Trail-hunting
Debate between Baroness Hayman of Ullock and Earl of Leicester(2 weeks ago)
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The Earl of Leicester (Con)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In doing so, I refer the House to my interests as a landowner in Norfolk, over which trail-hunting has always taken place legally This includes the Nar Valley Bloodhounds, who come and play “hunt the host”.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)
My Lords, the Government are committed to enacting a ban on trail-hunting, in line with our manifesto commitment, and will shortly be launching a consultation to seek views on how to deliver an effective, enforceable ban. The responses to that consultation will be used to inform our assessment of the potential impact of a ban on trail-hunting on the rural economy.
The Earl of Leicester (Con)
I thank the Minister for her response and I hope that the consultation will be a fair one. The Hunting Act was the result of 700 hours of debate, and it was what hunting opponents wanted. Hunts adapted and adopted trail-hunting, which is what supporters of the ban said that they should do. A recent socioeconomic survey stated that hunting contributes £100 million to the rural economy each year. A Countryside Alliance survey found that 97% of hunting participants believe the activity to benefit their physical and mental health. A ban on trail-hunting therefore runs contrary to the Government’s missions to promote economic growth and improve health outcomes. Surely further legislation targeting trail-hunting—
Sustainable Farming Incentive
Debate between Baroness Hayman of Ullock and Earl of Leicester(1 year ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
As I mentioned earlier, this is not the first time that SFI has been paused. The way the scheme operates is that it opens for applications and, when the funding is used up, it is then paused until we look at the next round of SFI funding. It is difficult to judge when that is likely to come to an end. In response to the noble Lord’s final question, we are aware that the SFI scheme needs reforming, which is what we are now looking at doing. We need to get it right and we need it to work better for farmers and for the environment. That is why, as I mentioned, we will be talking to stakeholders, including those who use the scheme and those who we would like to use it but who perhaps find it difficult to apply to at the moment. I am particularly talking about smaller farms and upland farms; we need to be much more targeted on them. We are aware that we need to reform it, and we are working on that at the moment.
The Earl of Leicester (Con)
My Lords, I refer the House to my register of interests. It is somewhat disingenuous of the Minister to say that the SFI scheme has been paused twice. The previous two occasions were actually pilot schemes, which were then rolled forward, so I do not accept that. Following on from the question from the noble Lord, Lord Cromwell, what assessment has been made of whether Defra has sufficient resources and staff to deliver commitments across the environment and food security, and what is the Minister’s assessment of the Rural Payments Agency’s ability to handle the change?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
As I said, we need to reform the system and we are working on that; we want it to work as effectively as it possibly can, both to support farmers and to deliver the environmental targets that we need. I have visited the RPA offices in Carlisle, and the staff there work incredibly hard. We are looking at how we can improve the digital support they get, for example, because we need to ensure that the RPA is fit for the future and able to support farmers as best as it can in the way that it needs to.