Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Zeichner Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rebecca Smith (South West Devon) (Con)]

2. What recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the rural England prosperity fund.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

Mr Speaker, I wish you and all your staff a happy Christmas, and thank all those who work in our food system for ensuring that we are fed every day and that, particularly at this time of the year, so many of our constituents can enjoy a traditional, wonderful British celebration.

The autumn Budget on 30 October confirmed the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26, and funding allocations for individual programmes will be determined in the upcoming months through the Department’s business planning exercise. We will update the House on the rural England prosperity fund in due course.

[Rebecca Smith]

I thank the Minister for that answer. Farmers in my constituency of South West Devon have highlighted the role that the rural England prosperity fund could play in the economic growth of our community. Given the publication of the English devolution White Paper this week, what conversations has the Minister had with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about how funding, such as the rural England prosperity fund, can ensure that devolution is a success for the countryside?

[Daniel Zeichner]

We are in constant dialogue with our MHCLG colleagues. I was delighted that areas with a significant rural population will on average receive about a 5% increase in their core spending power. That is a real-terms increase. I hope we can continue to work well to address the rural productivity gap of some 18%, which is a real challenge for all of us.

[Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

3. What assessment he has made of the impact of the autumn Budget 2024 on family farms.

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[Blake Stephenson (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)]

10. What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of safeguarding high-grade agricultural land.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

We all know that food security is national security, and most of us also recognise that the impacts of climate change and nature loss pose a significant risk to domestic production, so it is very important that we use our land carefully. Consequently, the Government will be introducing a land use framework to ensure that we protect our most productive agricultural land.

[Blake Stephenson]

High-grade agricultural land in Mid Bedfordshire has been farmed for generations, and it is critical for our food security and our freedom, but it is under extreme pressure. We have talked this morning about climate change and flooding, and also about the Government’s family farm tax. What has not been mentioned so much is urban sprawl, which is a major threat to high-grade agricultural land. We live in an uncertain world and we need our country to feed itself. Considering the threat, will the Minister guarantee that high-grade agricultural land will be protected by this Government?

[Daniel Zeichner]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his points and refer him to my earlier comments: we see more and more pressure, and there are so many things we need to do on our land to house and feed people, so it is important that we have a proper structure in place. It is widely acknowledged that the current planning system does not necessarily do that. The previous Government promised a land use framework; we will actually deliver it.

[Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

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[Mr Speaker]

Order. We need to get our act together. This is the shortest set of topical questions and I will not be able to get many Members in. We have to remember what topicals are always about. I hope you have got the gist of the question, Minister.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

The point that farmers need to get a better return from their business is well made, and that is exactly what this Government will be addressing.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

Merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and to your team and to colleagues across the House. My constituents have long felt the impacts of flooding, and many residents have been isolated in rural areas after a storm. I have recently produced a flooding report. Will the Minister meet me to discuss it, so that I can support the work of the Department?

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[Daniel Zeichner]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It was extraordinary, was it not, that the last Government managed not to spend £300 million of the farm budget. We are determined to ensure that we do better. I wish him and his farmers a very merry Christmas.

[Bobby Dean (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

T5. In my constituency we have an incinerator that regularly breaches its air pollution limits, but the Environment Agency does nothing about it. Will the Government tell us what they are doing to give the EA teeth?

[Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker, and happy Hanukkah to those who are observing.

What action are this Government taking to promote the purchasing of British-grown and seasonal produce through their public procurement framework?

[Daniel Zeichner]

We are absolutely determined to ensure that we see more British produce bought across our public sector. We will come to the House with our plans in due course.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

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[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

Last year I visited the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton project in Loddington. May I commend the contribution that it can make to defining sustainable intensification of agricultural food production? Perhaps it would be a suitable place for a DEFRA ministerial away day early in the new year, to help with the use strategy.

[Daniel Zeichner]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his suggestion. I am a great admirer of the Allerton project and have been meaning to visit it for a long time. My officials are working on a visit, and I am really looking forward to engaging with those people, because they do great work.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.