Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to introduce nature-friendly farming schemes.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. All our Environmental Land Management schemes (Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, and Landscape Recovery) will continue, and we will continue to evolve and improve them in an orderly way to make them work for farmers and nature.
We are working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding. Further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly. The new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) service will open this month for applications to those who have been invited to apply, have received pre-application advice and have completed any preparatory work. Landscape Recovery projects that were awarded development funding in rounds one and two are continuing to progress towards the delivery phase, and the first two projects have now completed the necessary checks, signed their agreements, and are ready to start work on the ground.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 ensure the future of agri-environmental farming schemes.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the recent spending review, we committed to carrying on the transition towards paying to deliver public goods for the environment, with over £7 billion directed into nature’s recovery between 2026 and 2029. This includes environmental farming schemes (£5.9 billion), tree planting (£816 million) and peatland restoration (£85 million).
There are currently record numbers of farmers taking part in farming schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive. As of April 2025, these schemes supported 885,000 hectares of arable land being farmed without insecticides; 330,000 hectares of low input grassland being managed sustainably; and 85,000 kilometres of hedgerows being protected and restored.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to continue the Sustainable Farming Incentive.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer that will better target SFI in an orderly way towards our priorities for food, farming and nature. Further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many households have agreed an unmetered water utility bill charge in each of the last five years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The proportion of households in England with unmetered water utility bill charges has been gradually declining over recent years due to the rollout of smart metering initiatives.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 assessment of the potential merits of reintroducing the Local Air Quality Grants Scheme.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working to end competitive bidding between local authorities for Government funding, to minimise unnecessary administrative and financial burdens.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to ensure air quality is improved (a) nationally and (b) in Rushcliffe constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is developing a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced. This includes action to reduce harmful emissions from domestic burning and reforms to the industrial permitting regime. We remain committed to working closely with local authorities, industry, and the public to shape practical, proportionate policies that deliver cleaner air and improve public health.
Rushcliffe Borough council are responsible for reviewing and assessing air quality in their area.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) introduce (i) licensing and (ii) regulation for dog and cat rescue centres and (b) prevent fraudulent operations at unregulated rescue centres.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
This Government will introduce the most ambitious plan to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Department has initiated a series of meetings with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of the development of an overarching approach to animal welfare. We will be outlining more detail of plans in due course.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 a recent assessment of the potential impact of digital-only (a) services and (b) reporting requirements on farming businesses.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra seeks to introduce services that are digital by default which help users to succeed first time, and an assisted digital route is provided for those who are unable to complete a service online. This equally applies to reporting requirements on farming businesses, the main requirement being the Annual Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture which is digital by default but also available as a paper survey form.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on issuing guidance to local planning authorities on giving further weight to food production in rural planning decisions.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) safeguards the best and most versatile agricultural land. Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of higher quality. Defra is working with MHCLG on policy and guidance to ensure that planning decisions made by local planning authorities are informed by the impacts on food production.
Later this year, the Government will publish a Land Use Framework for England, which will set out the evidence, data and tools needed to support development that safeguards our most productive agricultural land.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 exempting agricultural development from Biodiversity Net Gain requirements.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are currently consulting on improving the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) for minor, medium and brownfield development. This includes a range of options looking at how threshold exemptions are used which will cover some agricultural developments.