Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on farmers of delays to Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) payments; and what plans they have to rectify the delay.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has no plans to pause the phasing out of Basic Payment Scheme payments.
Our priority is to roll out Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in a way that ensures the service works as straightforwardly as possible for all our customers and aligns with the closing date for Countryside Stewardship.
The SFI 2023 scheme has been expanded and made more flexible in response to farmers’ feedback. There are 23 actions on offer under the new and improved 2023 scheme, including on soil health, moorland, hedgerows, integrated pest management, farmland wildlife, buffer strips, and low input grassland.
The scheme will open for applications from 18 September. Before then farmers can contact the Rural Payments Agency to join the thousands of farm businesses that have already expressed their interest in applying.
Recently, we have run an extensive communications and engagement programme with farmers and farming organisations, including through webinars and our presence at agricultural shows. This has enabled us to promote the options available to farmers and feedback is of increased awareness and interest in what is on offer.
Information on the scheme is available in one handbook and on 10 August we published voluntary ‘How to Guidance’ which farmers can follow if helpful for them. We know that applicants to date have welcomed the simple, automated online application process which again will support uptake in the coming months.
We know the importance of getting agreements and payments out as quickly as possible, which is why we’ll be working to get as many people as possible on board as quickly as possible after 18 September. What is more, in recognition of the challenges faced with inflation and rising input costs, the Government has confirmed farmers will receive a payment in the first month of their SFI 2023 agreement to help with cashflow.
We remain committed to our target of 70% of farms and farmland being in schemes by 2028.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to pause the phasing out of existing farm payments until Sustainable Farming Incentive payments are in place.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has no plans to pause the phasing out of Basic Payment Scheme payments.
Our priority is to roll out Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in a way that ensures the service works as straightforwardly as possible for all our customers and aligns with the closing date for Countryside Stewardship.
The SFI 2023 scheme has been expanded and made more flexible in response to farmers’ feedback. There are 23 actions on offer under the new and improved 2023 scheme, including on soil health, moorland, hedgerows, integrated pest management, farmland wildlife, buffer strips, and low input grassland.
The scheme will open for applications from 18 September. Before then farmers can contact the Rural Payments Agency to join the thousands of farm businesses that have already expressed their interest in applying.
Recently, we have run an extensive communications and engagement programme with farmers and farming organisations, including through webinars and our presence at agricultural shows. This has enabled us to promote the options available to farmers and feedback is of increased awareness and interest in what is on offer.
Information on the scheme is available in one handbook and on 10 August we published voluntary ‘How to Guidance’ which farmers can follow if helpful for them. We know that applicants to date have welcomed the simple, automated online application process which again will support uptake in the coming months.
We know the importance of getting agreements and payments out as quickly as possible, which is why we’ll be working to get as many people as possible on board as quickly as possible after 18 September. What is more, in recognition of the challenges faced with inflation and rising input costs, the Government has confirmed farmers will receive a payment in the first month of their SFI 2023 agreement to help with cashflow.
We remain committed to our target of 70% of farms and farmland being in schemes by 2028.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why a qualified veterinary surgeon must sign off each consignment of Quorn for export to the EU, given that that product contains no meat or dairy content.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Quorn products containing no animal component would not require an export health certificate (EHC) for import into the EU.
Quorn products that contain egg-based ingredients will require an EHC for entry into the EU. EU law (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/692) requires imports of animal products including products containing egg or egg product to be accompanied by an EU EHC that must be signed by an official veterinarian of the competent authority of the exporting third country, guaranteeing that the conditions for entry into the EU have been met.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government to what extent commoners with grazing rights in perpetuity will benefit from the Environmental Land Management Schemes.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are designing the Environmental Land Management schemes so farmers on common land can take part in the schemes in a straightforward and positive way.
We have already designed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) so that eligible single entities can apply for an agreement on common land, as well as making an additional payment available to help with the costs of administering an agreement if there is a group of two or more people on the common.
Commoners will also be eligible for the annual SFI management payment, which will pay £20 per hectare for up to the first 50 hectares entered into the scheme, resulting in a payment of up to £1,000 per year.
Alongside SFI, there are multiple actions available in Countryside Stewardship that are applicable to commoners, as well as payment to support the administration of agreements involving shared grazing on common land. Common land is also eligible for entry into the Landscape Recovery scheme, and applications are currently being accepted for round two.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which those taking the economic risk will be rewarded under the Environmental Land Management Schemes.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are designing our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes with this in mind, many of the actions we will pay for through the ELM schemes will help farmers and land managers reduce their costs, improve their efficiency and improve the natural environment. For example, the nutrient and integrated pest management standards will help optimise use of inputs, helping to reduce costs whilst also potentially maintaining or even improving yields. Other actions in our schemes can enable farmers to generate an income from unproductive corners and edges of fields, using hedgerows to improve productivity (for example as windbreaks or shelterbelts), and improving soil health. The payments are also intended to support and de-risk the transition for farmers wanting to adopt more sustainable farming approaches. We use ‘income foregone plus costs’ to calculate payment rates and we have recently reviewed and updated them to ensure they fairly reflect changes in costs.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for a national grid for water to ensure that those parts of England with sufficient water can supply water to areas that are water stressed.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The concept of a national grid for water has been assessed previously and has been discounted on the basis of cost and practicalities. Unlike gas and electricity, the infrastructure needed for a national grid is considerable as water is heavy, difficult and costly to move. It remains the case that often, local sources of water are better value economically and environmentally than moving water over long distances, which is carbon and energy intensive.
However, there are many existing transfers of water linking parts of the country. For example, the Environment Agency operates a transfer of water from north of Cambridge to Essex to benefit farmers and water companies. Water companies such as United Utilities transfer water from the Lake District to Manchester keeping the city in water. Water companies must look closely at ways of sharing water across their existing networks and by building new links when they prepare their statutory water resource management plans (WRMPs). The current draft WRMPs and regional water resource plans consulted on earlier this year include further development of connections, incrementally building wider and more integrated networks, as well as some regional transfers of water, where these are best value options for customers, society and the environment.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of major housing developments in contributing to sewage spills into combined sewers where the standard of the pipes falls below acceptable environmental standards.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In August 2022 the Government launched the most ambitious plan to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows in water company history – the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. This plan was published alongside an Impact Assessment.
The Government has reviewed making Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) mandatory in new developments and will do this through the implementation of Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. We are now looking at how best to implement, considering scope, threshold and process, while also being mindful of the cumulative impact of new regulatory burdens on the development sector. There will be a public consultation later this year with implementation expected during 2024.
The approach to managing and avoiding flood risk is also set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, underpinned by our planning guidance, applies to all sources of flooding, including from overwhelmed sewers and drainage systems. The Framework expects local planning authorities to plan for the development and infrastructure required in their area, including infrastructure for wastewater and utilities. They should work with other providers, such as sewerage companies, to assess the quality and capacity of infrastructure and its ability to meet forecast demands.
The Government has made a commitment, as part of its reform package under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, to consult on whether or not we should make water companies statutory consultees on certain planning applications, and if so, how best to do this. It will be important that water companies engage local planning authorities on the right applications at the right time so they can input effectively and not slow down the application process.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to the UK chemical industry of simultaneously (1) adapting to the UK REACH programme, and (2) maintaining compliance with the EU REACH programme, insofar as it is necessary for trade with the EU; and what the impact has been on exports of chemicals in the past three years.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The most significant cost associated with the transition to UK REACH relates to registration. The estimated cost to industry of this is £2bn over six years; however, this estimate is uncertain and actual costs would be a matter of commercial negotiation. In response to this, we are exploring alternative arrangements for UK REACH transitional registrations, aiming to significantly reduce industry costs whilst ensuring high standards to safeguard public health and the environment. This work is still in progress, including working with industry stakeholders to better assess the practical and cost implications of different options, for example through regulators and industry volunteers preparing model dossiers. The requirements for the registration of novel chemicals to EU or UK REACH remain the same. We do not hold information on the costs faced by firms in complying with regulatory regimes outside Great Britain. Although values of chemical exports are increasing, this is not generally reflected in volume, suggesting that inflationary pressures are contributing to the figures.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the mitigation hierarchy will be implemented in the planning process for offshore windfarms.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The mitigation hierarchy is an established principle of environmental and planning law. The Government is currently consulting on an updated National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Infrastructure, including offshore wind, which states that applicants should always employ the mitigation hierarchy. The Government will be publishing updated guidance for offshore wind developers and regulators to further clarify how to work through and adhere to the mitigation hierarchy.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill includes provision to replace Strategic Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment processes for national infrastructure projects, marine works and terrestrial planning with Environmental Outcome Reports (EORs). EORs apply to a range of consenting regimes and will assess any steps proposed to avoid, mitigate or compensate for effects of specified environmental outcomes that are not met and to what extent the mitigation hierarchy was followed.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of levels of food security in England; and, in particular, of self-sufficiency in fruit and vegetables.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. Domestic food production, coupled with international trade, gives us national resilience. When it comes to food we can produce here, we are 74% self-sufficient. Our aim is to broadly maintain the current level of food that we produce domestically and boost production in sectors where there are the biggest opportunities. Defra has a collaborative relationship with industry which allows us to effectively respond to disruption, should it occur.
Some supermarkets applied item limits to a small number of fruit and vegetables due to poor weather affecting the harvest in Spain and North Africa, where a high proportion of produce consumed in UK at this time of year is grown. However, with the exception of one retailer, these limits have now been removed, reflecting that fact that supply is returning to normal levels.
Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. This report will serve as an evidence base for future policy work. Defra publishes annual statistics on horticulture, including some self-sufficiency statistics here: Latest horticulture statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).