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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to (a) reopen and (b) create new (i) Sustainable Farming Incentives and (ii) capital grants to replace previous ones for (A) herbal lays, (B) fencing and (C) hedgerows.

We have not closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes, in fact there are over 60,000 live applications currently open. Due to an overwhelming demand for some capital items, applications for standalone capital grants were temporarily closed to new applications on 27 November. An update will be provided in early 2025.