Asked by: Tom Rutland (Labour - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help protect chalk streams from untreated sewage.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to the protection and restoration of our cherished chalk streams.
That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Act. The Act will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.
The Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, will make recommendations to shape further action to transform how our water system works and clean up our waterways for good. The review's final recommendations will be published and shared with the UK and Welsh Governments this summer.
Sites such as Chalk Streams will be prioritised as part of the record £11 billion of investment to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows in England and Wales during PR24, with 75% of such High Priority Sites needing to be improved by 2035 and the rest by 2045. By 2050 we expect no storm overflow spill to cause any adverse ecological harm and spill no more than 10 times per year.
Asked by: Tom Rutland (Labour - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the National Farmers’ Union on challenges faced by small and medium-sized abattoirs.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State and I often meet with the National Farmers’ Union to discuss a wide range of farming issues which are important to both producers and processors.
Defra officials continue to work closely with small and medium sized abattoir sector stakeholders particularly through the Small Abattoirs Working Group, of which the National Farmers’ Union is a member. This group provides a platform for the industry to raise the key challenges and opportunities that the sector faces directly with the Department.
Asked by: Tom Rutland (Labour - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support farmers who have been unable to access funding through the Sustainable Farming Initiative, (b) seek an extension or extra funding for the SFI for those who are eligible but have not yet been able to claim and (c) ensure that future communications provide clarity and assurances on funding application deadlines.
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).
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in Environmental Land Management schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.
Whilst we aim to give notice where possible, to ensure fair access, and to avoid the risk of overspend, we could not give any advance notice of the closure of SFI, to avoid creating a sudden increase in the level of demand.
We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.