Written questions by Wrigley.

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, 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.

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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Rural Payment Agency’s ability to handle the change announced to SFIs this week.

As the principal sponsor of the RPA, Defra works closely with RPA officials at every level to provide constructive challenge and support on RPA implementation of policy changes. The RPA’s ability to implement policy changes is well understood and comprehensive planning and discussion is undertaken between the RPA and Farming and Countryside Programme to ensure that changes are implemented smoothly, including external communications and customer handling. There is full confidence and understanding of the RPAs ability to handle the recent announcement on the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2025 to Question 34683 on Universal Credit: Childcare, if she will have discussions with claimants on the potential merits of establishing definitions for those terms.

The Government recognises that childcare needs vary from customer to customer and area to area, and we are committed to working with the Department for Education to increase availability so that we can support customers’ varied needs. At all times we want work coaches to ensure the requirements they impose on customers are reasonable given the customer’s capability and circumstance, and they do this through engaging with customers. There are times where the customer’s circumstances are such that both work search and work availability requirements must be switched off completely for a period of time, known as easements. This includes, for example, customers caring for a child in considerable distress. Work coaches can also use their discretion to switch off requirements when a customer’s child is ill in hospital or when they have other temporary childcare responsibilities.

If he will take steps to ensure that UK General Product Safety Rules (GPSR) are compliant with EU GPSR rules.

The UK enjoys a high level of product safety. As outlined in the Government’s response to the Product Safety Review consultation, undertaken by the previous Government, we will now develop options for further consultation on updating the UK’s product safety framework. Decisions taken by the Government on regulations will be focused on supporting growth across the UK. We will draw on evidence gathered through our strong relationships with stakeholders, including industry, trade associations and consumer groups when considering any future changes to product safety regulation.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of aligning UK General Product Safety Rules (GPSR) with EU GPSR rules.

The UK enjoys a high level of product safety. As outlined in the Government’s response to the Product Safety Review consultation, undertaken by the previous Government, we will now develop options for further consultation on updating the UK’s product safety framework. Decisions taken by the Government on regulations will be focused on supporting growth across the UK. We will draw on evidence gathered through our strong relationships with stakeholders, including industry, trade associations and consumer groups when considering any future changes to product safety regulation.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to help farmers that aren't receiving financial support from Government environmental schemes.

The Government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast. It’s why we have committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years – more money than ever for sustainable food production. We have allocated £60 million to the Farming Recovery Fund for farmers affected by extreme weather, and £208 million to protect against disease threats. We have also recently announced further policies including extending the Seasonal Worker visa route for five more years, backing British produce in government catering contracts, and investing £110 million in agri-technology. A new commissioner for the tenant farming sector will be appointed, and a veterinary agreement with the EU will be sought to ease export red tape. The government will also protect farmers from low welfare trade deals and lower energy bills by connecting renewable energy to the National Grid. Other measures include a land-use framework for food security and nature recovery, a Cross-Government Rural Crime Strategy, and a British Infrastructure Council to drive private investment in rural areas.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on (a) small farms, (b) upland farmers and (c) commoners.

We publish regular statistics on Farm Business Income. Farming evidence packs for example have been recently updated including key statistics and farm performance. These set out an extensive range of data to provide an overview of agriculture in the UK. We will continue to carry out appropriate and timely assessments of our interventions to inform policy development.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers that were intending to apply for the Sustainable Farming incentive scheme.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers, in the context of the closing of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

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. Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, existing agreements will continue. 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. Whilst we are developing the reformed SFI offer, other schemes will still be available. 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Initiative 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. Farm businesses with existing Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements or submitted applications will see no change to their payments due to the announced closure of SFI. Forecasts published this week suggest that at the all-farm level agri-environment scheme payments are predicted to have increased substantially in 24/25. Food security requires a long-term picture of resilience to shocks while the closure of SFI is a temporary measure, 30,000 businesses are already being supported through SFI with more in other schemes and will be for the next three years 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. This Government has recently announced a raft of new policies to help boost profits for farmers which will support continued food security. The revised capital grants will be reopened, providing access to items which boost farm productivity. We are extending the Seasonal Worker visa route for five more years, backing British produce in government catering contracts, and investing £110 million in agri-technology. A new commissioner for the tenant farming sector will be appointed, and a veterinary agreement with the EU will be sought to ease export red tape. The government will also protect farmers from low welfare trade deals and lower energy bills by connecting renewable energy to the National Grid. Other measures include a land-use framework for food security and nature recovery, a Cross-Government Rural Crime Strategy, and a British Infrastructure Council to drive private investment in rural areas. The Government is also committed to making the supply chain fairer, with upcoming reviews on the pig, egg, poultry, and fresh produce sectors.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the spend on the agriculture budget (a) so far this financial year and (b) committed for 2025-26 including (i) delinked payments, (ii) agri-environment schemes and (iii) animal health and welfare, innovation and productivity grants.

The information requested can be found publicly available here.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the funding for the new National Biosecurity Centre is being paid for out of the agricultural budget which was previously committed to go towards farmers directly as public payments for public goods.

The Government has committed to setting up a new National Biosecurity Centre to transform the Animal and Plant Health Agency animal health facility at Weybridge, investing £200 million to improve our resilience against animal disease to protect farmers and food producers. This is funded from a budget separate from the record £5 billion of funding in the farming budget for this year and next.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on meeting environmental targets for (a) species abundance and (b) improving water quality.

We have paused the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) ahead of reforming it. This is the third time SFI has been paused. We will confirm plans for the reformed SFI in the summer and we expect that scheme to contribute to these outcomes. There are also tens of thousands of farmers in SFI for three years, supporting those outcomes.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers through the agricultural transition following the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

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. Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, existing agreements will continue. 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. Whilst we are developing the reformed SFI offer, other schemes will still be available. 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, how he plans to support upland farmers who were intending to move onto the Sustainable Farming Incentive following the closure of the scheme.

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 25th 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 this summer and have published information that sets out what upland farmers can do now to prepare to apply for CSHT.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2025 to Question 29983 on Parking: Fees and Charges, whether her Department has received representations from businesses on the potential impact of implementing a parking code of practice on their operations.

My officials have regular meetings with both parking Trade Associations and representatives for motorists. Meetings with the Trade Associations are scheduled monthly, and meetings with the motorist group are quarterly. In addition to regular meetings, my officials also have ad hoc meetings with both groups dependent on the business needs. Dates for my meetings have not been confirmed. On representations on the potential impacts of implementing a Private Parking Code of Practice on businesses and operations, in 2023 the Department published a draft Private Parking Code of Practice Impact Assessment, alongside a Call for Evidence to improve the evidence base within the draft Impact Assessment. Both are available online from https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/private-parking-code-of-practice-call-for-evidence My officials have used the responses to the Call for Evidence to review previous proposals and develop new ones on which, as per my previous answer, we intend to consult shortly. A Final Impact Assessment will be published following the consultation.

If she will make the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund permanent.

An announcement on funding for the adoption and special guardianship support fund will be made as soon as possible. All future funding decisions will be considered as part of the next spending review.

Pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2025 to Question 34072 on Export Controls: Russia, if he will list every export licence granted by his Department for exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical to Russia since September 2023.

Between 1 September 2023 and 30 September 2024, the latest period covered by official statistics in development, no export licences were issued for goods for a) medicinal and pharmaceutical, b) organic chemicals, c) cars, or d) toilet and cleaning preparations to Russia. The Export Control Joint Unit publishes information on these types of export licences on a quarterly basis as part of the Strategic export controls: licensing statistics quarterly reports. This includes the number of licence outcomes (issued, refused, revoked) each quarter by licence type. The latest quarterly statistics in development publication covers licence information up to 30 September 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/strategic-export-controls-licensing-statistics-1-july-to-30-september-2024. Licensing decisions between 1 October and 31 December 2024 are planned to be published in May 2025 as part of the next quarterly statistics publication.