Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include in the Joint Fisheries Statement a date by which (1) the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and (2) the other devolved administrations, will publish a plan to roll out Remote Electronic Monitoring.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The draft Joint Fisheries Statement (JFS) has been developed jointly with the Devolved Administrations and is a significant step forward in our ambitions to ensure a vibrant, modern and resilient fishing industry and a healthy marine environment.
The draft commits the fisheries policy authorities to a wide-ranging and coordinated monitoring programme to underpin their approach to fisheries management. This includes a commitment to explore, where appropriate, the use of technologies such as vessel monitoring systems and Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) for both their scientific purposes, and to aid the sustainable management and control of fisheries.
The public consultation on the JFS is open until 12 April. We will consider responses to that public consultation and any parliamentary scrutiny prior to the publication of the finalised JFS in November. In the meantime, Marine Scotland published a consultation on the use of REM on 16 March.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish a consultation on Remote Electronic Monitoring, following the call for evidence in 2020.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As part of our commitment to delivering a world class fisheries management system Defra is developing a set of proposals for expanding the use of Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) in English waters.
Last year we published the results of our call for evidence on REM which indicated that there are differing views on the use of REM in fisheries. We have been engaging with stakeholders to understand their perspectives and explore their views on different approaches. We do intend to test our proposals through public consultation when they are sufficiently developed, but are conscious of stakeholder capacity to engage and want to ensure that we make the most of the opportunity offered by formal consultation.
Ultimately, we want to develop the right policy to maximise the potential of this exciting technology and ensure that it complements other marine and fisheries reforms, such as a future catching policy and the rollout of Fisheries Management Plans.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prevent the landlords of those on farm business tenancies from serving notice to quit on those tenants, in order to participate in the Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery elements of the Environmental Land Management Scheme.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are engaging with a wide range of farmers and land managers to inform the development of our Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes, including tenant farmers and landlords. We want to ensure that the schemes are designed in a way that works for all, so all farmers and land managers can be supported to maximise the delivery of environmental outcomes while ensuring effective use of public money.
The Government is aware that a key concern for many tenant farmers is receiving payments for environmental benefits despite not owning the land. Our future schemes will put farmers, foresters and other land managers more in control of how they use their assets in order to deliver environmental outcomes. For the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Local Nature Recovery schemes we envisage that payments will be made to the person delivering the outcomes of the schemes. In Landscape Recovery we are exploring the role of bespoke agreements and payment approaches and tenancies will be considered as part of this.
Evidence shows that many landlords and tenants work together to find solutions to entering agri-environment schemes. To encourage this further the Tenancy Reform Industry Group have updated their best practice guide on how tenants and landlords can work together to deliver environmental schemes successfully. This includes encouraging a culture change within the sector to look at the opportunities that longer-term agreements offer in delivering productivity and environmental improvements which both landlords and tenants can benefit from.
We look forward to engaging further with stakeholders including tenant farmers and landlords as we develop the design of the three schemes.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - 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 29 June (HL1134), what plans they have to ensure that those with farm business tenancies will not be excluded from taking part in the long-term commitments for soil, biodiversity and landscape envisaged by the Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery elements of the Environmental Land Management Scheme where landlords are unwilling to grant consent.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are engaging with a wide range of farmers and land managers to inform the development of our Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes, including tenant farmers and landlords. We want to ensure that the schemes are designed in a way that works for all, so all farmers and land managers can be supported to maximise the delivery of environmental outcomes while ensuring effective use of public money.
The Government is aware that a key concern for many tenant farmers is receiving payments for environmental benefits despite not owning the land. Our future schemes will put farmers, foresters and other land managers more in control of how they use their assets in order to deliver environmental outcomes. For the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Local Nature Recovery schemes we envisage that payments will be made to the person delivering the outcomes of the schemes. In Landscape Recovery we are exploring the role of bespoke agreements and payment approaches and tenancies will be considered as part of this.
Evidence shows that many landlords and tenants work together to find solutions to entering agri-environment schemes. To encourage this further the Tenancy Reform Industry Group have updated their best practice guide on how tenants and landlords can work together to deliver environmental schemes successfully. This includes encouraging a culture change within the sector to look at the opportunities that longer-term agreements offer in delivering productivity and environmental improvements which both landlords and tenants can benefit from.
We look forward to engaging further with stakeholders including tenant farmers and landlords as we develop the design of the three schemes.