Rural Landlords and Land Letting: Reform

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Rock, for tabling the debate and to all noble Lords who have spoken—far too many to mention individually. The overarching message has been the need to complete the unfinished business of agriculture tenancy reform. I pay tribute to the Tenant Farmers Association in particular for continuing to press this case.

As the Minister said during the passage of the Agriculture Bill, we all want a thriving tenanted sector and an environment in which all types of tenure run strong businesses. But to achieve this we need to address the critical issues that remain to be resolved. In particular, we need to ensure parity between tenants under the 1986 and the 1995 legislation to be able to object to a landlord’s refusal to enter a financial assistance scheme, along with new rights to invest in and improve the productivity of a holding.

I hope the Minister will agree that it is vital that all types of farming operation can participate in ELMS and make their contribution to environmentally sustainable agriculture. Could he also update the Committee on the Government’s plans to bring newer, younger entrants into the sector—those with the energy to drive forward the changes needed in this new era? A number of noble Lords raised that point.

Can the Minister update the Committee on progress since the Agriculture Bill received Royal Assent? Can he confirm that the regulations needed to implement the changes already agreed have now been laid? Are interim non-legislative measures being contemplated? When do the Government hope to bring forward a more substantial piece of primary legislation to address the outstanding issues?