Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their plans to introduce nine new river walks and three new national forests will include the creation of new permanent legal rights of access.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our nine new river walks and three new national forests will both increase available natural space and make it more accessible.
We are progressing plans to deliver nine new National River Walks across England, one in each region, to enhance access to nature and are currently considering several delivery options. Further details will be announced in due course.
Our three new national forests in the West of England, the Oxford-Cambridge corridor and the Midlands or North of England, once confirmed, will support delivery of environmental improvement goals including improving access to green space and better connecting people with nature. The Government will set out plans for new national forests in the coming months which will incorporate many factors, including a consideration of new permanent legal rights of access.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how plans to introduce nine new river walks and three new national forests will contribute towards ensuring that everyone in England has access to green or blue spaces within fifteen minutes' walk from their home, as committed to in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, published on 1 December.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is pleased to commit to progress in ensuring everyone should live within a 15-minute walk of a green or blue space. We have recently published for the first time green and blue space interim statistics and will continue to mature the metric and map the status.
As part of our work to improve public access to nature, we are also progressing plans to deliver nine new National River Walks across England, one in each region, to enhance access to nature. We will announce further details on this in due course.
Our new national forests will support delivery of environmental improvement goals including improving access to green space and better connecting people with nature. The ‘Western Forest’ will see 20 million trees planted across the West of England over the coming years and serve over 2.5 million residents, bringing trees and woodlands closer to where people live.
The second new national forest will be in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, and a competition will be launched for a third new national forest in the Midlands or North of England in early 2026.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of section 147ZA of the Highways Act 1980 on the rights of disabled people to access the outdoors with ease and confidence.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is supportive of the provision within section 147ZA of the 1980 Act that enables an authority to work with landowners and relevant parties to replace or improve existing structures so that they can be used more easily by individuals that may experience mobility challenges. There is currently no national assessment available of the impacts of this provision. However, we will continue to improve access to green and blue spaces, ensuring that it is safe and appropriate for all users, through our various initiatives.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the number of full time equivalent personnel employed by DEFRA to administer farming and horticultural grants and subsidies in England on the latest date for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Defra’s Grants Hub data does not hold a ‘Farming & Horticulture’ flag so it would not be possible to quickly pull together a list of schemes in scope of this question.
Manually reviewing the schemes and deciding if they fit or not, without a standard definition of what counts as ‘Farming & Horticulture’, would require a degree of personal judgement and therefore yield some inaccuracy. It would then be necessary to validate the list with teams to ensure they are ‘Farming & Horticulture’ grants.
From experience of similar requests, this would push the cost to disproportionate (ie greater than the HMT-set limit of £850 for a PQ answer).
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the number of (1) farmers, and (2) their direct employees, for the latest date for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
Farmers are defined here as full time and part time principal farmers, business partners, directors and spouses. All other agricultural workers are defined here as regular employees, salaried managers and casual workers who were working on the holding on 1 June 2023.
Agricultural workforce in England in 2023
| 2023 |
|
Farmers | 178,696 |
|
All other agricultural workers | 113,705 |
|
Total agricultural workforce | 292,401 |
|
Notes
(a) Commercial holdings are those registered with the Rural Payments Agency for payments or livestock purposes and with significant levels of farming activity (as recorded in responses to the Defra June Survey of Agriculture or the Cattle Tracing System). Holdings are only included if they have more than five hectares of agricultural land, one hectare of orchards, 0.5 hectares of vegetables or 0.1 hectares of protected crops, or more than 10 cows, 50 pigs, 20 sheep, 20 goats or 1,000 poultry.
Full data series for agricultural workforce are published here for England. A copy is attached to this answer.
Similar figures for the UK are available at gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the negative consequences for the existing public rights of way network arising from ending the cross-compliance requirement that recipients of Direct Payments keep paths open and accessible.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Clear arrangements are already in place through the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to allow for the establishment, recording and appeal of rights of way to agreed standards, and local authorities have responsibility for their maintenance. Local authorities will continue to receive funding through the Revenue Support Grant for their various rights of way duties.
We will continue to pay for access and engagement through our existing environmental land management schemes and we will consider how to maintain investment in these areas as part of future schemes. Our ongoing commitment is visible through other funds and activities including through the Nature for Climate Fund, the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, our Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme and through Countryside Stewardship.
Alongside this ongoing support, as we continue to develop our new schemes throughout the transition and into the future, contact is being maintained with a range of stakeholders that represent a variety of interests including access, as well as with end users to determine the specific land management actions that will be paid for under our new schemes.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will set a date for the commencement of the provisions of the Deregulation Act 2015 which relate to public rights of way.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
As set out in my answer of 27 July 2021 the Government intends to lay legislation as soon as reasonably practicable including the relevant provisions in the Deregulation Act 2015. Deferring the 2026 cut-off date for registration of historic rights of way is still under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 27 July 2021 (HL1956), what progress has been made by officials in reviewing the deferral of the cut-off date for the registration of historic rights of way.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
As set out in my answer of 27 July 2021 the Government intends to lay legislation as soon as reasonably practicable including the relevant provisions in the Deregulation Act 2015. Deferring the 2026 cut-off date for registration of historic rights of way is still under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the amount of excess CO2 created as a result of light pollution.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government has not made an assessment specifically of the amount of excess CO2 created as a result of light pollution. Artificial light is a complex issue that falls across a number of central Government departments, the devolved administrations and, on a local level, local authorities and highways authorities. However, the Government is committed to cutting the UK's emissions to net zero by 2050 and has put a wide range of policies in place to achieve this.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of light pollution on wildlife and the environment.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Defra has published or contributed to a range of assessments of the impact of artificial light on insects and wider biodiversity, as well as global and national assessments of the drivers of biodiversity loss more generally.
Following publication of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s report, ‘Artificial light in the environment’ in 2009, Defra has supported assessments of impacts of artificial light on insects and on other organisms such as bats. These are published on our science website. Defra has also funded or co-funded national and international assessments of drivers of change on insects and wider biodiversity such as the global IPBES Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production, which notes effects of light on nocturnal insects may be growing and identifies the need for further study.
There have been a number of externally funded studies which have highlighted potential impacts of artificial light pollution on insects, but based on the current available evidence, artificial light is not considered one of the main drivers of species decline. We are confident that we are focusing and taking action on the issues that will make a real difference to insect pollinators.
We recognise that there is ongoing research into the topic and together with our academic partners, we will keep this under review.