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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 in improving the efficiency of land use in the agricultural sector.

An assessment of the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 was published in 2002. This included the extent to which the Act had improved the economic efficiency of land use. The assessment concluded there was some evidence of an improvement in economic efficiency, but clearer evidence that the Act had resulted in an increase in let land and that Farm Business Tenancies had provided a simple vehicle to enable farm businesses to expand.

Data on the areas of land under different agricultural tenures can be found on GOV.UK (at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/structure-of-the-agricultural-industry-in-england-and-the-uk-at-june

and https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/farm-rents).