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 Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their timeline for the full implementation of the ATLAS caseworking system; and whether they expect it to be fully operational in 2025.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Atlas caseworking system is replacing the legacy CID (Case Information Database) system and we expect to decommission CID in the first half of 2025. Atlas is already fully operational in practice, with almost all in-country caseworking across Migration & Borders being processed on it since mid-2024. A small handful of exceptional immigration routes remain to transition over from CID to Atlas in the next few months.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the ATLAS caseworking system will include functionality to track and report on the (1) number, and (2) demographics, of individuals granted leave to remain with a 'no recourse to public funds' condition; and if so, when this functionality will be fully operational.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Atlas system records, as part of a leave to remain decision, whether an individual has been given a 'no recourse to public funds' (NRPF) condition, and every individual who has an immigration application record on Atlas has their nationality, gender and date of birth recorded as standard. Management Information related to the NRPF condition is expected to be available by late summer 2025, following the transition of caseworking for a small number of remaining immigration routes onto Atlas.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 25 November (HL2389), in which he says that the Home Office review into immigration detention will not assess all areas of the Brook House Inquiry, whether they intend to review the recommendations in another review or assessment, and what would the timescale be for this work.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The previous government published a command paper on 19 March 2024 in response to the Brook House Inquiry report. Positive progress continues to be made in addressing the Inquiry’s findings.
A cross departmental working group chaired by the SCS Deputy Director for Detention Services has been meeting since September 2023. The working group continues to meet monthly to consider and monitor delivery of the Inquiry’s recommendations, providing oversight and overarching governance to monitor Inquiry recommendations. Home Office Ministers are fully sighted on progress.
30 out of the 33 recommendations made have been accepted or partially accepted, with 12 recommendations met and closed as of October 2024. The remaining recommendations remain on track for closure by summer 2025.
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 HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the analysis by the National Farmers’ Union that figures from the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs indicate that 66 per cent of farms will be affected by the proposed changes to agricultural property relief; and what is the reason for the difference between this figure and the Treasury’s calculation that 28 per cent of farms will be affected.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
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.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to tapering or staggering the reduction of agricultural property relief for inheritance tax to give farmers time to put their tax affairs in order.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
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.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to review their analysis, including assumptions, which informed their decision to reduce agricultural property relief for inheritance tax.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
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.
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).
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the change to agricultural property relief will have on (1) investment in new technology for existing farming businesses, (2) food supply to the market should existing farmers leave the sector, and (3) encouraging new entrants and young farmers to start farming.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
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.