The future of farming inquiry will provide consistent scrutiny of the issues facing the sector as it transitions. It will focus on farmers, farming communities and the agricultural sector, and seek to engage with these stakeholders in formal calls for evidence, public evidence sessions, visits, engagement events and consultation.  

The Committee will call for evidence on a regular basis. The Committee will produce iterative and focused reports throughout the inquiry.  

Topics for scrutiny will include, but are not limited to: 

• agricultural education and careers;

• Defra’s farming and countryside programme (Environmental Land Management Schemes); 

• food security;  

• innovation and agri-tech; 

• land use;  

• nature-friendly farming;  

• profitability of farming; and 

• tenant farming.  

This inquiry will engage the Committee’s cross-cutting work on supporting rural and coastal communities.  

If you have information or evidence which may be of interest to the Committee, please contact: efracom@parliament.uk   

As a result of these issues, the Government has made water sector reform a top priority, with an Independent Commission expected to report in mid-2025. 

This long-term inquiry will allow the Committee to examine these issues and ensure that Government reforms and the work of key regulators lead to genuinely impactful change. The Committee will call for evidence on a regular basis, and produce iterative and focused reports throughout the inquiry. 

Topics for scrutiny will include, but are not limited to: 

• Financial stability and corporate structures in the water sector; 

• Agricultural pollution;

• Sewage overflows; 

• Other sources of water pollution such as chemicals, transport and road run off;

• Water security for consumers and industries such as agriculture; 

• Reducing water demand: both through consumers and wider supply chains; 

• Supporting the water-based leisure industry; 

• Impact of and emergency responses to flooding, drought and outages; 

• Support for vulnerable consumers 

The Government has identified food security as a national security issue. The fairness in the food supply chain inquiry will provide consistent scrutiny of issues relating to the UK’s food security, the levels of support for domestic food production and the provision of affordable and healthy food.  

It will focus on producers, manufacturers and retailers, as well as other actors in the supply chain, and seek to engage with these stakeholders in formal calls for evidence, public evidence sessions, visits, engagement events and consultation.   

The Committee will call for evidence on a regular basis. The Committee will produce iterative and focused reports throughout the inquiry.   

Topics for scrutiny will include, but are not limited to:  

• structural relationships in the food supply chain;  

• national food strategy; 

• food security;   

• labour shortages in the supply chain; 

• resilience and length of supply chains and food systems;  

• public sector procurement of food;   

• food and animal welfare standards; 

• food labelling; 

• food prices and household food insecurity;   

• opportunities and challenges Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) present for the UK’s food sector; and  

• access to affordable and healthy food.   

This inquiry will engage the Committee’s cross-cutting work on the future of farming and supporting rural and coastal communities.  

Read the call for evidence here

Animal and plant diseases and pests have far-reaching impacts on the environment, agricultural and horticultural sectors, trade, human health, animal welfare, and the food that we eat.

The UK’s animal and plant biosecurity capability is in a period of significant change: the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s critical infrastructure – notably its Weybridge headquarters – is partway through a muti-billion pound transformation project, a new regime of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on goods from the EU is being implemented, and the UK is adapting to changed access to surveillance, people and skills. In this context, the Government has made ambitious animal welfare commitments and is seeking an SPS or veterinary agreement with the EU.

This inquiry will provide consistent scrutiny of ongoing and emerging issues and opportunities relating to animal and plant health. The Committee will call for evidence on a regular basis and produce iterative and focused reports throughout the inquiry.

Topics for scrutiny may include, but are not limited to:

• animal welfare;
• biosecurity at the border;
• implementation of the Border Target Operating Model;
• One Health approach to biosecurity;
• potential SPS agreement with the EU;
• skills and workforce planning in relevant professions (such as the veterinary sector);
• the impact of pests, diseases and biosecurity measures on farmers and the food supply chain;
• the resourcing and work of the Animal and Plant Health Agency;
• threats to UK forestry, including pests and diseases, and the risk of ecosystem collapse;
• threat-specific scrutiny, such as in response to an outbreak or an ongoing priority such as tackling antimicrobial resistance;
• UK Biological Security Strategy.

Read the ‘biosecurity at the border’ call for evidence here.