Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their blog post "Update on the farming budget", published on 12 March, what plans they have to meet the National Farmers' Union, the Country Land and Business Association and the Tenant Farmers Association to discuss the reopening of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State attended the National Farmers Union (NFU) conference in February. Minister Zeichner has had 1:1 bilateral meetings on the Sustainable Farming Incentive specifically with the NFU, National Beef Association, British Poultry Council, Soil Association, Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, National Pig Association, National Sheep Association, British Egg Industry Council, National Federation of Young Farmers, British Free Range Egg Producers Association, LAA, Tenant Farmers Association and Country, Land and Business Association.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their blog post, "Update on the farming budget", published on 12 March, how many Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme applications had been started, but not submitted, by close of business on 11 March.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive Expanded Offer (SFI EO) is an online application and by close of business on the 11 March there are 6,626 applications currently started but not submitted on the Rural Payments Portal.
We have closed SFI for new applications on the 11 March because the current SFI budget had been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental target.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their blog post "Update on the farming budget", published on 12 March, when they expect (1) to reopen applications under the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, and (2) new contracts under the reopened scheme to begin.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will be reforming the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.
We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their blog post "Update on the farming budget", published on 12 March, what is the committed expenditure for the next financial year for agreements currently in place under each of the schemes listed; and what funding is available for new agreements under each of those schemes.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The farming blog published on Wednesday 12 March set out Defra’s spend over the next two years (24/25 and 25/26).
Defra will manage that budget flexibly to respond to demand, and achieve our intended outcomes for farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare.
In line with its obligations under the Agriculture Act 2020, Defra regularly publishes an annual report setting out commitments in the previous financial year. Defra intends to publish the annual report for the financial year 2024/25 later this year, which will set out how money was spent in that financial year.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 28 October (HL1473), whether the political affiliation of non-executive directors was a consideration in their decision to remove non-executive directors since the general election.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the noble Lady to the reply previously given on 28 October 2024 to question HL1473.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government for what policy reasons the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has removed non-executive directors since the general election.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is normal practice for incoming Secretaries of State to make decisions on their departmental boards, considering the skills and experience that the membership brings. Individuals who have been dismissed from the Defra Board since 4 July 2024 have received reasons in writing in line with their terms of appointment.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that tenant farmers on short-term, restrictive Farm Business Tenancies will not be constrained from entering new Environmental Land Management Schemes by their landlords.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Our approach to environmental land management is the cornerstone of our new agricultural policy. Farming efficiently and improving the environment can go hand in hand.
The Government is working to ensure that the design of our future farming schemes is accessible to as many farmers as possible including tenant farmers. For example, we have designed the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme rules for 2022 to have shorter agreements and more flexibility, to better suit tenant farmers, and we have removed the requirement to demonstrate landlord consent. We are exploring and testing how our new schemes might work in practice across different types of holdings and different types and lengths of tenancy agreements.
As part of the development of our new schemes, we have considered the needs of tenants and worked closely with a number of organisations including the Tenant Farmers Association, Country Land and Business Association and National Farmers' Union. We are looking into the problem raised, and will work with these organisations and other stakeholders, to understand whether there is anything we need to do to ensure tenants are not excluded from schemes.
We are also working with tenants through our pilot, test and trials and user research.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to schedule a meeting between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and representatives of the Tenant Farmers Association to discuss the proposals for amendments to the taxation framework.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The Tenant Farmers Association provides a constructive contribution to considerations on the letting of agricultural land. The Government recognises that the fiscal framework plays a role in landowners' decisions on whether to let land and on the length of tenancy terms offered. Other factors are important too such as the size, quality and location of the land, and personal motivations for owning land. The Government is committed to a fair and sustainable tax system and keeps all taxes under review as a matter of course. The impacts and potential unintended consequences of tax reform need careful analysis to ensure confidence in the let sector is maintained.
Officials from Defra and HM Treasury have regular discussions to share information and feedback views from farming stakeholders. A third of all farmland in England is tenanted and a vibrant tenanted sector is vital to the future of agriculture. The Government is working with the Tenants Farmers Association and others to ensure our future farming policy provides an enabling environment for tenant farmers, including ready access to the Sustainable Farming Incentive and other future schemes. Minister Prentis recently met with George Dunn of the Tenant Farmers Association where a wide range of issues relating to tenant farmers were discussed, including the importance that tenant farmers can join environmental schemes without consequences on their tenancy agreements.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposals from the Tenant Farmers Association to amend the taxation framework within which landlords of farmland make decisions about letting land to encourage longer term farm business tenancies; and what plans they have, if any, to implement these changes.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The Tenant Farmers Association provides a constructive contribution to considerations on the letting of agricultural land. The Government recognises that the fiscal framework plays a role in landowners' decisions on whether to let land and on the length of tenancy terms offered. Other factors are important too such as the size, quality and location of the land, and personal motivations for owning land. The Government is committed to a fair and sustainable tax system and keeps all taxes under review as a matter of course. The impacts and potential unintended consequences of tax reform need careful analysis to ensure confidence in the let sector is maintained.
Officials from Defra and HM Treasury have regular discussions to share information and feedback views from farming stakeholders. A third of all farmland in England is tenanted and a vibrant tenanted sector is vital to the future of agriculture. The Government is working with the Tenants Farmers Association and others to ensure our future farming policy provides an enabling environment for tenant farmers, including ready access to the Sustainable Farming Incentive and other future schemes. Minister Prentis recently met with George Dunn of the Tenant Farmers Association where a wide range of issues relating to tenant farmers were discussed, including the importance that tenant farmers can join environmental schemes without consequences on their tenancy agreements.
Asked by: Baroness Rock (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 to include similar provisions to those set out in section 19A of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Following consultation, the Government implemented new provisions to help resolve disputes relating to requests for variations to Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy agreements. This is because these agreements were negotiated over 30 years ago in a very different policy and commercial context than we have today, and they are more likely to need variation and modernisation. Consultation responses did not support the same changes to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 because Farm Business Tenancies are modern agreements more recently negotiated and entered into by both parties.
The Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 enables the tenant and landlord to agree at the start of a tenancy that diversified activity (such as environmental activities) can take place on the holding whilst still confirming they intend it to remain a Farm Business Tenancy throughout the length of the agreement. The Government encourages landlords and tenants of Farm Business Tenancies to work together to find solutions to agreed diversifications including using the land for environmental improvements which can often be delivered alongside agricultural production. To encourage this further, the Tenancy Reform Industry Group, which includes representatives of tenants and landlords, has recently produced a Code of Good Practice providing guidance to help tenants, landlords and their advisers take a positive approach to agreeing variations to tenancy agreements.
The Government is working to ensure that the design of our future farming schemes is accessible to as many land managers as possible, including tenant farmers. As part of this, we are considering questions around landlord consent and length of scheme agreement and we are exploring and testing how our new schemes might work in practice across different types of holdings and different types and lengths of tenancy agreements. The Government is grateful for the ongoing constructive contribution that industry representatives of agricultural tenants and landlords are making to this process as we move through the agricultural transition period.