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 effect of Environmental Land Management schemes on (a) land use, (b) food production and (c) food productivity.

Environmental Land Management scheme impacts on land use is being assessed through our modelling of expected scheme uptake and corresponding environmental actions on specific land types. Through our modelling we are mapping out expected land use changes resulting from scheme actions to estimate the environmental impacts, including on secondary impacts such as expanded access to green spaces / blue spaces for recreation. Impacts on food production and productivity will be modelled in a similar way, using expected uptake and scheme actions, informed by agricultural data, expert judgement, and external research to model changes in agricultural practices and impacts on crops grown and yields, for example.