Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
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 adequate levels of drought preparedness in (a) agriculture, (b) energy and (c) public health sectors.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works closely with the Cabinet Office who join the National Drought Group meetings to coordinate the strategic management of drought. The National Drought Group is comprised of senior members of Government, the Environment Agency, and relevant stakeholders including water companies.
Minister Hardy attended the National Drought Group, chaired by the Environment Agency, held on 7 May, to discuss water resources levels, assess any impacts and to ensure actions are being taken to secure water supplies, should the recent dry weather continue.
The Government is committed to a twin track approach to improving water resilience. This involves action to improve water efficiency and reduce water company leaks alongside investing in new supply infrastructure, including new reservoirs and water transfers.
Improved investment is allowing water companies to improve drought resilience, ensuring a high level of resilience.
Water company drought plans align with their long-term Water Resources Management Plans. Drought plans must be maintained and revised by water companies every five years. A drought plan is a tactical plan that shows how a secure water supply is maintained, while minimising impacts on the environment during dry weather and drought. We expect water companies to follow their drought plans, acting early to ensure there are sufficient water supplies.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of UK's preparedness for drought conditions in summer 2025; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure water supply resilience mitigate the (a) environmental and (b) economic impact of prolonged dry weather.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works closely with the Cabinet Office who join the National Drought Group meetings to coordinate the strategic management of drought. The National Drought Group is comprised of senior members of Government, the Environment Agency, and relevant stakeholders including water companies.
Minister Hardy attended the National Drought Group, chaired by the Environment Agency, held on 7 May, to discuss water resources levels, assess any impacts and to ensure actions are being taken to secure water supplies, should the recent dry weather continue.
The Government is committed to a twin track approach to improving water resilience. This involves action to improve water efficiency and reduce water company leaks alongside investing in new supply infrastructure, including new reservoirs and water transfers.
Improved investment is allowing water companies to improve drought resilience, ensuring a high level of resilience.
Water company drought plans align with their long-term Water Resources Management Plans. Drought plans must be maintained and revised by water companies every five years. A drought plan is a tactical plan that shows how a secure water supply is maintained, while minimising impacts on the environment during dry weather and drought. We expect water companies to follow their drought plans, acting early to ensure there are sufficient water supplies.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of recent dry weather on (a) reservoir and (b) aquifer levels; and what steps he plans to take if levels fall below seasonal averages.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works closely with the Cabinet Office who join the National Drought Group meetings to coordinate the strategic management of drought. The National Drought Group is comprised of senior members of Government, the Environment Agency, and relevant stakeholders including water companies.
Minister Hardy attended the National Drought Group, chaired by the Environment Agency, held on 7 May, to discuss water resources levels, assess any impacts and to ensure actions are being taken to secure water supplies, should the recent dry weather continue.
The Government is committed to a twin track approach to improving water resilience. This involves action to improve water efficiency and reduce water company leaks alongside investing in new supply infrastructure, including new reservoirs and water transfers.
Improved investment is allowing water companies to improve drought resilience, ensuring a high level of resilience.
Water company drought plans align with their long-term Water Resources Management Plans. Drought plans must be maintained and revised by water companies every five years. A drought plan is a tactical plan that shows how a secure water supply is maintained, while minimising impacts on the environment during dry weather and drought. We expect water companies to follow their drought plans, acting early to ensure there are sufficient water supplies.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative assessment he has made of the potential impact of closing the Sustainable Farming Initiative in England on farmers in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive is an England-only scheme. We therefore have undertaken no such assessment.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications that were started but are unsubmitted are held by the Rural Payments Agency for SFI24.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive Expanded Offer (SFI EO) is an online application and as of the 12 March there are 6,626 applications currently started but not submitted on the Rural Payments Portal.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department made projections on the number of Sustainable Farming Incentive applications it would receive in financial year 2024-25.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We monitor forecasts of scheme uptake and spend against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. We committed to spending £2.6 billion in 24/25 and are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.
Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising from multi-annual agreements. We monitor the uptake of our demand led schemes which have a budgetary impact on future years (such as SFI) on a regular basis, increasing the frequency of this as the level of commitment approaches the budget available in future years.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
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 publish the spend breakdown of (a) the farming budget for this year to date and (b) the proposed breakdown for 2025-2026.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested can be found publicly available here.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
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 publish key performance indicators of SFI24 alongside department targets.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is tracking contributions to outcomes and is planning to publish information this year. We recently published statistics on the area within agri-environmental schemes, which showed that 64% of England’s farmed area is in a scheme. 3.3 million hectares is in SFI 2023 and over 380,000 hectares in the SFI expanded offer.
We have published quarterly data on SFI uptake and are preparing publications on how schemes are contributing to environmental outcomes as part of our comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programme.
An update on the farming budget was recently published on our Farming Blog. It shows the following spend over the next two years (24/25 and 25/26). The information requested can be found publicly available here: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2025/03/12/update-on-the-farming-budget/ .
The first process evaluation report covering the launch of SFI22 and SFI23 will be published this Spring.
We will update this with further evaluation work for SFI24 once this is completed. In addition, process, impact and value for money evaluations for the SFI pilot will be published this Autumn.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
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 estimate of the cost to his Department of the Manchester Clean Air Zone scheme.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Details of Greater Manchester authorities’ expenditure is available in reports to the GMCA available here.
The Government has recently approved an investment-led non-charging Clean Air Plan proposed by Greater Manchester authorities. There are no ongoing costs to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from the earlier Clean Air Zone scheme and no further funding has been provided. Greater Manchester authorities are also exploring with the police whether the existing ANPR camera infrastructure may be used for law enforcement activity, and the potential reuse opportunities for signage infrastructure.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the ongoing costs to his Department of the Manchester Clean Air Zone scheme.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Details of Greater Manchester authorities’ expenditure is available in reports to the GMCA available here.
The Government has recently approved an investment-led non-charging Clean Air Plan proposed by Greater Manchester authorities. There are no ongoing costs to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from the earlier Clean Air Zone scheme and no further funding has been provided. Greater Manchester authorities are also exploring with the police whether the existing ANPR camera infrastructure may be used for law enforcement activity, and the potential reuse opportunities for signage infrastructure.