Speeches by Riddell-Carpenter.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) on securing this important and timely debate. Religious buildings are a vital part of our country’s heritage and architectural history, but of course they also play a central role in our communi…”

“Yes, if you can give clarity.”

“Has the Department looked at the impact that some of the quite fast closures of grants has had? Will that feature in your thinking for future spending, where it is deployed and where it is not, so the impact?”

“Does AI feature as part of that? We just talked about AI briefly, but does that feature as part of that?”

“Where are the pressures that you are facing and where are the areas that you are scrutinising for future investment and funding?”

“Yes, thank you, Chair. I suspect the answer to this question is along the lines of, “Not very”. How confident are you that you will be able to meet your current spending funding commitments in the next financial year, in the next funding round?”

“To be clear, the last Committee’s report said that the numbers showed that the Environment Agency was visiting just 4% of farms every year. That is in its published report. I think what you are saying is that that level should be higher, and that level now is higher, given the investment that has been made.”

“The Committee’s last report, which my colleague referred to, suggested that it was about 4% of inspections that take place. Is that figure still accurate?”

“The Department would know the level of non-compliance? I am not clear on—”

“But the Department doesn’t currently hold information or data on the level of non-compliance; is that correct?”

“Can I bring you back to my original question, which is: do we know the level of non-compliance and do we know where that non-compliance is with current regulation?”

“The number of staff?”

“Your report highlighted that DEFRA is taking actions to improve environmental regulation of farming, but it also says that farmers’ compliance with some aspects of the current regulation is low. Are you collecting data to understand what that level is for compliance? Are you collecting data and can you tell us where th…”

“It is the first half of the year for all the detail on that?”

“That doesn’t include detail of pesticides, is that correct, or is that covered separately?”

“Thank you. The apex of the goal is to achieve thriving plant and wildlife. I believe that we are expecting more details on how we deliver thriving plant and wildlife by March this year; is that correct?”

“Or to know when the date might be, rather than a specific date.”

“When do you expect to know a date for that?”

“What is the timeline for that?”

“Yes, we talked earlier about the stakeholder experiences and the stakeholder voice. How is either the stakeholder experience or the stakeholder voice featuring in the development of those specific smart objectives, either in the co-design of them or the measurement of them?”