Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is (1) the timeline, and (2) the intended consultation framework, for setting a long-term multi-decade target for flood risk management, as referenced in the 10-Year National Infrastructure Strategy and recommended by the National Audit Office and National Infrastructure Commission.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are exploring setting a long-term target for flood risk management, as recommended by the National Audit Office and the National Infrastructure Commission.
The long-term target for floods would be a multi-decade target. It would set out the level of flood risk and flood resilience the nation wants and can afford. To set a long-term target we would use the best available information from the Environment Agency derived from the new national flood risk assessment.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will announce details of the eligibility criteria and timeline for introducing a new Sustainable Farming Incentive offer.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer that will better target SFI in an orderly way towards our priorities for food, farming and nature. We will provide further details about our plans for the SFI offer later this summer.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support and incentivise farmers in England to register in environmental land management schemes.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to delivering environmental outcomes through Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes and other schemes and grants.
We now have 37,000 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements which are already live, covering 4.3 million hectares of land. We will announce further details of a reformed SFI offer later this year.
Our standalone ELM Capital Grants are expected to be at their highest level in 24/25 and will reopen this summer after a short pause.
We are rolling out an improved Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme later this year. We will open the rolling application window for Higher Tier in summer 2025, and we have started inviting farmers and land managers to begin the pre-application process.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support farmers to manage land for both food and nature following the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in Environmental Land Management schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcomes