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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on developing his policies for the Environmental Land Management scheme.

In February, we published our ELM policy Discussion Document. This sought views on how the ELM scheme would work, including the proposition of a three-tier scheme design. In parallel, our stakeholder-led ELM Test & Trials Programme, which comprises 67 tests and trials to date, is continuing. Lessons from the tests and trials and the responses we received to the policy discussion document are informing scheme design decisions, ahead of the national pilot which is due to launch in late 2021. A summary of responses received along with our follow up actions will be published in the coming months.