Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why existing agri-environment schemes such as the Countryside Stewardship scheme are based on the claim deadline of 15 May 2023 while the Rural Payments Agency window runs up until 30 June 2024, resulting in wait times of up to 13 months for farmers and land managers to receive their payments; and whether they have any plans to change this in future.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Within the European Union, policies were set for seven years with limited opportunity to change, however, now that we have left the EU, we are rolling out our new environmental land management schemes and are adopting new approaches, including to our payment frequencies. We have already introduced more frequent payments in our new schemes, to make them work better for farm businesses. For example, SFI offers payments on a quarterly schedule, so that farmers start getting paid in the fourth month of their agreement, and every 3 months after that. Where possible, as we expand the offer, we will offer more frequent payments to more participants.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take, if any to increase grain production in the UK in the light of current global supply shortages; and what discussions they have had with other governments regarding the expansion of grain production globally in response to those shortages.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain which has coped well in responding to unprecedented challenges in the past few years. The UK is highly self-sufficient in most grains production, with 88% of cereals consumed in the UK in 2020 produced domestically.
Our fantastic British farmers are world-leaders and carefully plan their planting to suit the weather, their soil type, and their long-term agronomic strategy. It is not Government policy to determine which cereals or other crops farmers should prioritise to include in their rotation. In 2021 we permanently removed Basic Payment Scheme 'greening measures' on crop diversification and ecological focus areas, meaning when farmers are making crop planting decisions, they are free to react to market signals.
We continue to keep the market situation under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. We have also increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real-time intelligence and to identify where mitigations are available.
Globally, the UK is engaging with likeminded partners through multi-lateral forums including the World Trade Organization, United Nations and G7 to build consensus on the importance of keeping markets open to support global food security and facilitate the smooth functioning of global trade.
We welcome the World Bank’s announcement of $30 billion to address food insecurity globally over the next 15 months, which responds to the UK’s calls for the Bank to mobilise funding to tackle the growing crisis. With G7 allies, we support the launch of the Global Alliance on Food Security, to scale up a rapid, needs-based, coordinated response which avoids a fragmented global response. As an initial response the UK has committed another £10 million to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program to build resilience in agriculture and food security in the poorest countries, bringing our total contribution to £186 million.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether horticulture is as critical to the national economy as agriculture; and whether they plan to treat horticulture equally to agriculture in their plans for economic recovery.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government recognises the crucial role that all agricultural sectors are playing during this time.
As horticulture is part of the agricultural sector, impacts of COVID-19 on the horticulture industry are being overseen by the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group, which meets weekly to monitor UK agricultural markets and to provide forewarning of any atypical market movements. During the coronavirus outbreak, this has allowed Defra and the devolved administrations to share the latest stakeholder information and data to ensure we have an evidence base to assess the effects of COVID-19 on the agricultural industry, in specific markets, or geographical regions.
Officials are having regular meetings with the different agricultural sectors to understand the specific issues affecting each sector. It is clear that the coronavirus pandemic is having an impact on horticulture businesses up and down the country and the Government is acutely aware of the challenges facing parts of the industry at this time. We have been working closely with the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) on reviewing when and how garden centres can reopen safely and as of May 13th 2020, garden centres have been allowed to reopen. This will allow businesses to sell their products directly to the public once again and in doing so bring about the wider benefits to consumers, especially for physical and mental wellbeing, which gardening can bring. There is extensive ongoing engagement being undertaken by the department with representatives from the horticulture supply chain to capture emerging issues and to identify what short-term and long-term support the sector, as a whole, needs.
We will continue to monitor the situation and to work closely with the sector as restrictions are removed and recovery begins.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possible impact of Brexit on the UK's food and catering industries; on what research they base their assessment; and what they forecast as being the net annual loss of European workers in this sector in each year from 2019 to 2025.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
It is a priority of this Government to enable an innovative, productive and competitive food supply chain, which invests in its people and skills. Defra is working closely with industry and other Government departments to understand labour demand and supply for the food and catering sectors, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements.
The Government has been clear that free movement between the UK and EU will end. Defra is working closely with the Home Office to ensure that there is a long term strategy for the food and farming workforce as part of the future immigration policy, with a smooth transition as the UK leaves the EU.
The Immigration White Paper, published on 19 December 2018, sets out the foundation for a single immigration system, where it is workers’ skills that matter, not where they come from. The Government has also made it clear that it will continue to welcome workers from the European Union who are already here in the UK and those who come here in the future who meet the immigration requirements.
Defra is also working with industry to raise awareness of the career opportunities within the agriculture and food industry to attract domestic workers, and is exploring the potential for innovation and automation and their impact on future labour demands.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average length of time taken by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to hear appeals against decisions by Natural England once the adjudication process has been completed.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The time taken to determine agri-environment appeals will vary depending on the nature of the appeal, the complexity and the legislation involved.