Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's blog post entitled Update on the farming budget, published on 12 March 2025, whether the £2.4 billion budget for the 2025-26 financial year will be used for farming; whether the split between budget lines is subject to change; and whether any other factors might affect the size of the budget.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We remain committed to investing £5 billion of funding in the farming budget this year and next (£2.6 billion for 24/25 and the £2.4 billion for 25/26, as previously announced), are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.

We monitor forecasts against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. 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.

The farming blog published on Wednesday 12 March set out Defra’s spend over the next two years (24/25 and 25/26). These are not ring-fenced figures and have the potential to change. Defra manages the farming budget flexibly to respond to demand, and achieve our intended outcomes for farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department decided to cap the Sustainable Farming Incentive at £1.05 billion for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As of 11 March, £1.05 billion had been paid to farmers or committed for payment through existing agreements or submitted applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)

The SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package which is why Defra must manage the farming budget flexibly to respond to demand, and achieve our intended outcomes for farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how long on average successful applicants for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024 have waited for agreements to be activated.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

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 number of land managers eligible for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

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 amount of land eligible for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applicants there were for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024; and how many were successful.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

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 list the (a) application deadlines and (b) start dates for each funding scheme for (i) farmers, (ii) growers and (iii) land managers; and the hectarage covered in each scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra operates a page on gov.uk, “Funding for farmers, growers and land managers”. This page advises about grants and other funding currently open or opening soon, and includes links to the relevant scheme or grant webpage. Information about application deadlines for each grant is found on those webpages.

We will update on plans for any further schemes following the Spending Review.

Defra also operates a page on gov.uk, Area of land in agri-environment schemes. The latest data available for that page dates to 2022, and shows that in that year the total area of land in entry-level agreements was 1.4 million hectares and the total area of land in higher-level or targeted agri-environment agreements in England was 2.3 million hectares.

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 adequacy of the alignment of the timing of funding schemes for farmers with the farming calendar.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra will be opening the Environmental Land Management (ELM) Capital Grant scheme and the new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier offer in the Summer on a rolling application window basis. This will enable farmers to apply throughout the year, while enabling Defra to continue to monitor the situation to make sure demand doesn’t exceed the available funding. For the ELM Capital Grant scheme, farmers will be able to apply for a grant in more than one category but only submit one application per farm business Single Business Identifier (SBI) can be submitted per year. Other grants remain open, including grants for Woodland management plans, the Higher Tier Capital Grant, Capital grants plans, the Protection and Infrastructure grant, and Woodland tree health grants.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

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 implications for his policies of the Mayor of London’s report entitled London-wide Ultra Low Emission Zone One Year Report, published on 7 March 2025.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Poor air quality continues to be the biggest environmental risk to human health. Whilst responsibility for air quality and transport is devolved in London, we welcome the progress made there to address air pollution and improve people’s health. Local and devolved authorities are best placed to determine the most effective route to improving air quality in their cities. We are committed to working with them to improve the air we breathe.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department allocated to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024 in (a) total and (b) each year.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) calls and (b) emails his Department received from the media on (i) 5 March 2025 prior to the publication of the report entitled Report: Air Quality Information System Review: Final Report and Recommendations and (ii) the previous seven days.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Air Quality Information System (AQIS) review outputs were published on the 6 March 2025. This comprehensive expert-led review has recommended changes to how the risks of air pollution are communicated to the public and Government has already started work to make air quality part of everyday conversations.

Defra did not receive any media queries about AQIS on 5 March or in the seven days leading up to that date. A notice was released on gov.uk: Better alerts to make air quality part of everyday conversation - GOV.UK.

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 merits of reviewing the system for forecasting air pollution episodes.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As part of the Air Quality Information System review an evaluation of the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI), including the provision of the forecast, was carried out. This evaluation found that the forecast was accurate and provided precise representation of real-world air quality conditions at a UK regional level. Some areas for improvement were identified and Defra are discussing with the Met Office how to take these forward.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether weather warnings were issued ahead of the high air pollution episode expected in the South East on 10 March 2025.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Pollution notifications were issued on Defra’s UK-Air website, via the Defra UK-Air X feed and through email alerts that individuals and organisations can subscribe to. The daily air quality forecast provided by the Met office also provided information on the expected air pollution levels for that day.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) applicants and (b) successful applicants there were to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund for each of the four application rounds since 2015.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since 2015 there were 351 applications for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund and 276 were offered an agreement. The Rural Payment Agency does not readily hold data for each of the four application rounds since 2015 and establishing this would incur disproportionate costs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department has allocated to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund in each of the four application rounds since 2015.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since 2015, there has been £20.55 million allocated to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund. The Rural Payment Agency does not readily hold data for each of the four application rounds since 2015 and establishing this would incur disproportionate costs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have applied for the Improving Farming Productivity Grant; how many of those applications were successful; and how much has been paid out per (a) grant category and (b) round.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The total number of full applications received for Improving Farm Productivity to-date is 413. Of those appraised, 204 have been offered a grant to the value of over £23 million, 84 applications have been rejected or withdrawn, and 125 are currently in appraisal. A total of over £11 million has been paid out from the scheme to-date across both rounds; £9.4 million from Round 1 applications, and £1.6 million from Round 2. All applications in Round 1 were for robotic equipment, whereas in Round 2 £1.5 million has been paid out for solar projects, and £31,000 for robotic and automatic equipment. We do not currently categorise applications in any greater detail. Successful applicants can make up to three claims once they have a Grant Funding Agreement in place but can claim as soon as parts of a project are completed.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been paid to farmers to support solar projects since 2016.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The second round of the Improving Farm Productivity grant was launched under the Farming Investment Fund in January 2024 and included an offer for solar PV equipment. It is early days, but to date, over £31,000 has been paid out to farmers and horticultural businesses. The window for submitting full applications for this scheme remains open until 31 July 2025, after which Defra will continue to pay out to applicants for their projects. Successful applicants can make up to three claims once they have a Grant Funding Agreement in place but can claim as soon as parts of a project are complete.

Defra’s focus is on ensuring farming becomes more profitable as the best way to make farming businesses viable for the future. This will ensure the long-term food security this country needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when each (a) city, (b)(b) zone and (c) agglomeration in England which exceeded the nitrogen dioxide annual mean limit value in 2023 will comply with that limit.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra uses a combination of national-scale modelling and on the ground monitoring to assess nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations in England each year. Evidence shows that NO₂ concentrations have reduced substantially in recent years, however a reporting zone is still considered to be exceeding the NO₂ limit value if a single location remains above the limit value. The cities, agglomeration and non-agglomeration zones exceeding the NO₂ limit value in 2023, and the predictions of when they will become compliant with the limit value, are based on data from Defra’s national modelling and monitoring networks, and additional local monitoring data gathered by cities and towns in England and held by the Joint Air Quality Unit.

13 cities in England exceeded the annual mean limit value for NO₂ in 2023. These were:

15 out of 31 reporting zones in England were non-compliant with the annual mean NO₂ limit value in 2023. This included 2 of the 8 non-agglomeration zones (South East and Eastern) and 13 of the 23 agglomeration zones. The 13 non-compliant agglomeration zones were:

Predicting when locations that are currently exceeding will comply with the limit value is inherently uncertain. We don’t hold up-to-date detailed modelled projections to predict the impact of all current policies on future NO₂ concentrations, however current indicative estimates suggest the majority of locations will become compliant with the limit value within the next four years. By 2029, we estimate all zones will be compliant except Bristol Urban Area, Sheffield Urban Area, The Potteries, West Midlands Urban Area and Tyneside. These correspond to Bristol, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham, all of which we estimate will become compliant by 2032, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We expect Newcastle-upon-Tyne will be the last city to become compliant due to a localised hotspot. There is considerable uncertainty in current estimates for when this location will become compliant, but we estimate this will be by 2045, at the latest. As the road traffic fleet continues to transition to zero emission vehicles this date is likely to come forward.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which (a) cities, (b) zones and (c) agglomerations in England exceeded the nitrogen dioxide annual mean limit value in 2023.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra uses a combination of national-scale modelling and on the ground monitoring to assess nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations in England each year. Evidence shows that NO₂ concentrations have reduced substantially in recent years, however a reporting zone is still considered to be exceeding the NO₂ limit value if a single location remains above the limit value. The cities, agglomeration and non-agglomeration zones exceeding the NO₂ limit value in 2023, and the predictions of when they will become compliant with the limit value, are based on data from Defra’s national modelling and monitoring networks, and additional local monitoring data gathered by cities and towns in England and held by the Joint Air Quality Unit.

13 cities in England exceeded the annual mean limit value for NO₂ in 2023. These were:

15 out of 31 reporting zones in England were non-compliant with the annual mean NO₂ limit value in 2023. This included 2 of the 8 non-agglomeration zones (South East and Eastern) and 13 of the 23 agglomeration zones. The 13 non-compliant agglomeration zones were:

Predicting when locations that are currently exceeding will comply with the limit value is inherently uncertain. We don’t hold up-to-date detailed modelled projections to predict the impact of all current policies on future NO₂ concentrations, however current indicative estimates suggest the majority of locations will become compliant with the limit value within the next four years. By 2029, we estimate all zones will be compliant except Bristol Urban Area, Sheffield Urban Area, The Potteries, West Midlands Urban Area and Tyneside. These correspond to Bristol, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham, all of which we estimate will become compliant by 2032, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We expect Newcastle-upon-Tyne will be the last city to become compliant due to a localised hotspot. There is considerable uncertainty in current estimates for when this location will become compliant, but we estimate this will be by 2045, at the latest. As the road traffic fleet continues to transition to zero emission vehicles this date is likely to come forward.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects all areas of the UK to comply with the nitrogen dioxide annual mean limit.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra uses a combination of national-scale modelling and on the ground monitoring to assess nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations in England each year. Evidence shows that NO₂ concentrations have reduced substantially in recent years, however a reporting zone is still considered to be exceeding the NO₂ limit value if a single location remains above the limit value. The cities, agglomeration and non-agglomeration zones exceeding the NO₂ limit value in 2023, and the predictions of when they will become compliant with the limit value, are based on data from Defra’s national modelling and monitoring networks, and additional local monitoring data gathered by cities and towns in England and held by the Joint Air Quality Unit.

13 cities in England exceeded the annual mean limit value for NO₂ in 2023. These were:

15 out of 31 reporting zones in England were non-compliant with the annual mean NO₂ limit value in 2023. This included 2 of the 8 non-agglomeration zones (South East and Eastern) and 13 of the 23 agglomeration zones. The 13 non-compliant agglomeration zones were:

Predicting when locations that are currently exceeding will comply with the limit value is inherently uncertain. We don’t hold up-to-date detailed modelled projections to predict the impact of all current policies on future NO₂ concentrations, however current indicative estimates suggest the majority of locations will become compliant with the limit value within the next four years. By 2029, we estimate all zones will be compliant except Bristol Urban Area, Sheffield Urban Area, The Potteries, West Midlands Urban Area and Tyneside. These correspond to Bristol, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham, all of which we estimate will become compliant by 2032, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We expect Newcastle-upon-Tyne will be the last city to become compliant due to a localised hotspot. There is considerable uncertainty in current estimates for when this location will become compliant, but we estimate this will be by 2045, at the latest. As the road traffic fleet continues to transition to zero emission vehicles this date is likely to come forward.

Radiotherapy (No. 2)

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