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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the planned timescale is for the Environmental Land Management scheme pilot and what progress has been made on that pilot to date.

The Environmental Land Management (ELM) National Pilot will be the means by which Defra will pilot, at scale, the new ELM scheme, in real world situations with a wide range of farmers, foresters and other land managers. The first agreements with those taking part in the Pilot are planned to begin formally in late 2021. The Pilot is planned to run for three years until ELM is launched in late 2024 and will provide an important opportunity for farmers, foresters and other land managers to be involved in shaping the scheme.

The Pilot will be undertaken in close consultation with relevant stakeholders. Detailed proposals on what will be included in the Pilot are currently being developed.