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.
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 he allocated funding previously allocated to the Air Quality Funding Scheme for 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Local Air Quality Grant was withdrawn by the previous Air Quality Minister – the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley.
The funding was allocated to be spent during the 23/24 financial year so was not at the disposal of the new Air Quality Minister for the current financial year.
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, when he plans to open the Air Quality Funding Scheme for local authorities in 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Local Air Quality Grant is not opening for the 24/25 financial year. Any future funding schemes will be subject to The Government spending review processes.
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 he has made of the potential impact of solar farms on underlying soil quality.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A wide range of public assessments have been made on the uses of land alongside and underneath solar panels, such as livestock grazing and other approaches to species-rich grassland creation.
When considering development proposals that affect agricultural land and soils, the Government encourages developers and local planning authorities to refer to relevant Government policies and guidance that aim to protect all soils by managing them in a sustainable way.