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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the regulatory effect of recent changes to the common agricultural policy on farmers.

In implementing the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in England a number of decisions have been taken around how the budget should be spent.

In October 2013 Defra published an evidence paper alongside the consultation on CAP reform. This assessed the overall impact of the new CAP and the associated decisions being consulted on in England (https://consult.defra.gov.uk/agricultural-policy/cap-consultation).

Throughout the consultation period we actively sought further evidence, and further analysis took place. Further assessments of impacts on farmers, the rural community and Defra delivery bodies were made, and the findings of these have been included in publications setting out government decisions. These include:

· The December 2013 Government response to the consultation, which included estimates of the aggregate impact of changes to Pillar 1 on Farm Business Income - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/common-agricultural-policy-reform-implementation-in-england;

· A draft impact assessment of the new Regional Development Programme for England, published in December 2013 and updated in June 2014 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/319445/rdpe-ia-201406.pdf;

· The Government decision on the moorland rate including an assessment of impact on farmers, published by Defra in May 2014 - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/common-agricultural-policy-reform-implementation-in-england; and

· The Government decisions on cross compliance together with a summary of the evidence, published by Defra in June 2014 - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/common-agricultural-policy-reform-implementation-in-england.

We will continue to publish further evidence as final CAP implementation decisions are made.