Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the animal welfare strategy, published on 22 December 2025, on domestic livestock producers; and what steps they will take to prevent third country producers from having a competitive advantage in not having to meet the standards in that strategy.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will continue to build on existing high welfare standards in our farming sector in a measured way, while supporting the farming sector to be profitable and contribute to UK food security. The Government recognises that assessing the impacts of measures in the strategy is an important part of the process as proposals are brought forward. The Government will also continue to build on the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway to make sure farmers have access to the right advice and support.
As set out in the UK’s trade strategy, the Government will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage and, where necessary, will be prepared to use the full range of powers at the government’s disposal to protect the UK’s most sensitive sectors.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the annual farming budget for (1) 2025–26, and (2) 2026–27; and how the spending is broken down for each year.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. On 12 March 2025 we set out how we planned to spend the budget [see attached] (£5 billion) across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years.
Scheme | Budget for 2024/25 and 2025/26 (£m) |
Delinked Payments | 1,050 |
Live existing agreements (Higher Level Stewardship and Countryside Stewardship) | 1,800 |
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) | 1,050 |
Other environmental land management (ELM) schemes | 350 |
Farming grants (one-off payments to help improve the environment or increase productivity) | 350 |
Animal Health, Welfare and Livestock Information Transformation | 150 |
Mental health, Farming Resilience Fund, Prosperity Fund | 100 |
Advice, pilots and technical support | 150 |
Total | 5,000 |
On 16 June 2026, following the 2025 Spending Review, we set out indicative funding figures [see attached] for the 2026-27 to 2028-29 financial years, including plans to increase the amount of money paid to farmers under Environmental Land Management schemes from £800m in 2023/24 towards £2bn by 2028/29.
Indicative funding (£ million) | 2026–27 |
Delinked payments | 20 |
Environmental land management schemes | 1,950 |
Other (productivity, innovation, transition) | 350 |
Farming and Countryside Programme | 2,320 |
Nature schemes | 450 |
Farming and Nature total | 2,770 |
Please note final allocations will be agreed through business planning.
In line with its obligations under the Agriculture Act 2020, Defra regularly publishes an annual report, setting out commitments in the previous financial year, including Farming and Countryside Programme spend broken down by each scheme. The latest report covers the financial year 2024/25, and can be accessed here: Farming and Countryside Programme annual report [see attached].
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they held with domestic animal producers before the animal welfare strategy for England was published.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Strategy was developed in conjunction with key stakeholders including representatives of the companion, wild companion, wild animal and farming sectors along with Non-Governmental Organisations, and those involved in enforcement. Defra held roundtable discussions on priorities whilst working to understand the underlying issues that lead to poor welfare. Defra also received input from a wide range of other interested parties.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether imports of lamb from New Zealand and other countries meet animal welfare standards required of domestic producers.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the reply given on 25 February 2026 to Question UIN HL14606.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that imported food products meet the same animal welfare standards as those which are domestically produced.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All agri-food products must comply with our import requirements in order to be placed on the UK market. This includes ensuring that imported meat products have been slaughtered to animal welfare standards equivalent to our domestic standards.
The Government shares the public’s high regard for the high welfare standards we have in this country. As set out in the UK’s Trade Strategy, we will not lower food standards and will uphold high animal welfare standards.
The Government recognises concerns about methods of production which are not permitted in the UK. While production methods vary in line with different climates, diseases and other contextual reasons, the Government will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage and any impact that may have. Where necessary, we will be prepared to use the full range of powers at our disposal to protect our most sensitive sectors.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the status of the Border Inspection Post at Stansted Airport and what assessment they have made of the long-term future of the current site.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Border Inspection Post at Stansted Airport is currently active. Defra is aware that Stansted has signalled an intention to relocate its Border Inspection Post to another site and that the timing of this remains uncertain. This is a commercial decision for the airport’s owners. No application to de-designate the existing site or designate a new site has been received. The Department stands ready to help progress such applications when received. A routine audit is due to be undertaken of the Live Animal facility in March. Further information may become available as part of the discussions of the day.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of funding to deliver the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) 2025 is expected to be raised from the private sector for environmental schemes under landscape recovery within the EIP.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The pilot phase of Landscape Recovery will help us understand how much private finance projects are able to secure from private nature markets and what areas of projects that funding supports.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the relationship is between domestic food production, including increasing self-sufficiency and food security, and nature recovery schemes.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Restoring nature is not in competition with sustainable food production but is necessary to it. Protecting the environmental foundations of farming is essential to farm profitability, because all farms need healthy soils, abundant pollinators, and clean water to produce good food.
The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. The department is targeting public money where it delivers most value, supporting nature. By investing in nature, Defra is helping secure the foundations of long-term food security.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to announce further details of the revised Sustainable Farming Incentive, and what support they will provide to upland and tenant farmers.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will provide more detail on the new SFI offer ahead of publishing the full scheme details before the first application window opens in June.
Eligible upland and tenant farmers will be able to apply for funding as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive this year. The department is working with social entrepreneur Dr Hilary Cottam on a new approach to supporting the uplands and our next step will be to develop a place-based approach for what these communities need, co-designing solutions to specific problems. An example would be, developing a common understanding of how land can be best used for food production and the public good.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the balance is between nature recovery and growth in domestic farm production in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) 2025 ensures that nature’s recovery is a key priority, fundamental to the Government’s approach to economic growth. This Government is committed to deliver for nature, taking action to meet our Environment Act targets, to restore and protect our natural world.
The EIP explains how nature and the actions we take to protect and restore it can enable, drive and protect economic growth.
The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. The Government is targeting public money where it delivers most value, supporting nature. By investing in nature, we are helping secure the foundations of long-term food security.
The Government is working with farmers, farming and environmental organisations to develop the Farming Roadmap, which will set the course of farming in England for the next 25 years. The aim is to maintain food production, meet our environmental outcomes, and deliver a thriving and profitable farming sector.