Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an estimate of the number of farms affected by changes to (a) Inheritance Tax, (b) Agricultural Property Relief and (c) Business Property Relief in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Assessing the impact of the new Inheritance Tax policy, which comes into force from 6 April 2026, relies on a number of factors such as ownership structure and debt levels. Without such information, which the Government does not hold at that level, area level assessments cannot be made.
Around 500 claims for Agricultural Property Relief will be affected. Our figures are based on the latest available information from HMRC on actual claims for Agricultural Property Relief, which show that 73% of claims are expected to be unaffected by the changes: Summary of reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief - GOV.UK
This Government is aware that each farm is different, and so we encourage farmers to speak to their tax advisors and agents to understand how these changes may impact their specific situation and how to plan for the future.
As an outcome of the recent Spending Review, we have committed £5 billion in the agricultural budget over the next two years – the biggest ever budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in this country’s history. This enables us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of recent trends in the level of farm incomes in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has committed to support farmers through a farming budget of £5 billion over two years, including £2.4 billion in 2025/26. We publish regular accredited official statistics on farm income in England and other data related to farm businesses. For example, on 14 November 2024, we published our Farm Business Income statistics (Farm business income - GOV.UK), which looked at how Farm Business Income has changed in 2023/24, including the contribution of Direct Payments and agri-environment payments to farm incomes and analysis by farm type.
The Farm Business Survey is based on a sample of around 1,400 farm businesses across England. While it is possible to produce some sub national information, the sample size means it is not possible to produce statistically robust breakdowns at constituency level.
In England, Farm Business Income has seen substantial year-on-year fluctuations over the past 15 years driven by a multitude of factors which include weather and market fluctuations. For most farm types, Farm Business Income in 2023/24 saw very large falls relative to the exceptional highs in 2022/23. At the all-farm level and a longer-term view, the average Farm Business Income of approximately £82,000 for the agricultural transition (2021/22-2023/24) remains above the pre-transition average of approximately £58,000 (2018/19-2020/21).
The Secretary of State discussed the department’s approach to the problem of low farming income across Britain at the Oxford Farming Conference on 9 January, and his full remarks can be found here.
We will continue to carry out appropriate and timely assessments of our interventions to inform policy development.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of adverse weather conditions on arable farm output in South Suffolk constituency in each of the last three years.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are multiple factors that influence arable production, for example farmers will make business decisions in response to market signals such as input and output prices, so we are unable to attribute what degree of change between years is solely as a result of the weather.
Unfortunately, we do not produce output statistics at a constituency level.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help mitigate the impact of (a) increased rainfall and (b) storms on arable farm output.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government inherited flood assets in their worst condition on record following years of underinvestment by the previous Government – only 92% of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high consequence assets are currently at required condition.
To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion over 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining, and repairing flood defences. The Government also announced an additional £50 million of investment into internal drainage boards, supporting farmers and rural communities from the impacts of flooding.
The new Flood Resilience Taskforce provides oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness ahead of and after the winter flood season.
Additionally, Defra’s farming budget will be £2.4 billion in 2025/26. This will include the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history: £1.8 billion for environmental land management schemes. This funding will deliver improvements to cover a range of objectives including support to improve resilience to flooding.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support farm businesses to adapt to adverse weather conditions.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government inherited flood assets in their worst condition on record following years of underinvestment by the previous Government – only 92% of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high consequence assets are currently at required condition.
To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion over 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining, and repairing flood defences. The Government also announced an additional £50 million of investment into internal drainage boards, supporting farmers and rural communities from the impacts of flooding.
The new Flood Resilience Taskforce provides oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness ahead of and after the winter flood season.
Additionally, Defra’s farming budget will be £2.4 billion in 2025/26. This will include the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history: £1.8 billion for environmental land management schemes. This funding will deliver improvements to cover a range of objectives including support to improve resilience to flooding.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he has met representatives of farming businesses in South Suffolk constituency to discuss recent trends in farm incomes.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of farming stakeholders, including the National Farmers Union, the Country Land and Business Association, and the Tenant Farmers Association. We will continue to meet with stakeholders to ensure their views are heard.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the formula used to allocate flood funding to rural areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra will consult in the new year on a new simpler and more flexible approach to floods investment that maximises value for the taxpayer and supports nature-based solutions. This will include a review of the floods funding formula.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help incentivise farmers to take part in (a) rewilding schemes, (b) soil health restoration and (c) improving biodiversity.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is incentivising farmers to take part in rewilding schemes, soil health restoration and improving biodiversity through Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers to carry out actions that can help with the long-term productivity and resilience of the soil to benefit food production. These actions can also provide environmental benefits, such as increased biodiversity.
Countryside Stewardship (CS) provides financial incentives for farmers, foresters and land managers to look after and improve the environment. CS Mid-Tier is primarily focused on improving habitats and biodiversity; the mid-tier offer has now been merged with SFI for new entrants to schemes from 2024, but existing Mid-Tier agreements are not affected by this merge. CS Higher Tier supports farmers to deliver objectives including protection and enhancement of the natural environment, increase of biodiversity, and improvement of habitats.
Landscape Recovery supports farmers and land managers who want to take a large-scale, long-term approach to nurture wilder landscapes and wildlife-rich habitat. It supports objectives such as restoring ecological or hydrological function across a landscape, peatland restoration, woodland management, or habitat restoration.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support East Anglian wine producers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to supporting rural economies and ensuring the UK has a thriving and diverse economy that promotes local jobs and boosts growth.
The English wine sector is one of the fastest growing agricultural sectors, which continues to attract domestic and foreign investment. Defra works closely with the sector to support its ambitions and drive growth and exports. This in turns helps to provide high-quality jobs in rural communities.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the spread of bluetongue disease on South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3) was detected in the EU for the first time in autumn 2023 and it will take time to fully understand the impacts of this disease on the sector. We continue to investigate all reports of suspicion of disease and are monitoring the evidence of impacts domestically and on the continent.
In the meantime, we continue to attempt to prevent its spread. We acted quickly to contain disease when the first case this season was detected on 26 August, implementing zones with movement controls on susceptible livestock to prevent spread in East Anglia, and more recently in East Riding.
Defra has also permitted the use of vaccines for BTV-3 in the high-risk counties of south-east England.
Defra and APHA continue surveillance of susceptible animals and epidemiological assessments, remaining vigilant for any changes, and will continue to work closely with key industry stakeholders to respond to developments and ensure that keepers have the information they need.