, and we have set out a plan of how we can achieve this. It is based on giving local leaders the tools they need to ensure that bus services reflect their needs. I am sure we would all agree that one size does not fit all when it comes to transport services.
Digitisation is at the heart of the Government’s agenda. We are committed to ensuring that rural communities, many of which are still reliant, as we have heard, on 3G, are not left behind as part of the switch off. In rural areas, 4G coverage is increasing thanks to the shared rural network, which the Government will continue to invest in to ensure coverage where currently no major mobile network operators provide 4G coverage.
While I am on the topic of digital, the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, asked about Project Gigabit. I think it covers 85% of UK premises at present; the idea is to have nation-wide coverage by 2030. I am very sorry, but I cannot confirm—I am going to keep saying this—the continuation of things and funding until we have gone through the spending review; unfortunately, I just cannot do that. It does not mean that it is not happening, but I cannot confirm anything.
The noble Lord, Lord de Clifford, asked about mobile coverage. He will be interested to know that the Minister of State for Data Protection and Telecoms recently wrote to Ofcom, on 28 August, asking it to update him on the steps it will be taking to improve its reporting of mobile coverage, including timescales for this work, by the end of October.
Opportunity can also be a challenge. Too many young people and children are defined by their background. It should not matter who you are or where you come from. The Government are committed to supporting rural schools in order to break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their success. As part of this, we will be recruiting 6,500 new teachers in key subjects.
We intend to boost rural and agricultural skills by reforming the apprenticeships levy into a growth and skills levy, to give businesses the freedom and flexibility to upskill their workforce, and by opening new specialist technical excellence colleges, to give rural communities the chance to fit skills to the needs of their local economies and empower rural business to play a bigger role in the skills revolution.
The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, talked about health, as did others. As we have heard, the delivery of and access to health services such as GPs, dentistry—which we have not heard about today but which is critical—and women’s health services is a particular challenge in rural areas, especially as it takes longer to access services due to longer travel times. At the time people are most likely to need care—namely, when they are getting older—they increasingly live in areas where it is most difficult to provide that care. In England, integrated care systems will have a key role to play in designing services that meet the needs of local people. To do this, they will need to work with clinicians and local communities right down at neighbourhood level.
We are doing more to use the transformative power of technology, such as virtual wards. I have seen virtual meetings with GPs and patients where I am in Cumbria. This allows care to be delivered into people’s own homes and in areas with a shortage of GPs or healthcare staff. Because of that, areas where rurality can be a barrier can benefit disproportionately.
Mental health is also a big issue. We want to make sure that mental health care is delivered in the community, close to people’s homes, through new models of care and support, so that fewer people need to go into hospital. We are setting up a young futures mental health hub for under-25s in every rural community. In addition, we are supporting charities that focus on farmers’ mental health and well-being through grant funding. This is helping them to offer support to farmers and their families, as well as helping to build resilience in farming communities.
The noble Lord, Lord Harlech, asked about crime. We will tackle rural crime through a cross-government approach—for example, by increasing police patrols in rural towns and lanes, and by punishing anti-social behaviour, agricultural crime and county lines, with stronger laws to crack down on farm equipment theft and fly-tipping. We are also actively looking at ways to better tackle livestock worrying.
A couple of noble Lords asked about vets. We are very aware of the challenges around veterinary services but, on a positive note, we have been doing farm visits with vets and have had a really positive response.
My noble friend Lady Ritchie asked about collaborative working—in fact, I met Mr Muir this morning. Collaborative working across the devolved Governments, through cross-departmental work and into communities is critical to the work we are carrying out.
I would be happy to have the right reverend Prelate the Bishops of St Albans’s recently published report, which we will take back to the department. He might be interested to know that on Thursday, Daniel Zeichner, the Rural Minister, will host a rural round table that will include the Rural Coalition.
I have run out of time, so I shall say that we recognise the importance of rural communities and businesses and continue to do everything in our power to ensure a prosperous future.