Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans she has for establishing a mayor for Devon and Cornwall.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In September, the Government confirmed a non-mayoral devolution agreement with Cornwall and to establish a Combined County Authority in Devon & Torbay. These are important first steps for devolution in the region.
We have set out the framework in the English Devolution White Paper so that counties can self-organise to reach a consensus on proposals for their areas.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 101 of the English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, whether she plans to postpone local authority elections in Devon in 2025.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is usual for the government to take account of requests for reorganisation, and to decide on the appropriateness of elections taking place to local authorities which are planned to be replaced, usually postponing to allow elections to the new shadow authorities soon after.
I will consider any requests I receive to postpone the May 2025 local authority elections in Devon, Essex or elsewhere only where this will help the areas to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe – either through the Devolution Priority Programme or where reorganisation is necessary to unlock devolution or open up new devolution options. As I set out in my letter of 16 December to those councils, I will need a clear commitment to these aims, including a request from the council(s) whose election is to be postponed, on or before Friday 10 January.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 impact of family farms on food security.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not collect any farming data based on whether farms are owned by a family.
Estimates are produced based on the economic size of farms (based on Standard Outputs*). The latest estimates show that in England in 2022, a small number of economically ‘very high output farms’ produced over half (62%) the agricultural output using just 35% of the total farmed land area. Conversely, 45% of ‘very low output’ farms produced 2% of total output using 8% of the total farmed land area (Slide 8 at
We understand the importance of all farms, including family farms to food security; in delivering environmental outcomes; and in supporting rural communities. That’s why our farming budget will be maintained at £2.4 billion in 2025/26. Most notably, £1.8 billion of this will be directed towards Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes—which are the key mechanisms supporting sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in the UK.
* Standard Output measures the total value of output across all enterprises on a farm - per head for livestock and per hectare for crops. For crops this will be the main product (e.g. wheat, barley, peas) plus any by-product that is sold, for example straw. For livestock it will be the value of the main product (milk, eggs, lamb, pork) plus the value of any secondary product (wool) minus the cost of replacement.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 has taken to ensure timely payments from the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) began making payments to Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement holders at the start of the December 2024, along with those in Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier and Environmental Stewardship, with around £330 million paid to date. The RPA is working hard to complete processing on remaining claims and issue payments as promptly as possible. The new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme will open in 2025 and will move to quarterly payments to help with cashflow management
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 have discussions with the National Farmers' Union on their statistical information relating to changes to agricultural property relief.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are listening to the sector to ensure their views are heard. Ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of farming stakeholders, including the National Farmers Union (NFU), the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), and the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA). We will continue to meet with stakeholders to ensure their views are heard.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has issued a map similar to that shown in Figure 1 of her Department's English Devolution White Paper, published in December 2024 for new English Devolution authorities.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has not published a map of England showing potential future devolution geographies.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to implement a statutory code of conduct for parking operators that includes appropriate levels for permissible charges within this Parliamentary session.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 places a duty on the Government to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities.
This government is determined to drive up standards in the private parking sector and will announce its plans for the new Code in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to (a) agricultural property relief and (b) business property relief on farm business productivity.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.
It is expected that up to around 2,000 estates will be affected by the changes to APR and BPR in 2026-27, with around half of those being claims that involve AIM shares. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of the timing of the funding for phase five of the Dawlish Rail Resilience Programme on the cost of phase four of that programme; and whether she plans to seek additional funding through the spending review for those costs.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Decisions in relation to a phase five of the South West Rail Resilience Programme do not impact the cost of phase four, for which all physical works have now been completed.
Phase five is being considered as part of the Spending Review in 2025.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria her Department is using to assess the viability of the fifth phase of the Rail Resilience Programme for Dawlish.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Proposals for a fifth phase of the South West Rail Resilience Programme will be assessed against the criteria described in the document entitled ‘Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline - A New Approach for Rail Enhancements’ published in March 2018.