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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to extend (a) Higher and (b) Entry Level Stewardship schemes, due to expire at the end of January 2019 by (a) an initial two years (b) until replacement provisions are in place after the UK leaves the EU.

In 2016, the majority of land managers with expiring Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements signed up to Higher Tier and Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship agreements. There is also a projected high pick up of Countryside Stewardship by land managers with HLS agreements that expired in 2017. For 2018, the current projections for new Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship agreements is that these will deliver more land into Priority Habitat, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and water outcomes than last year. DEFRA, Natural England and the Rural Payments Agency are currently considering how we can further preserve the benefits of expiring Higher and Entry Level Stewardship agreements from 2019 onwards. All expiring HLS agreement holders benefit from the support of their local Natural England adviser, who can discuss land management and future scheme choices with them.