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 of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on the timeframe for rebuilding of Airedale Hospital as part of the Hospital Rebuilding Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 20 January 2025, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced a new, realistic timeline to deliver schemes on the New Hospital Programme; the abolition of NHS England should not impact these timelines.
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 Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what targets her Department has for the proportion of young people who should (a) go to university, (b) complete an apprenticeship and (c) take another form of higher education.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government’s missions include breaking down barriers to opportunity and delivering economic growth. Every young person should be able to follow the pathway that is right for them, whether through a high-quality apprenticeship or going to university or college. This includes ensuring all young people have access to expert careers advice and guidance, offering high-quality vocational and technical training such as Higher Technical Qualifications and T Levels, introducing foundation apprenticeships as part of our Growth and Skills Levy, and reforming the higher education system so that it delivers better value for money for students and taxpayers.