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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to ensure that the UK's uplands landscape has a continued level of support through direct payments after the Environmental Land Management Scheme is phased out.

The new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme will be available from late 2024, part way through the transition period over which the Basic Payment Scheme is to be phased out. ELM will enable farmers, foresters and other land managers to secure income in exchange for providing environmental benefits: public funds for public goods. Among the public goods for which payments will be available is the maintenance and enhancement of our landscape heritage.