Written questions by Wrigley.

Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to review its policy on the private ownership model of South West Water.

The Government has no intention to nationalise water companies, including South West Water. Such a process would significantly stall much needed investment, leaving sewage pollution only to get worse. Nationalising the water industry would put a huge burden on the public purse and would not fix the root of the problem. Shareholders and debt holders would need to be compensated, which could cost over an estimated £90 billion based on Ofwat’s Regulatory Capital Value (RCV) 2024 figures for companies in England and Wales. This Government has already shown we will take the necessary action with the introduction of our landmark piece of legislation, the Water (Special Measures) Act, and the Independent Water Commission which will make recommendations to ensure we have a sufficiently robust and stable regulatory framework to attract the investment needed to clean up our waterways, speed up infrastructure delivery and restore public confidence in the sector.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make importing dogs with cropped ears illegal.

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by the hon. Member for Winchester. The Bill will give the Government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the bringing into Great Britain of dogs with non-exempted mutilations such as cropped ears. We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce dog bites in the UK.

Defra continues to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the nature restoration fund on (a) peatlands, (b) ancient woodlands and (c) other irreplaceable habitats.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill provides an opportunity to accelerate housebuilding and infrastructure delivery by using development to fund nature recovery. This will create a win-win outcome, benefitting both the economy and nature, where both are currently stalled. The Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) will offer an alternative way for developers to discharge existing environmental obligations related to protected sites and species, without reducing overall levels of environmental protection. The Bill sets out that the specific environmental obligations which may be in scope of Environmental Delivery Plans in future are only those stemming from the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, or the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats, which includes ancient woodland and ancient and veteran trees, as well as blanket bog and lowland fen (which are peatland habitats), should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons and a suitable compensation strategy exists. These protections will continue to apply.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of agri-environmental scheme investment in Dartmoor National Park since 2015.

Data related to the boundaries of the Dartmoor National Park is not held. The Government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast. In the budget in October 2024, we committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years. This means more money than ever for sustainable food production and agri-environmental schemes across the country, including Dartmoor. We are funding around 38,000 live Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements, increased payments under Higher Level Stewardship, and Round 1 and 2 Landscape Recovery projects. We are also funding new Higher Tier agreements and Capital Grants, both of which open or re-open to applications later this year.

Food and Rural Affairs, further to his Department's policy paper, Government response to the independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor: full report, published 11 April 2024, if he will increase investment in agri-environmental funds for Dartmoor National Park.

In response to the independent review, Defra has set up the new Dartmoor Land Use Management Group (DLUMG). The group is now working to implement the 25 recommendations attributed to it in the government response. This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history. 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). We are on track to spend all the funding that is available. We are supporting Dartmoor and other upland areas through a range of grants and schemes. We have extended the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme with an additional £30 million of funding. 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 (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome. The budget for future years will be set in phase 2 of the Spending Review.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide funding to support the electrification of UK fishing fleets.

The UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions programme in the Department for Transport has opened a round of funding for feasibility studies and pre-deployment trials into clean maritime solutions, with fishing vessels in scope.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2025 to Question 34339 on Fisheries: civil servants, if he will assign civil servants to work on trade and co-operation agreements with the fishing industry.

Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is the title of the 2020 agreement between the United Kingdom and European Union rather than a generic concept which Defra works on with the fishing industry. In respect of whether the Government will assign civil servants to work on aspects of the UK-EU TCA affecting the fishing industry, I ref the hon. Member to the reply previously given to the hon. Member for Torbay on 6 March 2025, 34339.

Food and Rural Affairs, how long a period of notice was given to stakeholders before the closure of SFI.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's new policy on the Sustainable Farming Incentive, whether he has made an assessment of the availability of private funding to deliver public goods for nature.

The Government is committed to significantly increasing private investment in nature’s recovery. This will not only help meet our environmental targets but will also create opportunities for farmers and land managers to diversify their business revenues through the sale of nature services. Nature markets in the UK are small but growing. We will be consulting on what additional action is needed to strengthen these markets in the coming weeks. Alongside this, in the recent Land Use Framework publication, we announced a Call For Evidence which will seek views on how we can better incentivise private investment in nature from sectors who impact and depend upon our shared natural capital. This will be published later this year.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to open capital grants in summer 2025.

The Environmental Land Management standalone Capital Grant will re-open in the summer. Other grant schemes, including Higher Tier Capital Grants and Protection and infrastructure grants are open now.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will report on the (a) financial, (b) environmental and (c) social impact of coastal natural capital resources in Devon.

Defra has not undertaken specific regional surveys on coastal natural capital resources and, therefore, does not hold information on the financial, environmental and social impacts specific to Devon. Defra’s £38 million marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme has explored the state of England’s marine and coastal natural capital resources and the environmental, societal, and economic value they hold. It has delivered evidence, tools and guidance to inform place-based and system-wide decision making. The programme completes at the end of March 2025, with data and reports available later this year.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason his Department did not give six weeks’ notice when closing Sustainable Farming Incentive applications.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to return to budget management mechanisms from the Common Agricultural Policy.

No. The farming budget for each financial year is set through Government's Spending Reviews and managed by established in-year mechanisms.

Food and Rural Affairs, what processes his Department has in place to monitor budgeted agriculture spend.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will set a target date for reopening the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will hold discussions with farmers on the potential impact of changes to (a) basic payments, (b) the Sustainable Farming Initiative, (c) capital grants and (d) higher tier schemes on farming businesses.

The Secretary of State believes in the importance of continued engagement with the sector and has spoken with several farmers since his appointment. Defra ministers and officials will continue to work closely with the farming sector to develop and improve our offers to make sure they work for as many different farmers and land types as possible.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive, what support communications he plans to send to impacted farming businesses; and what support communications his Department plans to provide to organisations supporting 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 impacted farm businesses shortly with more information on what this means for them. The RPA teams are also taking calls from concerned farmers, and they will continue to work with farmers on new and extant agreements. The RPA works closely with farming welfare support organisations and will continue to engage with them through existing channels.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department's objectives on support for sustainable farming have changed, in the context of the closure of the SFI scheme.

We have closed 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. 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of his Department's (a) resources and (b) staff to implement his policies on (i) environment protections and (ii) food security.

Phase 1 of the Spending Review concluded in October last year and set Defra's budget for 2025-26. Phase 2 of the Spending Review is underway and will set our departmental budgets until 2028-29 for RDEL and 2029-30 for CDEL. All departments are being asked to find savings and efficiencies in their budgets in an effort to ensure all public money is focused on the Government’s priorities. For 2025-26 the department has carried out an intensive exercise to ensure resources and staff have been allocated to priorities, including environmental protection and food security. Once the department has received its spending review settlement, we will finalise allocations for environmental protection and food security from 2026-27 until 2029-30.