theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Rebecca Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers who are not registered to the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. \p Daniel Zeichner: This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Following the announcement that Defra has closed SFI for the submission of new applications, outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to review the regulatory framework governing Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority to improve protections for Atlantic salmon entering Poole Harbour. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra is not planning to review the regulatory framework for Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs). IFCAs already have a duty to manage inshore fisheries sustainably, balancing socioeconomic factors with protecting the marine environment, including Atlantic salmon. Southern IFCA have published a Salmonid Good Handling Code of Practice and introduced a Net Fishing Byelaw in 2023, both of which help to protect salmon in Poole Harbour.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with Natural England on a restoration policy for Atlantic salmon populations in chalk streams designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra has not discussed a restoration policy for salmon in chalk streams that are Sites of Special Scientific Interest with Natural England.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Aphra Brandreth:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the viability of farming businesses (a) whose government funding has reduced by 70% or more and (b) which are currently unable to apply for the (i) Sustainable Farming Incentive, (b) capital grants or (c) higher tier schemes. \p Daniel Zeichner: Whilst applications for the SFI24 scheme have closed, the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated. We have large-scale uptake of the scheme, with over 37,000 live SFI agreements which commit money for at least three years, and more than half of all farmed land is now being managed under SFI and other farming schemes. We plan to reopen the SFI applications service once we have a reformed SFI offer in place.

Ongoing schemes are already supporting farm businesses to remain viable as they adjust to the reduction of farm subsidy. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year, and Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025. We continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcomes.

New figures published recently showed that the proportion of commercial farms with income from agri-environment schemes rose from 49% in 2020/21 to 70% in 2023/24.

Furthermore, funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to ensure that (a) the River Frome and (b) other chalk streams outside of designated protected landscapes receive equal consideration for (i) conservation and (ii) restoration. \p Emma Hardy: This Government is committed to the restoration of our cherished chalk streams. With 85% of the world’s chalk streams found in the UK, these unique water bodies are not just vital ecosystems but a symbol of our national heritage.

The Government is committed to restoring our rivers, lakes and seas, including chalk streams. This is why on 23 October 2024 the UK and Welsh Governments launched an independent commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe and supported by expert advisors, to recommend reforms to reset the water sector regulatory system. The commission aims to build consensus for a resilient and innovative water sector and a robust wider regulatory framework that will deliver long-term benefits to ultimately serve both customers and the environment.

The main pressures on the Dorset Frome are point-source and diffuse pollution, historic land use and water management changes such as weirs and channel straightening, and water resources balance. The Environment Agency is working with partners in the Frome Headwaters catchment this year to further understand and address some of these issues with a focus on reducing fine sediment input and improving habitat.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Aphra Brandreth:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the ability of the Rural Payment Agency to process changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in recent years has delivered improvements to accessibility of their services, streamlined application processes and delivered improvements in the issuing of agreements and payment performance and are well placed to continue to deliver the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The RPA continues to engage with farmers, stakeholders, and Defra policy makers, to ensure the right support is provided to help farmers and rural business deliver their outcomes.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many properties received Farming Recovery Payments in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (i) 2023 and (ii) 2024. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) can confirm that no payments were made to properties under the Farming Recovery payments in a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (i) 2023

RPA can confirm that 1889 payments were made to properties under the Farming Recovery payments in a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (ii) 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Aphra Brandreth:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what communications his Department plans to send to farming businesses affected by changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive; and what support he plans to provide to staff in his Department that support vulnerable farmers. \p Daniel Zeichner: A letter from Minister Zeichner was sent to all farm businesses on 12 March advising them of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applications. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will be writing to farm businesses affected shortly with more information on what this means for them. Staff in the RPA have access to tools and training to help them support vulnerable farmers, including signposting to farming welfare organisations, and content to support their own wellbeing. The agency also engages with a network of supporting organisations across the sector.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Robbie Moore:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications that were started but are unsubmitted are held by the Rural Payments Agency for SFI24. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Sustainable Farming Incentive Expanded Offer (SFI EO) is an online application and as of the 12 March there are 6,626 applications currently started but not submitted on the Rural Payments Portal.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) extended producer responsibility fees and (b) other tax increases on the viability of UK breweries. \p Mary Creagh: The 2024 pEPR impact assessment can be found here.

The impact assessment estimated the pEPR producer fees would generate over £1 billion annually to support local authority collection and disposal services, including recycling services. We expect Greenhouse Gas Emissions savings of approximately 0.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over the 10-year appraisal period.

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief would have ended entirely in April 2025, creating a cliff-edge for businesses. Instead, the Government has decided to offer a 40 per cent discount to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business in 2025-26 and frozen the small business multiplier.

By tapering RHL relief to 40%, rather than letting it end, the Government has saved the average pub, with a rateable value (RV) of £16,800, over £3,300 in 2025.

At Budget, the Government also announced that from 2026-27, it intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. The Government intends to fund this by introducing a higher multiplier on the most valuable properties, which includes the majority of large distribution warehouses, including warehouses used by online giants.

The rates for any new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to delay the implementation of extended producer responsibility. \p Mary Creagh: No. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 came into effect on 1 January 2025, PackUK, the Scheme Administrator has been appointed, and producers will start to accrue scheme costs from 1 April 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the extended producer responsibility scheme does not reduce investment in UK manufacturing. \p Mary Creagh: The scheme treats domestic manufacturing and import equally, with all packaging and packaged products, whether manufactured and supplied domestically or imported into UK, subject to the obligations in the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations.

Similarly, any packaging or packaged goods manufactured in the UK and exported will not be in scope of the UK Regulations but may be in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility regime in the country the packaging or packaged goods are being exported to.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department considered alternatives to extended producer responsibility. \p Mary Creagh: The Government consulted on the principles, objectives, and proposals for extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, and these received high levels of support. This followed initial lobbying in 2018 from the sector, which preferred extended producer responsibility, in which funds are invested back into the sector, to other fiscal measures such as a non-hypothecated tax.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Paul Kohler:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the change in the number of miles of (a) public footpaths, (b) bridleways, (c) restricted byways and (d) other public (i) walkways and (ii) cycleways in the UK since 2015. \p Mary Creagh: The public rights of way network provides approximately 140,000 miles of linear access in England and Wales, with 83% found in England and 17% in Wales. In England this consists approximately of:

In addition, when both the King Charles III England Coast Path and Coast to Coast National Trail are complete, the total length of National Trails in England will be 4,952 miles. Permissive paths also give the public access to large amounts of the English countryside.

The National Cycle Network spans 12,000 miles of signed routes for walking, wheeling and cycling including over 5,000 miles of traffic free paths. There are 2,000 miles of canal towpaths in England and Wales.

Information on overall lengths of publicly maintainable cycleways and footways, along with changes to the public rights of way network and other walkways and cycle paths since 2015 in England is held by the respective local authority. Further information on public rights of way and other public paths or routes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Welsh and Scottish Governments and Northern Ireland Executive respectively.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the (a) efficiency and (b) effectiveness of how local authorities use extended producer responsibility revenue. \p Mary Creagh: From 2028, the pEPR scheme administrator, PackUK, must assess whether each local authority is running an effective waste management service for household packaging waste. If PackUK determines that a local authority is not providing an effective waste management service, they are able to give notice to the local authority, work with them to determine how the services could be improved, and where necessary reduce the payments available to them in the following year by up to 20%. In relation to cost efficiency, local authorities will receive payments representing their estimated efficient costs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the amount of countryside available to roam. \p Mary Creagh: Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride and which boost public health and wellbeing, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provided the public a right of access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. We will be reviewing the maps of this open access land ahead of the statutory deadline of 1st January 2031, to ensure that the public have clear information which can help them to access this land.

We are continuing to increase access to nature for families to enjoy, for example through our ambitious manifesto commitments to create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests, and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy.

In addition, the Government has made the decision to repeal the cut-off date for the registration of historic rights of way, preventing the loss of hundreds of miles of unregistered paths. This will ensure that these paths remain available to the public for future generations. This change will be formally enacted when parliamentary time allows.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how his Department will monitor compliance with extended producer responsibility requirements; and what penalties will apply for non-compliance. \p Mary Creagh: Defra officials are working closely with the Environment Agency (EA) and Devolved Governments to ensure robust plans are in place to both scrutinise the accuracy of submissions from enrolled producers, and identify and bring into compliance free riders who have not yet enrolled or reported their data. This is being supported by more than doubling the number of compliance officers. We are also encouraging compliant producers to report producers they suspect of being non-compliant to the appropriate regulator. The new pEPR regulations also significantly enhanced the potential penalties for non-compliance. This will give the EA the ability to secure compliance and to take swift and proportionate enforcement action with powers, including warnings, cautions, civil sanctions, and prosecution. In addition to regulator enforcement, PackUK, the new Scheme Administrator, also has the power to invoice producers for fees in the years in which they were non-compliant.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Harriet Cross:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2024 to Question 15988 on Agriculture: Inheritance Tax, on what evidential basis his Department (a) determined that 73% of claims will be for less than £1 million and (b) used to identify the proportion of the remaining 27% of affected estates that are active family-run farms; and what information his Department holds on the proportion of agricultural land sales purchased by (i) large corporations and (ii) investment firms in (A) Scotland and (B) the UK in each of the last five years. \p Daniel Zeichner: As referenced in the answer to PQ 15988, 73 per cent (1,264 of 1,730) of claims by estates for agricultural property relief in 2021-22 were for properties valued below £1 million. This is calculated using a table published by HM Treasury using HMRC data in Summary of reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief, statistical annex (30 October 2024).

According to further analysis of HMRC claims data published by HM Treasury, in 2026/27 the reforms are expected to result in up to 520 of the estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those also claiming business property relief, paying more inheritance tax. This means almost three-quarters (1,260 of 1,780) of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data. See the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s letter to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP: committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.

Defra has not made an assessment of the proportion of farming businesses that are “family-run farms”. Defra does not hold information on the purchasers of agricultural land. The Government’s assessment relates to claims for agricultural property relief and business property relief. The qualifying conditions for these reliefs are set out in Part 5 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Clive Lewis:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Nature Restoration Fund on district licensing schemes. \p Mary Creagh: In December, we published a working paper on our proposal to establish a Nature Restoration Fund through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We have listened carefully to feedback from the working paper and engagement with the development industry, nature conservation organisations and other stakeholders in developing this legislation. We continue to engage stakeholders and will work with private providers and land managers, including district licensing scheme providers, to ensure competition and innovation in securing impactful and good value for money interventions.

We are committed to delivering a win-win for nature and the economy. An Environmental Delivery Plan can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures will outweigh the negative effects of development.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Animal and Plant Health Agency has carried out scenario planning for potential (a) outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and (b) other significant biosecurity breaches. \p Daniel Zeichner: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) scenario modelling has been completed, and initial outputs received. A report is being drafted with the deadline being end of March. APHA is undertaking assessments in relation to other diseases including ASF.

FMD scenario modelling has been carried out multiple times, for such reasons as Contingency Exercises (Exercise Rowan) and to support development of livestock traceability systems. The majority of APHA exercises are based around a plausible scenario, developed from expert opinion, and/or demonstrated incursion, and/or simulation model. Scenarios are designed to reflect plausible, whilst testing, conditions.

APHA have carried out assessments of the risk of incursion of FMD from the continent and publish these via GOV.UK.
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Carla Lockhart:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to strengthen border checks to prevent illegal meat imports from entering the UK through (a) Dover and (b) other ports of entry. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra has made additional funding of £1.9 million available to Dover District Council for the Port Health Authority, for the remainder of this financial year (2024 to 2025), to support Border Force to conduct safeguarding checks on the illegal import of products of animal origin. This is in addition to the £1.2 million already committed. This total funding of £3.1 million is based on the existing staffing costs provided by Dover Port Health Authority. This funding is only for this financial year. Defra has also contributed operational equipment to support Border Force with relevant checks.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Tim Farron:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's blog post entitled Update on the farming budget, published on 12 March 2025, whether the £2.4 billion budget for the 2025-26 financial year will be used for farming; whether the split between budget lines is subject to change; and whether any other factors might affect the size of the budget. \p Daniel Zeichner: We remain committed to investing £5 billion of funding in the farming budget this year and next (£2.6 billion for 24/25 and the £2.4 billion for 25/26, as previously announced), are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.

We monitor forecasts against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising from multi-annual agreements. We monitor the uptake of our demand led schemes which have a budgetary impact on future years (such as SFI) on a regular basis, increasing the frequency of this as the level of commitment approaches the budget available in future years.

The farming blog published on Wednesday 12 March set out Defra’s spend over the next two years (24/25 and 25/26). These are not ring-fenced figures and have the potential to change. Defra manages the farming budget flexibly to respond to demand, and achieve our intended outcomes for farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Carla Lockhart:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to review the Border Target Operating Model to introduce mandatory spot checks on all vehicles entering the UK, in the context of illegal meat smuggling. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Border Target Operating Model aims to mitigate sanitary and phytosanitary risks, while enabling the flow of legitimate goods through our ports and airports. We will continue to operate a compliance first approach enabling importers and the public to move compliant goods, backed up by robust, intelligence-led, enforcement controls on illegal activity.

We take illegal meat smuggling very seriously, as it may pose threats to animal health, food safety and public health. That is why we are working closely with the Home Office and the Food Standards Agency to tackle this issue with the support of Border Force, Port Health Authorities and local authorities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Tim Farron:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department decided to cap the Sustainable Farming Incentive at £1.05 billion for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years. \p Daniel Zeichner: As of 11 March, £1.05 billion had been paid to farmers or committed for payment through existing agreements or submitted applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)

The SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package which is why Defra must manage the farming budget flexibly to respond to demand, and achieve our intended outcomes for farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Terry Jermy:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many animals were (a) slaughtered for food consumption and (b) then tested for the presence of lead in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021, (iv) 2022, (v) 2023 and (vi) 2024. \p Daniel Zeichner: A summary of the number of animals slaughtered for food consumption and number of animals tested for lead can be found in the table on the following page.

For information, the majority of these data are available through the Defra Food and Farming statistics and the VMD also publishes the results of annual residues monitoring on an annual basis on GOV.UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme on farmers who had planned to transition to the new land management practices under the Environmental Land Management scheme; and what plans his Department has to support those farmers. \p Daniel Zeichner: On 11 March 2025, we published forecasts which suggest that Average Farm Business Income has risen in 2024/25 across all farm types with the exception of cereal farms. This follows a fall in income for most farm types in 2023/24, after some exceptional highs in the two preceding years.

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a 2-year period.

50,000 farm businesses are already in agri-environmental schemes. SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason his Department did not give six weeks’ notice when closing Sustainable Farming Incentive applications. \p Daniel Zeichner: To ensure fair access, and to avoid the risk of overspend, we could not give any advance notice to avoid creating a sudden increase in the level of demand.

Whilst we aim to give notice where possible (and we are aware the application service mentioned this intention of 6 weeks’ notice), there was no requirement in the scheme rules for SFI24 for us to give any notice before we closed applications.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 September 2024 to Question 4992 on Greenpeace, whether his Department engages with (a) Just Stop Oil and (b) Extinction Rebellion. \p Emma Hardy: The Department has not engaged with Just Stop Oil or Extinction Rebellion.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of wind turbines on avian mortality. \p Emma Hardy: The Government does not have estimates of the number of birds killed by wind turbines. Wind developments have the potential to cause environmental damage, including impacts to birds from collisions, displacement, and foraging pressures.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to return to budget management mechanisms from the Common Agricultural Policy. \p Daniel Zeichner: No. The farming budget for each financial year is set through Government's Spending Reviews and managed by established in-year mechanisms.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle unregulated fishing activities in the South West Atlantic Ocean. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that fishing activities on the high seas in the South West Atlantic are appropriately regulated. This is necessary to safeguard stocks and their significant contribution to the Falkland Islands’ economy as well as the wider marine environment.

Defra continue to liaise closely with the Falklands Islands Government on these issues, and to seek progress on addressing gaps in fisheries management and data collection within relevant international fora including the United Nations and Food and Agriculture Organisation.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what processes his Department has in place to monitor budgeted agriculture spend. \p Daniel Zeichner: We monitor forecasts against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. We committed to spending £2.6 billion in 24/25 and are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.

Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising from multi-annual agreements. We monitor the uptake of our demand led schemes which have a budgetary impact on future years (such as SFI) on a regular basis, increasing the frequency of this as the level of commitment approaches the budget available in future years.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_69
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_69

Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will set a target date for reopening the Sustainable Farming Incentive. \p Daniel Zeichner: We will be reforming the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_70
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_70

James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential economic impact of agricultural land being converted to solar energy production on farming communities. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Government recognises that food security is national security. We need a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports British farmers and food producers.

To support this commitment, the Government has launched a consultation on Land Use in England. The outcome will inform the publication of a Land Use Framework, planned for later this year, which will provide certainty and clarity to landowners and land managers as they transition towards new farming models in a way that protects the most productive agricultural land, and best secures the nation’s long term food security. The National Planning Policy Framework is also clear that where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_71
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_71

Julia Buckley:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to renew the Farm Facilitation Fund beyond March 2025. \p Daniel Zeichner: We recognise the importance of farmer and land manager collaboration. In future years we want to make it easier for farmers to build partnerships and secure the advice and support they need to deliver on a range of priorities in their local area.

That’s why the Agricultural Transition Plan Update, published in January 2024, committed to the development of an expanded and improved facilitation fund.

To support this change, we are not opening further rounds of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund. We are still funding existing agreements.

Ahead of the Spending Review, we are testing how we develop a more flexible approach to supporting farmer networks and partnerships. We will learn from the evaluation of the Facilitation Fund, which proves the benefits of collaboration but also shows that we need to improve the design, so it is less burdensome for participants, and we can increase uptake.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_72
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_72

Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the increased investment in maintenance of flood defences will allow the Environment Agency to keep 98% of its high-consequence assets in the required condition over the next two years. \p Emma Hardy: This Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record, as years of underinvestment and damaging storms left just 92% of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high-consequence assets at required condition, meaning approximately 60,000 properties are at a higher risk.

The Environment Agency (EA) is reprioritising £72 million from capital programme funding, for the 2025/26 financial year, to maintain high consequence assets at target condition. This funding will ensure assets are as resilient and reliable as possible and operate as expected in flood events.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_73
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_73

Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department had discussions with (a) farming groups and (b) stakeholders prior to the decision to close the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. \p Daniel Zeichner: The high uptake of the scheme means it is fully subscribed. The decision to close the scheme to new applications was taken at that point.

We could not give any advance notice because we needed to ensure fair access to the scheme and avoid creating a sudden increase in the level of demand.

Since we launched the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in 2022 we have worked closely with the farming sector and stakeholders to develop and improve the offer to make sure it worked for as many different farmers and land types as possible.

We will continue to do this in order to develop the reformed SFI offer.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_74
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_74

Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the quantum for the Rural England Prosperity Fund for 2025-2026 was decided. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_75
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_75

Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers following the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. \p Daniel Zeichner: This Government has secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements.

Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector.

We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_76
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_76

Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what percentage of the Darwin Plus budget is contributed from the Official Development Assistance budget. \p Mary Creagh: For 2024-25, Official Development Assistance accounts for 30% of the programme.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_77
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_77

Peter Prinsley:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for when councils will receive (a) transitional funding and (b) revenue support to develop food waste collection services compliant with new waste regulations in the Environment Act 2021. \p Mary Creagh: Collecting food waste separately from residual waste allows us to send it for anaerobic digestion or composting. This reduces the amount of food waste going to landfill, where it releases harmful greenhouse gases, helping to achieve our Net Zero strategy target to eliminate biodegradable waste sent to landfill from 2028. Treating food waste through anaerobic digestion provides greater carbon savings than Energy from Waste treatment and, unlike incineration, it also produces digestate which can be spread to land as a fertiliser.

The Government has already brought forward £261.7 million of capital transitional funding to support the introduction of weekly food waste collections in the purchasing of bins and vehicles.

We have announced £79.5 million of funding, covering the costs of procurement, project management, communications and container delivery across 24/25 and 25/26.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_78
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_78

Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to provide financial support to upland farmers, in the context of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. \p Daniel Zeichner: We fully recognise the importance of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for upland farmers – and we strongly want the scheme to be available to them as we move forward.

We have closed SFI for new applications because the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental targets.

We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

In the meantime, as announced on 25 February, we’re increasing HLS payment rates. We believe this uplift better reflects the contributions made by those with HLS agreements and will support the continued protection and management of these sites.

We will also open the rolling application window for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) this summer and have published information that sets out what upland farmers can do now to prepare to apply for CSHT.
wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_79
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_79

Margaret Mullane:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) mitigate pollution from historic landfills and (b) facilitate the remediation of landfill sites. \p Emma Hardy: Local Authorities have a duty to identify contaminated land (including historic landfills) which are causing unacceptable risks to human health or the environment. Where requested, the Environment Agency (EA) supports Local Authorities in discharging these duties by providing information and advice.

The EA is responsible for requiring remediation to be carried out on Special Sites. These are contaminated land sites where it has the specialist skills to deal with contamination due to past activities or certain current land uses and specific types of water pollution.

The EA has inspected many historic landfills as potential special sites on behalf of Local Authorities.

60 sites (including 14 historic landfills) have been designated as Special Sites in England. Remediation is outstanding or ongoing on 19 sites where the EA is either working with those responsible or using discretionary powers to carry out works to reduce unacceptable risks to health and the environment. The list is published here: Contaminated Land Special Sites - data.gov.uk.

Operators (and landowners) of permitted or historic landfill sites are responsible for maintaining and managing their sites. Where they propose to remediate sites to enable redevelopment, the EA will advise on permitting requirements where remediation involves deposit, or treatment of waste. Where consulted, the EA will liaise with the relevant Planning Authority.

Published guidance is available on GOV.UK: Landfill operators: environmental permits - Deposit waste over existing waste at landfills (overtipping) - Guidance - GOV.UK.