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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a dedicated chalk stream action in the Sustainable Farm Incentive.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive already contains a wide range of actions to protect and enhance the watercourses of England. These include a range of buffer and habitat strips that can be used adjacent to water bodies and further actions for low intensity farming for use within the wider catchments. Where more specialised management is required, additional actions are available in Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier that can be tailored by Natural England advisers to meet the needs of specific sites, including chalk streams.

The Government is developing the strongest programme on record for tackling water pollution from agriculture. This includes spending £2 billion a year by April 2028 on Environmental Land Management schemes to provide particular benefits for water, nature and the wider environment. These nationwide actions will benefit chalk streams as well as other water bodies.