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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of his Department's guidance on hedge laying; and if he will include roadside hedges in the Countryside Stewardship grant BN5: Hedgerow laying.

Under action BN5, support is available to farmers to lay roadside hedgerows where the farmer has management control of both sides of the hedgerow. In January we set out a commitment to introduce a cycle of reviews for scheme actions from 2025, which will include BN5. The current guidance is clear and as part of the cycle of reviews, we will assess the suitability of the guidance, including taking into account any farmer or stakeholder feedback we receive.

We will be publishing voluntary guidance to support the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer in the summer.