Lord Bishop of Chelmsford

Direct Payments under the Basic Payment Scheme in England were replaced with delinked payments at the beginning of 2024. Analysis of the impacts of removing Direct Payments (attached) was included in Defra’s 2019 farming evidence compendium and the 2020 Agriculture Bill Impact Assessment (attached).

We are listening to the sector to ensure their views are heard. We regularly meet with a range of farming stakeholders, including the National Farmers Union (NFU), the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), and the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA), and will continue to meet with stakeholders.

As part of this effort, the Secretary of State Steve Reed and Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner have met with NFU President Tom Bradshaw repeatedly to clarify changes in the Budget. Officials have also met with NFU, TFA and CLA representatives and recently attended the Eggs and Poultry Industry Conference as part of ongoing engagement with the sector.

The Secretary of State spoke at the CLA’s annual conference last month to hear from farmers directly.

Minister Zeichner also recently attended and spoke at Northern Farming Conference, the Eggs and Poultry Industry Conference, the Agricultural Industries Confederation Conference, The Tenant Farmers Association Executive Committee and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution’s parliamentary reception.

We will continue to listen to farmers’ concerns to ensure their views are heard.

NHS England is working collaboratively with a range of partners including the Department, the pharmaceutical industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and others to support achievement of net zero ambitions for the National Health Service, as summarised in the Delivering a net zero NHS report published in October 2020. Action on packaging, alongside a wide range of other activities, will support achievement of these ambitions, often also improving efficiency and reducing cost.

NHS England is supporting specific initiatives such as Circularity in Primary Pharmaceutical Packaging, a not-for-profit collaborative which aims, amongst other ambitions, to improve the circularity of blister packs. The MHRA provides regulatory and scientific advice to companies improving the environmental sustainability of their products, and can assist with changes to packaging materials.

Patient safety will always be our primary objective, with increased environmental sustainability in pharmaceutical packaging playing an important part in mitigating the long-term impacts of climate change on our patients.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.

It is expected that up to up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief will be affected by these reforms. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) each year are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.

HMRC and Defra data describe different things. The Defra data shows the asset value of farms in England. However, it is not possible to accurately infer a future inheritance tax liability from data on farm asset values. HMRC data relates to estates making claims for agricultural property relief.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.

It is expected that up to up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief will be affected by these reforms. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) each year are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.

In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.

It is expected that up to up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief will be affected by these reforms. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) each year are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.

In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

Overall, the Government does not expect the introduction of the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on fertiliser to have a significant impact on UK farmers.

The UK’s core tariff schedule, known as the UK Global Tariff (UKGT), sets out the tariff rates that apply to all imported goods balancing the interests of UK consumers, producers, productivity, competitiveness and external trade. A large proportion of agri-food and fertiliser imports enter the UK tariff free. This is either because the tariff applied on the specific product under the UK Global Tariff schedule is zero or because the product is eligible for a zero-duty preferential tariff when imported from countries with which the UK has signed a bilateral trade deal.

Additionally, the UK operates an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). This is the UK’s principal carbon pricing mechanism and covers the manufacturing of fertiliser. In recent years, UK-based fertiliser manufacturers have received more free allowances than they needed to surrender to cover their emissions.

The UK CBAM rate charged on imports, including fertiliser, will reflect the carbon price paid by domestic industries after support mechanisms (such as free allowances) have been taken into account. As a result, we expect initial liabilities arising from the UK CBAM to be relatively low whilst encouraging the supply and use of fertiliser with lower levels of embodied carbon than would otherwise have been the case.

More generally, about 70% of UK agri-food imports come from the EU. The EU also have an Emissions Trading Scheme and will introduce a CBAM from January 2026; both of which include fertiliser. This means that fertiliser used by EU farmers will also have been subject to a carbon price. At the same time, many non-EU food imports cannot be produced in the UK.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.

Additionally, the Chancellor wrote to the Treasury Select Committee on 15 November 2024, setting out further detail regarding the distribution of claims at death for agricultural property relief. This letter has been published at https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.

It is expected that up to up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief will be affected by these reforms. Almost three quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) are expected to be unaffected.

In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

Through the Farming Innovation Programme the Government has committed over £127 million towards research and development funding to farmers, growers and foresters who want to develop and use new, innovative methods and technologies. The Government is also supporting farmers in adopting new productivity improving technologies directly on their farms through the Farming Investment Fund. Since 2021, Defra has paid over £99 million in grant funding to farmers to buy and install modern equipment.

The Adults at Risk review forms part of the response to one of the recommendations of the Brook House Inquiry (Recommendation 9: Review of the operation of Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001). However, it will not cover all areas of the Brook House Inquiry and will not reassess the recommendations made.

The Adults at Risk review should be completed by Spring 2025. It is a wholesale review of the Adults at Risk policy, including Rule 34 and Rule 35 of the detention centre rules. To ensure the review is not constrained, there are no formal terms of reference.

The Home Office together with the Office of the Immigration Service Commissioner (OISC) ran the fees consultation for a period of 12 weeks, which closed on 5 June 2024. The consultation was designed to help best understand the impact of proposals to amend the structure of the fees charged by the OISC to its registered advisers, and to minimise the risks of any adverse impact. The findings from the consultation are currently under review.

The United Kingdom has a long history of providing sanctuary to those who need it. This country will always work alongside others to help those fleeing war and persecution and we value the importance of working with international partners to address the challenges of irregular migration.

Alongside tackling the criminal people smuggling gangs and fixing our asylum system, we are focused on supporting the relocation of those who have been identified as eligible for resettlement under our resettlement schemes and fixing the gaps in existing routes. That is why we have affirmed our ongoing commitment to the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS); supported the reunification of Afghan families under the ACRS route; provided sanctuary for Ukrainians under our Ukraine schemes; and provided routes for Hong Kongers under our Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route.

Work continues at pace to resettle eligible individuals under UKRS from Lebanon. The number of individuals and families resettled is a changing picture due to the operational nature of the scheme, making it difficult to release numbers of eligible individuals due for resettlement at this time. Statistics on the number resettled will be recorded and reported in the relevant quarterly immigration data sets.

It can be confirmed that the UK Government is working as quickly as possible to bring those families who have been accepted onto the UK Resettlement Scheme to the UK by securing seats on flights where they become available.