Every parliamentary written question tabled by Edward Morello this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 61–80 of 308 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Food and Rural Affairs, what definition her Department will use of a small farm for the purposes of the 2026 Sustainable Farming Incentive.
We will provide more detail on the new SFI offer at the NFU Conference in February ahead of publishing the full scheme details before the first application window opens in June.
Food and Rural Affairs, what the payment values and maximum eligible land areas will be for the Sustainable Farming Incentive options retained for 2026.
This Government recognises the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) must work alongside food production, not displace it. So, the department will limit how much land can be put into certain actions and review payment rates for others. These changes will make funding go further, allowing more people to benefit from agreements. Defra is considering an agreement value cap for the new SFI offer, and this will be tested with stakeholders before we confirm further details in due course. Alongside this, the Government will set clear budgets for each application window and provide regular updates so that farmers can see when a window is approaching full subscription. The Government will confirm the budgets for each window ahead of the first application window opening in June.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the clarity of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 relating to publicly accessible land.
The Department acknowledges that the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023 contains a number of provisions relevant to the planning, management and use of land, and considers these to be clear in their intended scope and application. Section 245 strengthens the statutory duty on relevant authorities in National Parks and National Landscapes by requiring them to seek to further the purpose of conserving and enhancing natural beauty when exercising their functions. The Act also supports the safeguarding and integration of walking and cycling networks through the planning system, building on existing policy in the National Planning Policy Framework. More broadly, the Government has announced, as part of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, a commitment to publish an Access to Nature Green Paper to consult on proposals to increase access and engagement with nature. The Green Paper will test a range of policy options and invite views from stakeholders and the public, helping us to gather evidence and test approaches before decisions are made. This consultation will play an important role in shaping the development of future policy in this area.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to protect livestock in West Dorset from distress and injury caused by fireworks.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 18 November 2025 to the hon. Member for Halesowen, PQ UIN 89247.
Food and Rural Affairs, if she will allocate funding to support mental health services for farmers in the Autumn Budget 2025.
Since May 2024, Defra has funded the Farmer Welfare Grant, providing £500k to support charity projects that improve the mental health and wellbeing of farmers in England. The fund, which runs until March 2026, supports projects designed to offer tailored support to farmers and their families as well as prevent further cases of poor mental health by helping to build resilience within farming communities, and deliver a range of essential services including the development of new online resources, provision of workshops, training events and networking opportunities, and one-to-one support. In addition, this Government is investing in mental health to ensure it receives the same attention as physical health. This includes the hiring of 8,500 new mental health support workers, which will reduce delays and provide faster treatment closer to people’s homes – including in rural communities.
Food and Rural Affairs, if she will allocate funding to support rural communities with (a) infrastructure and (b) service delivery costs in the Autumn Budget 2025.
This Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural business and communities. Rural communities make an important contribution to the UK economy and in 2023, rural areas contributed £259 billion to England’s Gross Value Added (GVA), representing 12.2% of the total GVA for England. The Government recognises the additional challenges they face with respect to infrastructure resilience and essential service delivery, and Defra works across government to ensure that these factors are appropriately reflected when funding decisions are made. In June, departmental budgets across Government were set up to 2029/30.
Food and Rural Affairs, if she will allocate additional funding to (a) support farmers and (b) strengthen UK food security.
The Government’s commitment to farming and food security is steadfast. Supporting British farmers and boosting the nation’s food security are key priorities for the Government. Following the spending review, Defra has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help mitigate the potential impact of US bioethanol imports on (a) animal feed prices and (b) UK producers.
Defra continue to monitor potential impacts on feed prices and the wider food sector from the recent changes. By-products of the bioethanol process are used in the agri-food sector. These include Distillers’ Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) which is used in high protein animal feed as well as CO2 which is used in slaughter, packaging, and beverage carbonation. DDGS also comes from other sources and there are other ingredients that can be used.
Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing vaccination as part of the national bovine TB control strategy.
An assessment of the potential merits of vaccination was made by a reconvened panel of independent experts, led by Professor Sir Charles Godfray. The panel’s updated report, published on 4 September 2025, considered the latest evidence on both cattle and badger vaccination, and will inform the development of the refreshed bovine TB strategy for England.
Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with farming organisations on subsidies for beekeeping.
Figures from the annual hive count suggests that the number of beekeepers has remained relatively stable and is not declining. Defra supports beekeepers through the work of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit which operates our bee pest surveillance programmes and provides free training and advice to beekeepers, including on pest and disease recognition. Effective pest and disease control is important for preventing spread to other apiaries and pollinators. Defra supports pollinators through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Landscape Recovery, in that the schemes offer a choice of support for more regenerative approaches to farming, and creation or restoration of habitats in appropriate areas. We are working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding, and further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.
Food and Rural Affairs, when he will make a decision on the deployment of the cattle BCG vaccine.
We are continuing to work on the development of a cattle BCG vaccine and accompanying DIVA (Detect Infected amongst Vaccinated Animals) test but will only deploy the vaccine and DIVA test when we have all the right steps in place. Our aim is to deliver an effective cattle TB vaccination strategy within the next few years, helping drive down the disease burden for future generations and advance progress towards achieving Officially Tuberculosis Free status for England by 2038.
Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects the field trials of the Cattle BCG vaccine to conclude.
Field trials to test a cattle BCG vaccine and accompanying DIVA (Detect Infected amongst Vaccinated Animals) skin test began in June 2021. The next phase of the field trials commenced in September 2025, and we hope to be able to start using an authorised vaccine and companion diagnostic test within the next few years.
Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to provide subsidies for farmers who diversify into beekeeping.
Figures from the annual hive count suggests that the number of beekeepers has remained relatively stable and is not declining. Defra supports beekeepers through the work of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit which operates our bee pest surveillance programmes and provides free training and advice to beekeepers, including on pest and disease recognition. Effective pest and disease control is important for preventing spread to other apiaries and pollinators. Defra supports pollinators through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Landscape Recovery, in that the schemes offer a choice of support for more regenerative approaches to farming, and creation or restoration of habitats in appropriate areas. We are working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding, and further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.
Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing subsidies to support farmers to (a) introduce and (b) maintain beekeeping.
Figures from the annual hive count suggests that the number of beekeepers has remained relatively stable and is not declining. Defra supports beekeepers through the work of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit which operates our bee pest surveillance programmes and provides free training and advice to beekeepers, including on pest and disease recognition. Effective pest and disease control is important for preventing spread to other apiaries and pollinators. Defra supports pollinators through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Landscape Recovery, in that the schemes offer a choice of support for more regenerative approaches to farming, and creation or restoration of habitats in appropriate areas. We are working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding, and further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to amend the regulation of genome-edited crops.
The Government has been undertaking a programme of regulatory reform for precision breeding. The Precision Breeding Act 2023 sets out a more proportionate and science-based regulatory framework for precision breeding that encourages innovation and enables products to be brought to market more easily. The secondary legislation needed to implement The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 for plants in England was passed into law on 13 May 2025.
Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of extreme weather events on West Dorset.
The preparation for, response to and recovery from extreme weather sits across a number of organisations, including the Cabinet Office, UK Health and Security Agency, and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. As the Lead Government Department for flooding, Defra works with partners across local and national Government to strengthen preparedness for flooding. In 2024, Defra established the Floods Resilience Taskforce, a collaborative initiative uniting all levels of Government, emergency services, businesses, and environmental groups to improve flood preparedness. Over the past 12 months, the taskforce has helped drive improvements to national flood modelling and forecasting, the communication of flood warnings, and has raised awareness of schemes to support those affected by flooding. The fourth meeting in September discussed preparedness for the 2025 autumn/winter period. Following the wettest winter on record, the Environment Agency is investing £5 million to protect 444 properties in West Dorset, maintaining key assets, supporting coastal projects, improving property flood resilience, and working with partners on natural flood management and coastal risk response. Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) in England are tasked with coordinating local emergency preparedness, including extreme weather events. West Dorset is represented on the Dorset LRF as part of the Dorset Councils Partnership. The Dorset LRF Community Risk Register, which includes local risk assessments for extreme weather events in Dorset, can be found here.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support vineyard businesses in West Dorset constituency.
The Government is committed to supporting rural economies and ensuring the UK has a thriving and diverse economy that promotes local jobs and boosts growth. The English wine sector is one of the fastest growing agricultural sectors, which continues to attract domestic and foreign investment. Defra is committed to working with the sector to support its ambitions, drive growth and exports and ensure it provides high-quality jobs in rural communities.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help improve the resilience of farming infrastructure in extreme weather.
We are providing farmers and land managers with the support needed to help restore nature, which is vital to safeguard our long-term food security and build resilience to climate change. There are currently record numbers of farmers taking part in farming schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive. As of April 2025, these schemes supported 885,000 hectares of arable land being farmed without insecticides; 330,000 hectares of low input grassland being managed sustainably; and 85,000 kilometres of hedgerows being protected and restored. In the recent spending review, we allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history. This means: Funding for the Environmental Land Management Schemes paid to farmers will increase by 150% from £800 million in 2023/24 to £2 billion by 2028/29. Overall farmers and land managers will benefit from an average of £2.3 billion a year through the Farming and Countryside Programme. And up to £400 million from additional nature schemes, including those for tree planting and peatland restoration.
Food and Rural Affairs, what the expected costs are for consultancy services in relation to the Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme in Charmouth.
The Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme for Charmouth and Swanage is being delivered through Dorset Council as the lead authority, with support from the Environment Agency, under the ‘Future Coast Dorset’ project.
Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with supermarkets on (a) the adequacy of the prices they pay to producers and (b) the potential merits of buying more produce from vertical farms.
The Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists. Using the 'Fair Dealings' powers in the Agriculture Act 2020, we can introduce regulations to increase transparency and protect growers, across the range of horticultural production systems, from unfair commercial practices. We are currently developing ‘Fair Dealing’ regulations for the fresh produce sector, which will cover growers that sell directly to retail. These regulations are designed to strengthen supply chain fairness and ensure all horticulture producers have clear and balanced contracts, which may include prohibiting practices such as cancelling orders at short notice. As part of this work, we are engaging with retailers, producers, experts and other representatives of the horticulture sector to ensure the regulations are workable and effective.