Farming and Food Production: Land Use Framework

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Hayman of Ullock

Tuesday 21st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I cannot confirm that question specifically—I would have to go back to the department and check—but I can say that the department is keen to work very closely with tenant farmers. That is why we have a tenant farming commissioner: we want to do everything we can to support more tenant farmers to become profitable and more secure.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, can my noble friend knock this nonsense about solar development on the head, once and for all? Is it not a fact that, if you were to take all the schemes that have been proposed to develop solar energy on agricultural land, it would amount to a very small percentage of agricultural land?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

My noble friend is right that it is a very small percentage. People sometimes think that solar panels are on agricultural land when in fact they are on brownfield. A very large solar development near where I live has just been given permission; it looks like it will be built on a lot of fields but, actually, it is an old mining site and brownfield.

Energy Market Reforms

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Hayman of Ullock

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

There are two aspects to this. There is the National Grid, and in Scotland there is ScottishPower. We also have the district network operators, so we have different levels of pylons. It is not quite as straightforward as having a simple pot. The important thing is that we build the renewable energy that we need. We also need to look at battery storage. Not all electricity generation needs to be connected up through power lines. The last figures I saw on burying power lines showed it to be about 11 times more expensive. It depends where they are—through a national park, for example—and what the current situation is. It is important that we have the renewable energy connection, and we want to bring down prices, but we must build the connections in the right place. Connections are not just built in a straight line. Electricity companies spend a long time ensuring that the route chosen is the best one: they talk to people. This is part of creating the renewable energy future that we need.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that, alongside decarbonisation, one way to reduce prices for many people would be to encourage them to use flexible electricity? In other words, through battery storage and other modern techniques, consumers can be encouraged to use electricity at a time of abundance and thereby reduce their bills. The Government set up a task force this summer. Does my noble friend the Minister believe that it can spearhead reform in this area?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I just mentioned battery storage, so that is a very appropriate question from my noble friend. As I said, over the summer we announced our decision not to introduce zonal pricing and, instead, to implement this ambitious package of reforms to improve the effectiveness of our current national pricing model. We will publish more detail later this year—including on the role of flexible assets such as storage and consumer-led flexibility in addressing constraints, because flexibility will be a critical part of lowering costs and achieving our clean power ambitions. We recently published the Clean Flexibility Roadmap, which contains a comprehensive, actionable plan for unlocking the kind of greater flexibility to which my noble friend refers.

State of Climate and Nature

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Hayman of Ullock

Monday 21st July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I refer back to the point raised by the noble Earl, Lord Russell, when he referred to growth in the green economy. This refers back to a CBI report published in February, which showed that the green economy was growing by about 10%. Does the Minister share my surprise at the antagonism of the noble Lord, Lord Offord, towards these policies, given that not only is the green economy a remarkable record of success over the last few years but that in Scotland it contributes £9.1 billion to the Scottish economy and supports 100,700 jobs? The CBI report shows that much of this huge investment in the green economy is happening not just in London and the south-east but in places such as the West Midlands and Scotland.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

My noble friend is absolutely right. It is why Great British Energy has been set up in Aberdeen, for example; it is to look at the areas that need the finance. I know that other areas, in the Midlands and the north-west, that have suffered in the past for lack of investment are now going to have huge opportunities through green finance and green infrastructure being built.

He is absolutely right. It was a little disappointing, to be honest, to hear the Opposition’s response. I remember at one time when the Conservatives were talking about being the greenest Government ever.