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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to implement the recommendation in the report by the Tenancy Working Group entitled The Rock Review, published on 13 October 2022, on establishing a new Directorate within her Department with responsibility for (a) agricultural tenancies and (b) other land occupation issues.

A diverse and vibrant tenanted sector is vital to the future of agriculture, and we want all types of farmers and other land managers, including tenants, to get involved with the new schemes. That’s why government commissioned the Rock Review, and we are now considering over 70 recommendations.

We have already implemented some of the recommendations, including designing the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme to be accessible to tenants, including those with shorter term agreements.