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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 to include similar provisions to those set out in section 19A of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986.

Following consultation, the Government implemented new provisions to help resolve disputes relating to requests for variations to Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy agreements. This is because these agreements were negotiated over 30 years ago in a very different policy and commercial context than we have today, and they are more likely to need variation and modernisation. Consultation responses did not support the same changes to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 because Farm Business Tenancies are modern agreements more recently negotiated and entered into by both parties.

The Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 enables the tenant and landlord to agree at the start of a tenancy that diversified activity (such as environmental activities) can take place on the holding whilst still confirming they intend it to remain a Farm Business Tenancy throughout the length of the agreement. The Government encourages landlords and tenants of Farm Business Tenancies to work together to find solutions to agreed diversifications including using the land for environmental improvements which can often be delivered alongside agricultural production. To encourage this further, the Tenancy Reform Industry Group, which includes representatives of tenants and landlords, has recently produced a Code of Good Practice providing guidance to help tenants, landlords and their advisers take a positive approach to agreeing variations to tenancy agreements.

The Government is working to ensure that the design of our future farming schemes is accessible to as many land managers as possible, including tenant farmers. As part of this, we are considering questions around landlord consent and length of scheme agreement and we are exploring and testing how our new schemes might work in practice across different types of holdings and different types and lengths of tenancy agreements. The Government is grateful for the ongoing constructive contribution that industry representatives of agricultural tenants and landlords are making to this process as we move through the agricultural transition period.