Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to continue funding the work of rural housing enablers in facilitating affordable housing in rural areas.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
DEFRA’s current Rural Housing Enabler programme began in 2023. It provides grant funding to ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) to deliver and manage a network of independent advisors who work with communities to develop affordable housing schemes across rural England. The advisors help identify suitable development opportunities in communities, and support site owners and community representatives to navigate the planning system and create developments that meet the needs of local people. This funding is set to continue until the end of the current spending review period. We have bid for continued funding next year, but no commitments or announcements can be made until the wider business planning process is finalised.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many conversations the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had with farming sector representatives about changes to agricultural property relief prior to the change being announced.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what impact assessment they made before removing the Basic Payment Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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).