Written questions by Brandreth.

Food and Rural Affairs, which rivers have been identified by his Department as priority sites for improvement using funds raised through fines on water companies.

Following the Spending Review, the Government has confirmed water company fines will be allocated to local environmental projects and programmes to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Over £100 million in fines has been levied against water companies since October 2023, which will be reinvested into local environment projects and programmes to address pollution and improve water quality. More information on this announcement can be found on GOV.UK. A further announcement on the details on the projects and programmes that this funding will go towards will be set out in due course. Water company fines that accumulated between April 2022 and October 2023 will be invested through the Water Restoration Fund. Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects to improve the water environment. Successful applicants have been notified, and an official announcement will follow in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what options were considered by his Department for the use of water company fines before the decision to direct them towards water projects was taken.

Following the Spending Review, the Government has confirmed water company fines will be allocated to local environmental projects and programmes to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Over £100 million in fines has been levied against water companies since October 2023, which will be reinvested into local environment projects and programmes to address pollution and improve water quality. More information on this announcement can be found on GOV.UK. A further announcement on the details on the projects and programmes that this funding will go towards will be set out in due course. Water company fines that accumulated between April 2022 and October 2023 will be invested through the Water Restoration Fund. Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects to improve the water environment. Successful applicants have been notified, and an official announcement will follow in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether any fines levied on water companies are being used to support water quality improvements at Lake Windermere.

Following the Spending Review, the Government has confirmed water company fines will be allocated to local environmental projects and programmes to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Over £100 million in fines has been levied against water companies since October 2023, which will be reinvested into local environment projects and programmes to address pollution and improve water quality. More information on this announcement can be found on GOV.UK. A further announcement on the details on the projects and programmes that this funding will go towards will be set out in due course. Water company fines that accumulated between April 2022 and October 2023 will be invested through the Water Restoration Fund. Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects to improve the water environment. Successful applicants have been notified, and an official announcement will follow in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, how long discussions have been taking place within government on the allocation of water company fines towards water restoration and infrastructure projects.

Following the Spending Review, the Government has confirmed water company fines will be allocated to local environmental projects and programmes to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Over £100 million in fines has been levied against water companies since October 2023, which will be reinvested into local environment projects and programmes to address pollution and improve water quality. More information on this announcement can be found on GOV.UK. A further announcement on the details on the projects and programmes that this funding will go towards will be set out in due course. Water company fines that accumulated between April 2022 and October 2023 will be invested through the Water Restoration Fund. Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects to improve the water environment. Successful applicants have been notified, and an official announcement will follow in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release entitled Government to invest over £100m in water company fines to local environmental projects, published on 19 June 2025, when he decided to use fines for water restoration projects.

Following the Spending Review, the Government has confirmed water company fines will be allocated to local environmental projects and programmes to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Over £100 million in fines has been levied against water companies since October 2023, which will be reinvested into local environment projects and programmes to address pollution and improve water quality. More information on this announcement can be found on GOV.UK. A further announcement on the details on the projects and programmes that this funding will go towards will be set out in due course. Water company fines that accumulated between April 2022 and October 2023 will be invested through the Water Restoration Fund. Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects to improve the water environment. Successful applicants have been notified, and an official announcement will follow in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of funding through the Water Restoration Fund will be used to support water (a) quality and (b) infrastructure projects.

Following the Spending Review, the Government has confirmed water company fines will be allocated to local environmental projects and programmes to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Over £100 million in fines has been levied against water companies since October 2023, which will be reinvested into local environment projects and programmes to address pollution and improve water quality. More information on this announcement can be found on GOV.UK. A further announcement on the details on the projects and programmes that this funding will go towards will be set out in due course. Water company fines that accumulated between April 2022 and October 2023 will be invested through the Water Restoration Fund. Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects to improve the water environment. Successful applicants have been notified, and an official announcement will follow in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many farm visits (a) he has and (b) his Ministers have undertaken since 4 July 2024.

Defra ministers regularly visit farms in a range of counties and meet with farmers and the wider industry nearly every week.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the revenue that will be raised from fines imposed on water companies for environmental breaches in the next 12 months.

Environmental enforcement, including fines, is provided by independent regulators Ofwat and the Environment Agency (EA). Enforcement activity and subsequent fines are affected by a wide variety of factors and the Government does not have a predicted figure for the next 12 months. EA fines are imposed by the courts which apply the Sentencing Council’s Environmental Offences Definite Guideline on a case-by-case basis. On 19 June 2025, the Government announced that over £100 million in fines and penalties levied against water companies since October 2023 will be reinvested into projects to clean up our waters which could include local programmes to address pollution and improve water quality.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Welsh Government’s decision to ban the movement of livestock from England into Wales; and what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Wales on the (a) scientific basis and (b) implications of that policy for farmers in England.

I refer the honourable member to the answers given on X June 2025 to PQs 61013 and 61014 regarding the potential impact of bluetongue regulations in North Shropshire. Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the devolved administrations to assess their disease risks and impacts in relation to their national herds, alongside the impacts of controls, and respond accordingly.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many agricultural shows (a) he and (b) his ministerial team have attended since 4 July 2024.

Ministers are attending a range of agriculture shows across the UK. Most recently, Ministers have attended the Royal Cornwall Show and the Royal Highland Show.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme on food security.

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. Food security requires a long-term picture of resilience to shocks. Over 37,000 businesses are already being supported through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) with their live agreements, with more in other schemes. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI in summer 2025 which will support farmers, deliver for nature and target public funds fairly and effectively towards our priorities for food, farming and nature.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to open the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier in summer 2025.

Defra announced on 11 December 2024 that the full Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme guidance will be published before applications open in summer 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason his Department did not provide six weeks' notice when closing the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme for new applications.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will reopen the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applications.

We have closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (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. Now is the right time for a reset: supporting farmers, delivering for nature and targeting public funds fairly and effectively towards our priorities for food, farming and nature. 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. This will allow us to align SFI with our work on the Land Use Framework and the 25-year farming roadmap to protect the most productive land and boost food security, whilst delivering for nature. 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor agricultural spend against the budget and (b) reduce the time taken to make financial decisions.

We monitor forecasts of scheme uptake and spend 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, how he plans to consult farmers on the review of the Sustainable Farming Incentive in a transparent way.

Since we launched the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in 2022 we have worked closely with the farming sector 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has distributed from its Environmental Land Management budget this financial year to date; and how much remains.

In line with its obligations under the Agriculture Act 2020, Defra regularly publishes an annual report setting out commitments in the previous financial year. Defra intends to publish the annual report for the financial year 2024/25 later this year.