Rules for Direct Payments to Farmers (Amendment) Regulations 2020 Financing, Management and Monitoring of Direct Payments to Farmers (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

Monday 24th February 2020 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Victoria Prentis)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the Rules for Direct Payments to Farmers (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020, No. 91).

[The Chair]

With this it will be convenient to consider the Financing, Management and Monitoring of Direct Payments to Farmers (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020, No. 90).

[Victoria Prentis]

That was crystal clear, as you promised, Ms Nokes. It is a pleasure to serve as a new Minister under your chairmanship in your first Committee.

These two statutory instruments concern the European Union law governing the 2020 direct payments schemes. They were brought into UK law on exit day by the Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) Act 2020, which most of us will remember. The matters in the two statutory instruments are closely related, so it is sensible that we consider them together. They make technical amendments to address deficiencies in the retained EU law, so that the direct payment schemes can work effectively in the UK for this year. They do not introduce policy change.

I will deal first with the Rules for Direct Payments to Farmers (Amendment) Regulations 2020. I should explain why it was necessary to use the made affirmative procedure for these instruments: they needed to come into force on exit day at the same time that the relevant direct payments legislation became incorporated into UK law. The scheme runs throughout the entire calendar year. Without these instruments, the UK Government and the devolved Administrations would not be able to administer the direct payments schemes effectively for the remainder of the 2020 year.

These SIs ensure that the UK Government are able to meet their commitments to funding in the agricultural sector. I am pleased that the Government have announced funding of nearly £3 billion for direct payments for the 2020 scheme year, matching the total funding that was available for direct payments in 2019.

As the Committee will be aware, agriculture is a devolved policy area. We have worked closely with the devolved Administrations to produce these instruments, which contain provisions that apply across the UK, and I am pleased to say that they have given their consent to the provisions.

Turning to the SIs themselves, the rules for direct payments regulations amend three retained EU regulations, which together establish the direct payments schemes and set scheme eligibility rules, including rules for the basic payment scheme, the greening payment, the young farmers payment, the redistributive payment and voluntary coupled support. Those EU regulations have been brought into UK law only for the 2020 scheme year.

The financing, management and monitoring of direct payments to farmers regulations amend five retained EU regulations relating to the administration, inspection, enforcement and monitoring of the schemes. It is worth explaining that those EU regulations apply across the whole common agricultural policy, but have been brought into UK law only in relation to 2020 direct payments. Therefore, this SI makes amendments only in relation to 2020 direct payments.

Each SI also makes amendments to existing domestic legislation in England. Many of the amendments are of a uniform type across both instruments, such as merely changing EU-specific terms to domestic equivalents. For instance, references to “member states” will, in most instances, be replaced with the term “relevant authorities”.

Some amendments remove administrative processes that lose their purpose outside the EU context, such as requirements to send notifications to the European Commission about our implementation of the schemes. We have domestic provisions in their place. As the retained EU law covers only the 2020 direct payment schemes, some amendments are needed to make that clear. There are also amendments that update cross-references to EU legislation and remove provisions not relevant to the UK.

Other amendments are different for each statutory instrument. The rules for direct payments regulations remove the process of setting financial ceilings for each direct payment scheme, because it is unnecessary in a domestic context to have legislation setting out ceilings, especially when those are administered at a devolved level. The financing, management and monitoring of direct payments to farmers regulations remove the EU’s auditing and accounting rules to enable suitable domestic equivalents to take their place. They also remove the EU’s budget management processes, where those do not work in a domestic context, and make amendments to clarify how the domestic 2020 direct payment schemes interact with the cross-cutting common agricultural policy provisions, which will continue to apply to the UK during the transition period.

Without the changes made by these statutory instruments, domestic legislation would be unclear and not function effectively for the 2020 scheme year. The instruments provide important and necessary continuity for farmers, the Rural Payments Agency and the devolved Administrations. I therefore commend them to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Victoria Prentis]

I should like to start by thanking the hon. Member for Cambridge for his kind words on my new appointment, and say that I too look forward to considering the Agriculture Bill in Committee tomorrow, and to the many hours that we shall spend together, along with the hon. Member for Bristol West and many others who are present in the Room. We will then see more of the framework for future agriculture policy. Like the hon. Gentleman, I am burning with anticipation, which I am hopeful will shortly be assuaged, to see the new policy document for British agriculture. I know that he and I have been doing a lot of reading over the past 10 days, and we may be doing a lot more in the near future. It is very exciting.

I will not be able, as the hon. Member for Cambridge anticipated, to deal with all his drafting points here and now. I shall try to deal with some of the substantive points he raised, but I undertake to write to him in detail on the drafting issues. Even if I become an experienced Minister, I do not know whether I will be able to deal with that sort of drafting issue on the hoof—even though, as he said very kindly, that is my background. Being in front of the hon. Gentleman is rather like being in front of the Court of Appeal, which is never a happy position for a lawyer to be in.

Let me deal with some of the issues that the hon. Gentleman raised. The statutory instruments maintain the status quo and do not change the rules that farmers need to meet. If a farmer breached the scheme’s rules in January this year, the Government and the devolved Administrations could still enforce the scheme in exactly the same way as would have happened in the past. That was part of the reason for introducing the Act. The SIs simply enable a smooth transition and allow the payments and the mechanisms about which the hon. Gentleman expressed concern to carry on.

I know that the hon. Gentleman is very interested in transport policy: he and I spent many hours in transport debates when I was the parliamentary private secretary to the Department for Transport and he led the opposition to some of the Government’s policies. I am assured that the provisions on active farmers, including the rules on airports and railway services, have been maintained in a way that allows each part of the UK to continue to operate the rules in exactly the same way as before.

On exchange rates, the position in the past has been that we in the UK are subject to fluctuations in exchange rates in the same way as other parts of the EU. I am told that the level of funding available for direct payments this year will be the same as it was in 2019. The funding is based on the same financial ceiling and exchange rates that were used in 2019. That may end up being beneficial for us, and the SIs ensure that, at the very least, we have continuity for our farmers.

As the hon. Gentleman rightly anticipated, I am afraid the exchange rates that will be used to calculate BPS payments in 2020 will be set in a statutory instrument that will follow later this year. In line with EU regulations, the exchange rates for BPS have been set out each year based on the average of exchange rates set by the European Central Bank in the month of September, so we are possibly getting a good deal this year. Next year, we will set them out in a statutory instrument. I hope that answers his question.

On inter-pillar transfers, I took the hon. Gentleman’s little dig about the 15% rate in the past. This year, each part of the UK will set its own level for direct payments for 2020 under the current rules, which will enable up to 15% of the direct payments budget to be used for rural development. That is a very good step forward.

The hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock talked about the money that has been provided for Scottish farmers and crofters following the Bew review. The extra money that the Government have committed to provide to Scotland and Wales ensures the fair allocation of farm support funding. We will amend the UK financial ceilings for direct payments to take account of the extra funding in relation to the 2020 scheme year. We will do that by producing a further statutory instrument and, in advance, we will seek the consent of, and work closely with, the devolved Administrations to ensure that that consent is forthcoming. The Government will continue to engage with the devolved Administrations to agree the longer term funding position.

On exchange rates and funding generally, the level of funding available for direct payments for each part of the UK in 2020 will be exactly the same as it was in 2019. The funding is based on the exchange rate that was used last year, which should ensure continuity. On future schemes, we know very well that farmers need stability, certainty and a smooth transition to move to a replacement system, so we will not switch off direct payments overnight. We have provided an agricultural transition period of seven years, beginning next year in 2021, so that farmers have time to adapt to the new provisions. During that period, we will offer schemes to boost industry productivity and improve animal and plant health and animal welfare. There will be schemes to enable farmers, foresters and growers to invest in new equipment and improved technology. We will talk about that a great deal over the coming weeks in the Agriculture Bill Committee.

The new environmental land management scheme is being piloted from this year. The full scheme is due to be rolled out across England in 2024, so we have three years to get it absolutely right. I look forward to working with Members from all parties to ensure that we do that.

The hon. Member for Cambridge mentioned crisis reserves. We will rely on our usual domestic powers and procedures to respond to a crisis, as we have done many times before, such as with animal disease.

Any future trade agreements must work for consumers, farmers and businesses in the UK. We will not water down our standards on food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection as part of any future trade deal. Goods seeking access to our markets will have to meet our standards. We will discuss those issues again—probably tomorrow.

The instruments we have discussed correct deficiencies in the legislation that establishes the scheme eligibility rules for farmers’ direct payment schemes, as well as the legislation governing the financing, management and monitoring of the schemes. They ensure that the 2020 schemes can continue to run effectively with no disruption for farmers, providing farmers across the UK with stability and certainty. They pave the way for a smooth transition to our new system of public money for public goods in England. I urge hon. Members to agree the amendments that the instruments propose, and I commend the regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That the Committee has considered the Rules for Direct Payments to Farmers (Amendments) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020, No. 91).

The Financing, Management and Monitoring of Direct Payments to Farmers (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Resolved,

That the Committee has considered the Financing, Management and Monitoring of Direct Payments to Farmers (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020, No. 90).—(Victoria Prentis.)

Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) Bill

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

Committee stage & 3rd reading: House of Commons & Committee: 1st sitting: House of Commons & 3rd reading & Committee: 1st sitting
Tuesday 28th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

I agree that we must learn the lessons of the common agricultural policy. Having dealt with it for some seven years in total, I know that it is something of a bureaucratic quagmire. It is very difficult to navigate, and we tend to find that the more rules we invent, the more rules we need in order to make sense of the ones that we already have. That is why we end up with all sorts of complexity, as set out in the 127-page document containing guidance and rules for farmers.

The real lesson to be learnt is that whatever we do in future should be less rules-based and more based on delivering outcomes, and should also be tailored to the needs of an individual farm. When farms have poor profitability, we should try to tackle the causes of that poor profitability by helping farmers to invest and improve fairness in the supply chain, rather than by means of an arbitrary area-based payment. That is the direction of travel that we have set out.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that those like me who have smallholdings are often overwhelmed by the body of rules, and end up not claiming money that they should rightly claim? Has that been a problem historically, and are there any records that show how many people are covered by this?

[George Eustice]

Every month I have to deal with appeals lodged by farmers following decisions made against them involving, for instance, penalties or disqualifications for their particular claim year, perhaps because they were late in submitting their claim. There is often a tragedy behind those stories, and the scope for a Minister to address that within the boundaries of EU law is often quite limited, but we will have the chance to address it in the future.

Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) Bill

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons
Tuesday 21st January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Bill Wiggin]

I absolutely agree. Another element to direct payments is that, by paying our farmers, to some extent we control what they are doing. I hope we will get away from that when we cease to be controlled by the common agricultural policy, but it does mean that, as taxpayers, we have a say in the beauty of our countryside. Of course, when one looks at the size of the tourist industry or, indeed, any of the other industries that live off our views or our environment, we see that this is a tremendous advantage. That is why it is critical that the Bill is passed.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

I thank my fellow farmer for giving way. He mentioned that it is significant that farmers develop their skills over many years and often many generations. When considering direct payments, does he agree it is important that farmers are able to plan for their future by knowing what subsidies they are likely to receive so that they can tailor their farming practices accordingly?

[Bill Wiggin]

My hon. Friend makes a vital point, and it is why the Government have a seven-year tail to this policy. The Bill does not do as much as she and I would both like it to do in delivering certainty. That is a huge problem in my constituency. I have 10,500 people working on farms in my constituency, 88% of which is farmland. Some £23.2 million a year comes into my constituency in subsidy, and it is critical to those farm businesses that they know exactly what is happening.

One problem I face is the current trend away from eating meat, which is a disaster for British agriculture. I was stopped during the general election campaign by someone who said, “Mr Wiggin, you don’t like vegetarians.” I said, “That’s not strictly true, but I do have an issue with this desire to go to a plant-based diet, because it means importing soya from Brazil. It means living with the big pharmaceutical companies determining our diet.”

I am keen that we get back to direct payments for livestock farmers, particularly in Herefordshire, and that we return to British food for British voters, constituents and consumers, so I thoroughly look forward to seeing this Bill become law, and to the Agriculture Bill that follows, so that we can get a lot of these details on to the statute book for the benefit of all concerned.

The Climate Emergency

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for City of Durham (Dr Blackman-Woods) and to hear her talk so movingly about prisons, which, as she knows, is a great interest of mine. However, climate change, as even I—and she, I think—would admit, is the most important issue we have to deal with at the moment.

As the smallholder, cider-maker and beekeeper, as well as farmer’s daughter, that I am, this subject comes very naturally to me. I am thrilled to welcome the new Environment Bill, which is the first major legislation in this area for 20 years. It is interesting how this Bill looks to manage the impact of human activity on the environment. That is something we see a lot of locally. We are a very high-growth area in Banbury and Bicester. We are proud to top the leader board for new housing, and we are proud that at least some of that housing—not all yet, but we hope that it will be—is what is referred to as passive housing. We think that environmental standards can go hand in hand with good growth.

We are pleased with the east-west corridor. We are not nimbies. However, as the Secretary of State for Transport is in his place, let me say that I will continue to lobby on behalf of those of us who oppose High Speed 2 passionately. We are pleased to see the Oakervee review, and we hope that clear recommendations will come out of it. We oppose HS2 because we feel that the business case has never been satisfactorily made, but we are of course worried about environmental damage as well. I have always talked a great deal about ancient pasture and ancient woodland being important, and I am grateful to the Secretary of State for Transport for helping us to stop immediate works on ancient woodland. Once they are gone, we can never get them back.

On that note, I am the corn bunting species champion. There has been a 90% reduction in that creature in my lifetime because of loss of food sources. Once it has gone, it can never be got back, so I welcome the nature recovery strategies, which should assist with that. Everybody knows that I am a keen litter picker, because I make most colleagues join me annually on the Great British Spring Clean, so I will not go into that now.

In the time available to me, I would like to talk about today’s announcement that the Prime Minister has managed to achieve a deal. It is great to be in this debate, where there is a lot of coming together across the green Benches. Climate change need not be a party political issue, and “MPs for a Deal”, which I am proud to be involved with, has shown me that brave and principled Members from across the House are willing to come together in the national good.

I gently say to party leaders on both sides of the House that we are all stronger if we permit dissent. We survive in this country with broad church political parties, rather than endless coalitions. That is a strong and useful feature of our democracy. I cannot be the only one who is kept awake worrying about what will happen in the next fortnight. Counting “MPs for a Deal” members going through the Lobby in support of the deal is what helps me get to sleep. I have a dream—I think that line has been used before—which is that we pass a deal and move on to a world where HS2 phase 1 is cancelled, and we can all debate climate change.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

Thursday 20th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I had not seen the hon. Lady but I have now, and I am grateful to the Secretary of State, who is doing what might be called a side line.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

I probably should also declare an interest in South Devon cattle, as my family have bred them for generations as well. However, I wanted to ask the Minister about rare wildlife, if I might segue into the matter. Given all his work on general licences recently, what communications has he had with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds about sites of special scientific interest and the work it does culling birds in those areas?

[Mr Goodwill]

It is important, particularly for ground-nesting birds, that other bird species that can predate on them and damage their nests are controlled. The RSPB carries out that work on land that it controls, and I hope that it will continue doing so to protect those particular rare species.

Rivers Authorities and Land Drainage Bill

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Friday 15th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

Madam Deputy Speaker, you may remember the last speech that I gave on this Bill.

[The Comptroller of Her Majesty’s Household (Mark Spencer)]

Too short.

[Victoria Prentis]

It certainly was not too short, but it did rehearse my lifelong passion for drains and my concerns about flooding. I relived one of my worst ever court experiences, when I feared I would have to say cryptosporidium in Welsh when prosecuting Welsh Water. Luckily, that never came about.

I pay tribute to all the hard work that my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (David Warburton) has put into this private Member’s Bill, which has cross-party and Government support. He has spoken on the subject with extensive knowledge and authority, if perhaps without my passion as a wet Tory. This is a worthwhile Bill and one that is long overdue.

On Second Reading, apart from talking about my grandfather’s drains, I also spoke about the quality of the raw water in my constituency, caused by discharges from sewage treatment works and diffuse agricultural products. This has caused increased nutrients in the water, which has led to quite poor water quality in many of our local rivers. I was having a discussion with my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood (Mark Spencer) as we prepared for today’s sitting, and he made the point that in his constituency—a former coalmining area—there are very real difficulties with water quality because the water courses have been messed around with as we have messed around with the environment.

This Bill will have importance for Members right across the House. Obviously, we recognise that Somerset has had a particular problem with flooding, but I hope that the Bill will give peace of mind to homeowners and businesses across the country that are at risk of flooding, although most particularly to the people of Somerset. I am aware that Somerset has suffered from flooding for the past 400 years, with chroniclers describing floods as “faster than a greyhound”, as my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome told us in Committee.

The Bill is important because it addresses some key issues. It would allow the Secretary of State the power to establish rivers authorities. Clause 1(2) amends the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to include rivers authorities in the definition of risk management authorities. This will allow rivers authorities to co-operate with other risk management authorities when tackling flooding and will help to ensure that there is central co-ordination when dealing with these issues. That co-ordinated approach is crucial for effective planning and strategy in these types of situation. The measure also means that rivers authorities will have the power to issue a precept to billing authorities, which would then be in a position to collect the money from local taxpayers.

This is something we have studied in depth in Banbury. We were severely flooded in 1998 and then again, slightly less so, in 2007. The original floods caused extensive damage to 125 residential properties, and 35 commercial properties were also flooded, with about £12.5 million of damage. After the 2007 floods, we came together as a community to work out how to deal with it. We came up with a new scheme, which I think it is relevant to mention.

We were able to collect the money for our flood defence scheme in Banbury not only indirectly from local taxpayers via the local council—not by a precept, because that was not available then—but from significant private investment. That is a model, and it should be used by other areas that are dealing with this problem as an example of a public-private partnership that can really benefit an area.

We had bad flooding in 2007. We started the construction of our new scheme in 2011. It now protects 441 houses and 71 commercial properties. It is a huge earth embankment of almost 3,000 metres long and up to 4.5 metres high in places. As part of the development, we were also able to construct a new park, with a circular walk, and to work locally to create habitats for wildlife, which we also need to consider whenever we play with water systems. We need to think about what good we can do when we change the way that water flows.

The scheme cost just over £18.5 million, and it was tested soon after it was constructed in the floods of November 2012. I am pleased to say that it has worked beautifully ever since. It has also had a significant effect on the environment in the village where I live. I live further down the Cherwell valley from Banbury, in a beautiful area right in the middle of my constituency. Previously, when Banbury or Oxford flooded, because of opening gates and managing the water, our area of the Cherwell valley could be very badly affected by flooding, but our new works in Banbury have alleviated the problem for not only the immediate area but those of us further downstream. It is a good example, and I urge Members with an interest in this to consider the way that we got private and public money to pay for it.

Areas that do not have rivers authorities will be able to set them up if they are needed, to ensure that there is local support. Another important element of the Bill is how it will help the 112 internal drainage boards across England that are involved in water management and flood risk management. They play an important role in their local area by maintaining water levels for agricultural and environmental needs, as well as through the upkeep of waterways and flood management.

IDBs are responsible for approximately 1.2 million hectares in England, covering close to 1 million properties. Each IDB is funded by the area it covers, and drainage rates are paid for by agricultural landowners and special levies that are paid for by local councils or authorities. Those land valuations depend on an assessment by each IDB of the relative value of agricultural land, buildings and other land. However, the valuation of other land is based on data collected in the 1990s as part of the Land Drainage Act 1991, which is older, if I may say so, than most of my members of staff. The Bill will mean that new data is collected, to be used by IDBs to calculate the value of “other land” and bring us into the modern world. It will also allow IDBs to extend their boundaries and make it possible for new IDBs to be created using modern-day data.

The other pressing issue in my constituency at the moment is the enormous amount of house building we are doing. We are finishing three houses a day in Banbury and Bicester on average. We normally top the leader board nationally most weeks for the number of houses finished. This has obviously had an enormous effect on the environment locally. It is really important that we use the structures in Bills such as this to ensure that we plan the way the water flows around these new developments.

It is also very important that we do just as much to plan habitat building around new developments. Bicester is a garden town, one of the schemes developed in the last Parliament, and we take this very seriously. I feel that the way in which we manage our water is important both for stopping flooding and, in a positive way, ensuring that it can help habitats and allow us all to enjoy it. Nothing is more beautiful than walking by a stream or, as my grandfather said—I think I mentioned this in my last speech—listening to a running drain.

It is important that we really embrace the concept of water management, so I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome not only for his hard work in getting the Bill to this stage for his constituents, but for everything he has done for people across England who have been affected by devastating flooding.

Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Bill

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Friday 8th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

I was not expecting to be called to speak so soon, so it falls to me to say what an enormous debt of gratitude this House owes to Finn—I understand that he is not here at the moment, but he will be later—[Interruption.] Oh, Finn is here. Super! I look forward to meeting him later. Look, he is standing up, so we can see him—marvellous! I am sorry that those on the Opposition Benches probably cannot quite see him, but I hope that you can, Mr Speaker.

As I think we will hear from Members from all corners of the House, we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Finn, to PC Dave Wardell and to my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for North East Hertfordshire (Sir Oliver Heald). The Bill has not had an easy passage through this House, and I fail to see how someone without my right hon. and learned Friend’s many years of experience in a wide range of judicial and barristerial posts could have got it this far. Many congratulations to him.

It is a genuine honour to speak in support of the Bill. I am sure we all agree that service animals, from the police to the prison service, do a very important job. There are 1,200 police dogs in service, and more often than not their role is to help in unpredictable and very dangerous situations. Between April 2017 and March 2018, they were used in nearly 2,000 incidents, including 557 occasions when the suspect had a weapon. In just 99 of those incidents, the suspect escaped. I suspect that that is rather better than the statistics for humans who try to apprehend suspects.

As we know from the case of PC Dave Wardell and Finn, however, the result is not always a happy one for the dogs in the line of duty. Finn is just one of hundreds of dogs to sustain an injury while they are doing their jobs. My own local neighbourhood inspector in Cherwell, John Batty, told me about an incident that he witnessed. He says:

“I will always remember an incident in Slough when I was on firearms a number of years ago. A suspect made off from us and the dog, Tyke”—

he is, perhaps, not known to Finn—

“was released to catch him. The suspect had a knife on him and he stabbed Tyke causing him to lose an eye and although he eventually recovered he had to be retired. It was very traumatic, especially for the dog handler, so anything we can do to evidence the need for such a law is well worth the effort.”

I could not agree more.

Today’s Bill brings in long-overdue changes to provide proper recognition in law of service animals’ vital role. Service animals are used widely across the prison service; police dogs are bred and trained to be brave, and, where necessary, aggressive; and sniffer dogs also have specific characteristics. Those characteristics may make life after service very difficult for such animals, and it is not always easy to rehome them. We know from well publicised cases that the retirement of military dogs can be difficult, and it may require sensitive handling. Now that we recognise that these dogs exist and we can talk about military service—at an earlier point in my career, we certainly were not permitted to do that—it is important that we talk about the needs of those dogs and their handlers. They really are a fourth or fifth emergency service. They play an essential part in keeping the brave men and women who protect us safer than they would otherwise be, and it is important that we recognise that.

I am glad to see the Minister here. I hope that he will remind us later of the Government’s commitment to increase the maximum penalty for animal welfare offences from six months to five years. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has spoken of her desire to make sure that the United Kingdom is a world leader in the care and protection of animals. This Bill takes us one step closer to achieving that aim. This Bill is for Finn, who is sitting very quietly in the Gallery; for Tyke, who I hope is still enjoying his retirement; and for all of our brave service animals.

Rivers Authorities and Land Drainage Bill

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 8th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

I did not think we would get on to this Bill today, but I am thrilled that we have, because I have always felt strongly about flooding. That is partly because of my paternal grandfather, who always used to say that there was no better sound than that of a well-running drain. Also, I hesitate to say this but my mother is Welsh and Wales does suffer from a certain amount of wet weather. So this runs in my veins, and I grew up to become a barrister who prosecuted water companies, and I was always very interested in the way in which we could regulate both clean raw water and the clean water in our taps. As we all know, many in this House have tried very hard to reduce the amount of plastic waste that we produce, and one way to do that is to drink tap water instead of drinking water out of plastic bottles. I was glad to see from my prosecution days that the water that runs out of our taps is of very superior quality.

I now have the honour to represent Banbury and Bicester. They are wonderful places in many ways, but it has to be said that we are quite damp locally: not as damp possibly as the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (David Warburton), but we do suffer from a very high water table. I met the Environment Agency last week and was very pleased to be shown the map of my constituency. I say I was very pleased, but in fact I was completely horrified because it showed the quality of raw water described in colours, with the darker the colour meaning the more worried we should be. Part of me was proud to see that the only green on the map represents a very small area very near where my family farms; part of me was pleased about that and I keep meaning to mention it to my father—perhaps I am doing to so in the Chamber this afternoon—who I know would be proud. The rest of the map was very troubling, however. Most of it was dark orange and some areas were red. The Environment Agency explained that there are reasons for that: apparently if a drainage course is altered, that in itself can lead to an area being in the red, and it does not necessarily mean the quality of the raw water is of concern. In looking at this matter, we might therefore need to consider whether the mechanisms we use to measure water quality are a little clunky; the Minister might want to address that later.

It is worrying, however, that an area that is damp—traditionally, geographically—and where the water quality really matters to us should have this problem. As Members know, we are very keen on our house building programme locally; we are keen to promote growth, but we are also keen that this should not be at the expense of the natural environment. I have asked the Environment Agency to follow up what it told me last week and I will be continuing to monitor this matter very closely.

The other reason I am particularly proud to speak this afternoon is that, following severe flooding in my area over the winter of 2015-16—some years after the floods mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome—over £200 million was made available to help communities and businesses across the UK recover and a further £130 million was given to be spent on repairing damaged transport infrastructure. We were very interested in that scheme and responded to it.

Many of my constituents will recall the Easter of 1998 not as a time of celebration but as a time of severe devastation. Heavy rain caused a flood that closed our railway station and many roads. Approximately 125 residential and 35 commercial properties were affected, resulting in more than £12.5 million of damage. Another flood in the summer of 2007 reinforced the need for a comprehensive flood alleviation scheme in Banbury.

The geography of the valley alongside the river that runs through Banbury makes the town susceptible to flooding following heavy rain. The alleviation scheme consists of five elements: a large flood storage reservoir upstream of Banbury; a key elevated highway into the community; new earth embankments, flood walls and pile walls in strategic locations; a new pumping station; and a bio-habitat, complete with ponds, trees and hedgerows. The scheme has worked enormously well, transforming both the town and the area downstream of Banbury, where I live, which used to suffer from being flooded on purpose when Banbury was at risk.

The other thing that makes me particularly proud of the scheme is that it was funded by a combination of means, both private and public, and the model should be considered and taken up nationwide. The project was funded by the regional flood defence committee, Cherwell District Council, Thames Water and Network Rail and was brilliantly spearheaded by the Environment Agency. Prodrive, a private motorsport company, also constructed part of the defences to protect its bases on Chalker Way. The scheme is a good example of how to deal with flooding, and this Bill is a good and sensible step forward.

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

I can tell that my hon. Friend is about to close her speech, but she mentioned at the beginning her expertise in prosecuting in this area in her previous career as a barrister. We do not want to anticipate that things will definitely go wrong, but things inevitably do, so what does she envision for the regulatory supervision of the new rivers authorities? What advice can she give about supervision, specifically for this Bill, given her previous expertise?

[Victoria Prentis]

I would not want to step on the toes of my successors in the Government Legal Service, but I am sure that they will be studying the Bill’s provisions carefully. In my view, anything that further highlights this important area is of use to those who prosecute to ensure that our water, both drinking water, in which I used to specialise, and raw water, is clean, and it is really important that we concentrate on both types. This country has some fantastic legislative provisions to protect our very good drinking water, but raw water is also important. People walk by it, play in it, swim in it and, of course, it often becomes the water that we drink. The Bill is a good and sensible step forward, and I look forward to seeing how rivers authorities will carry out their work. I am proud to support my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome today.

European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

Thursday 10th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Pete Wishart]

It does not even start to—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman does not need to address his points to me. I am beyond redemption. He should turn his attention to some of his hon. Friends and colleagues on his own Benches, and I invite him to do that. I think they are all thoroughly looking forward to his speech. His efforts may be more fruitful with them than they are likely to be with me, because I shall go on to explain why this deal is totally, absolutely and utterly unacceptable to me, to my constituents and to the vast majority of the Scottish people.

I have never seen another example where it has been the main policy intention of a Government to intentionally impoverish, with such chaotic abandon, the people they are notionally there to serve. When the history books judge this little period of British history, in the late teens in this century, they will only ever conclude that this is the greatest example of political, cultural and economic self-harm that has ever been committed by a nation unto a nation.

The fact that we have got to this point will be forever remembered as the greatest single failure of any modern Government in post-war history. And you remember why we are doing this—remember why all this started? [Laughter.] They laugh. A referendum. It was supposed to heal the divisions within the Conservative party on the issue of the European Union. Ten out of ten for that, Mr Speaker. What an absolute and resounding success. Not only have they further divided their rotten party, but they have gone and divided a nation and then taken that nation to the very brink. And now, of course, we observe the abyss on the other side of that brink, in all its grotesque horror.

If we look at the Brexit clock—

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Pete Wishart]

I was going to move on, but yes, I will give way to the hon. Lady because I quite like her.

[Victoria Prentis]

I am slightly confused. Does the hon. Gentleman object to referendums, or just the results of referendums?

[Pete Wishart]

This is where we are with the Conservatives, when they ask banal, stupid questions such as that. The hon. Lady asks me about the referendum. Let me tell her about referendums. We have had two referendums in Scotland. In the first referendum, the people of Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] They like that. Scotland is still part of the United Kingdom. We then had a referendum on EU membership, where the nation—the nation—of Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain. We have not got what we wanted in this referendum, and that means that we have a nation completely and utterly alienated from what the Brexit Tories are doing to us. That is a difficult issue that, at some point, they will have to confront, just as, at some point, the Scottish people will have to make some sort of constitutional assessment of it, because this cannot stand. We cannot have a nation being taken out of a Union that it values and cherishes, against the national collective will of the people of that nation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

I was brought up to believe strongly that the EU was a force for peace and prosperity. My maternal grandmother, whose parents had been badly affected in two world wars, is still a great believer in the European Union. My father has spent his career embedding British values in European projects. I am an Erasmus scholar, and I used to work for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. I am also a linguist of sorts, although my daughter did say the other day, “Mummy, you think you speak Italian. Sadly, nobody else agrees.” I cut my political teeth in the events leading up to 1989, when students from around the EU acted together to overcome communism, which was really exciting for an 18-year-old.

So, I was a remainer, but stronger by far than my respect for the EU is my love for this nation, for our institutions, for our hard work, for the rule of law, and for the common law, in which I have spent my whole career working. I believe in our flexible—if I can cheekily say that to you, Mr Speaker—but stable constitution, and in a robust democracy that has endured for centuries, and that is why I cannot support a second referendum.

I wonder whether my European Research Group colleagues have ever read to the end of the fabulous leaflet that was delivered to all households before the 2016 referendum. Colleagues might remember it, but I bet my ERG colleagues never got to the page near the back, which reads:

“This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide.”

The back page says, in bold, that

“The EU referendum is a once in a generation decision.”

We must do this.

Colleagues will realise that this is a considerable compromise—to use the word of the moment—for me. It is one that I will make because I respect the decision of my constituents and of others across the nation who voted to leave, but I say to colleagues—particularly fellow Conservative Members—who propose to vote against the withdrawal agreement that they must compromise, too. I politely and respectfully say to Opposition Members, respecting much of what the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith) just said, that it is ridiculous to think that they could negotiate a better deal from where we are now.

The Prime Minister, for whom I have considerable respect, and thousands of civil servants, for whom I also have considerable respect, have spent two and a half years working hard to get this agreement. It has tariffs at zero. It does quite a lot—not everything we want, but quite a lot—for citizens’ rights. There is clearly a lot more work to do, but it is a fair start, and it is where we are at this minute. I say to Conservative Members that there is a real risk that those who want a harder Brexit will end up with no Brexit at all. As a democrat, I do not believe that that would be the right outcome—although let me say that if there is a second referendum, I will campaign with every fibre of my being. Let us hope that rabbits can be pulled out of the hat in the next week.

[Chris Bryant]

We don’t want rabbits.

[Victoria Prentis]

The hon. Gentleman must remember that I am a keeper of ferrets.

Today’s debate has been completely different from the debate before Christmas, during which I set out sensibly—without talking about ferrets—the views of the people and businesses in my constituency. I love the EU, and I love the UK more than the EU, but I love Banbury much more than both. I ask all Members, setting aside both ideology and pride for a minute, if they can, to think about their constituents and the jobs that will be at risk if we head for a no-deal Brexit, which would be a complete disaster. Could we please unite around this deal, which is frankly the only one on the table? Together—I agreed with some of what the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge said about working together—we could then start setting out a positive vision for a global Britain. Let us vote for this deal and move on.

Agriculture Bill

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas). He started his speech with a very controversial statement, with which I think no Member of the House agreed, but I think that everybody will agree with me when I say that British food is the best in the world, and I think that our constituents would be pleased to agree that our prices are among the lowest in Europe. Although I have no financial interest in farming, I should declare that I am a hobby farmer—a continual irritant to the many generations of my family who farm properly for money. I therefore do not have an interest to declare in the register, but I do have the soil of Oxfordshire under my fingernails.

I feel extremely strongly that we must get this right. On the day after the referendum, my first worry was for the environment. In fact, as the previous Prime Minister was resigning, apparently I was muttering something about hedgerows. Whatever else we might think of our friends in Europe, we must admit that their farming lobbies have always been extremely strong.

I am a big fan of the Secretary of State, and of course of the Farming Minister—anyone who farms South Devon must be a great farmer. The Department has certainly got the environmental message, and I have confidence in its ability to make good decisions on the future of subsidies, but I urge both Ministers to make these decisions quickly. Stability and long-term planning are really important to farmers. Farms are not just businesses; they are somewhere to live, and they often provide work for the next generation. We need as much notice as possible of the direction of travel.

Other Members have spoken about the importance of workforce planning.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

Given that I represent many of my hon. Friend’s relatives who work in fruit picking in the Vale of Evesham, I had better be careful about what I say. On workforce planning, does she agree that seasonal workers play a pivotal role? Are they receiving sufficient attention?

[Victoria Prentis]

I will always give way to the representative of my many relations who grow soft fruit and vegetables in the Vale of Evesham—our family history is called “Not only cabbages”. I agree that workforce planning is critical. That is one issue about which I hope to learn much more in the coming months. We need 95,000 seasonal workers. We grow asparagus in Oxfordshire as well, and this issue is important to many of our farmers, although not all.

To keep prices low and the food supply secure, we need to focus on food production as well as the environment. We are proud of our local housing record in my constituency. That is important, but it is literally true that we are losing productive ground to housing—apparently the national equivalent of about the Isle of Wight every year. It is important when we make all these decisions that we look at real evidence. For example, the ban on neonics was widely welcomed. I keep bees on my hobby farm and I know how fragile they are and how important they are to my cider and perry orchards—my cider is definitely the best in the country. The ban on neonics may well be right for them, but the flip side is that some local farmers have sprayed their oilseed rape seven times this year with alternatives to neonics and killed far more of the surrounding eco-structure as a result. Very little rape will be grown in my constituency next year, and of course we all need fields of wheat to continue in Oxfordshire. It would be ludicrous if the new system allowed crops sprayed with neonics to be imported without restriction. If an environmental restriction is right for us, it is right for the produce that we import from around the world. We must assess the evidence rather than be swept up by environmental campaigners.

I would also urge caution around rewilding. It sounds sexy and is gaining ground and celebrity endorsement, but the object is to remove all human impact on the environment. It comes with environmental risk, including species loss, and would completely alter significant national assets such as the Lake district and the North Yorkshire Moors, where nature and farmers have worked together for thousands of years.

I should end by focusing on the corn bunting, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon) mentioned earlier. I am proud to be the species champion, but the corn bunting is in peril, with numbers dropping by over a third since 1995. These are farmland birds, which breed mainly in cereal crops and depend on farmers helping them by providing cereal grain over the winter, given that they do not migrate. Tailored agri-environment schemes, such as mid-field double-drilled strips in winter cereals, are perfect for them. We can get it right, but in order to do so, food production must be considered every bit as important as environmental protection. Food may grow on trees, but trees grow better with care and attention. We must listen to the voices of the countryside when making this new policy.