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 effectiveness of his Department's Environmental Land Management Schemes.

This Government is fully committed to Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and will not be redesigning the schemes from scratch. Record numbers of farmers are now in an ELM scheme, and the Government wants to maintain the momentum that built over recent months.

ELM’s design allows for ongoing improvements. The Government recently published a summary of recent changes to SFI actions and scheme information, made in response to feedback from farmers, stakeholder organisations, and other experts. These include specific technical changes to various SFI actions to ensure they are achievable and effective in meeting environmental goals.

Looking forward, the Government will optimise ELM schemes in an orderly way, over time. The Government will work with the sector to make sure schemes produce the right outcomes for all farmers, including small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms, supporting food security and nature’s recovery in a just and equitable way. To inform Defra’s work with the sector, the Government will increase the transparency of schemes by publishing data on the impact they are having.