Written questions by Farron.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the time taken between capital grants and investment on the cash flow of farmers.

The rules applied to capital grant schemes by Defra means that payments made on capital works are made only when the works are complete and paid for by the farmer. Farmers can make multiple claims for items of a high value over a period, so farmers do not have to find the money for all of the works at the same time. The Rural Payments Agency endeavour to pay all claims within 30 working days of receipt. Any pause in funding investment by the department does not affect the cash flow of the farmer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of land managers eligible for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024.

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement. The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will list the (a) application deadlines and (b) start dates for each funding scheme for (i) farmers, (ii) growers and (iii) land managers; and the hectarage covered in each scheme.

Defra operates a page on gov.uk, “Funding for farmers, growers and land managers”. This page advises about grants and other funding currently open or opening soon, and includes links to the relevant scheme or grant webpage. Information about application deadlines for each grant is found on those webpages. We will update on plans for any further schemes following the Spending Review. Defra also operates a page on gov.uk, Area of land in agri-environment schemes. The latest data available for that page dates to 2022, and shows that in that year the total area of land in entry-level agreements was 1.4 million hectares and the total area of land in higher-level or targeted agri-environment agreements in England was 2.3 million hectares.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of land eligible for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024.

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement. The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department allocated to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024 in (a) total and (b) each year.

YearNumber of applications receivedNumber of successful applicationsFunding allocated [millions]Funding spent (to date) [millions]20153619£12.8 in total, funded under the Rural Development Programme for England£0.220165030£0.62017 (national round)4037 2017 (Northwest England flooding round)1312£0.520185538£1.620194339£0.62020 £1.82021 £0.820224541£2.25£0.9120234542£3£0.5620242418£2.5£0.88Total £20.55£8.45

Food and Rural Affairs, how long on average successful applicants for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024 have waited for agreements to be activated.

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement. The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the alignment of the timing of funding schemes for farmers with the farming calendar.

Defra will be opening the Environmental Land Management (ELM) Capital Grant scheme and the new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier offer in the Summer on a rolling application window basis. This will enable farmers to apply throughout the year, while enabling Defra to continue to monitor the situation to make sure demand doesn’t exceed the available funding. For the ELM Capital Grant scheme, farmers will be able to apply for a grant in more than one category but only submit one application per farm business Single Business Identifier (SBI) can be submitted per year. Other grants remain open, including grants for Woodland management plans, the Higher Tier Capital Grant, Capital grants plans, the Protection and Infrastructure grant, and Woodland tree health grants. We expect to publish more information about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many applicants there were for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024; and how many were successful.

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement. The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) applicants and (b) successful applicants there were to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund for each of the four application rounds since 2015.

Since 2015 there were 351 applications for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund and 276 were offered an agreement. The Rural Payment Agency does not readily hold data for each of the four application rounds since 2015 and establishing this would incur disproportionate costs.

Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department has allocated to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund in each of the four application rounds since 2015.

Since 2015, there has been £20.55 million allocated to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund. The Rural Payment Agency does not readily hold data for each of the four application rounds since 2015 and establishing this would incur disproportionate costs.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on ensuring all planning decisions will support nature and climate targets.

The Department works closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to deliver planning reforms with regular discussions on how planning can improve outcomes for nature whilst enabling the development of housing and infrastructure.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase support for farmers who make environmental contributions in the Land Use Framework.

The Government has recently launched a 12-week consultation on land use in England, which will inform the publication of a Land Use Framework later in the year. The consultation includes questions about how the government can more effectively align incentives to support farmers in providing the food and environment outcomes that the nation needs.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing the farming budget to reflect the Government’s nature and climate targets.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to hold a public consultation on the Air Quality Information System Review's conclusions and recommendations.

The Government recognizes the importance of effectively communicating air quality information to the public, which is why we conducted a comprehensive review of the Air Quality Information System (AQIS). A large evidence base has been assimilated which gives a strong foundation for taking forward solutions. The final report and accompanying evidence will be published shortly. We will not be conducting a public consultation on the recommendations of this review. They will inform air quality elements of the revised Environmental Improvement Plan and will be incorporated into a revised Air Quality Strategy in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on ensuring that the plan for growth includes protections for (a) wildlife and (b) nature.

This Government is fully committed to ensuring that development contributes to nature’s recovery and delivers a win-win for both nature and the economy. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will establish a Nature Restoration Fund. This will create a more efficient and effective way for obligations related to our most important sites and species to be discharged at a scale that brings about the greatest environmental benefits. The Autumn Budget 2024 committed £45 million in funding to support the establishment of the Fund.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of short-term land use to improve soil health and resilience to droughts and floods.

Defra currently has research programmes underway on the impact of different agricultural land management options. The Government recognises the importance of healthy, functioning soil for resilience against the impacts of climate change, such as flooding and drought. The rich variety of soils across England need to be managed with particular consideration given to the soil type, climate, land use and desired function. While these decisions are made at farm level, they need the right frameworks, incentives and conditions from Government and the wider food chain. That is why the Government is currently consulting on our vision for land use in England, which will inform the development of a Land Use Framework.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take through the Environmental Improvement Plan to consider the potential impact of air pollution on public health.

The Government has recently concluded a rapid review of the existing Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23). As you can easily see, we published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025, to be followed by publication of a revised EIP later this year. The revised EIP will include a series of interventions to reduce emissions of air pollutants so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on (a) reducing regional and (b) achieving international commitments to reduce air pollution.

The United Kingdom is playing an active role in engagement with European counterparts and other countries in reducing air pollution.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been paid to farmers to support solar projects since 2016.

The second round of the Improving Farm Productivity grant was launched under the Farming Investment Fund in January 2024 and included an offer for solar PV equipment. It is early days, but to date, over £31,000 has been paid out to farmers and horticultural businesses. The window for submitting full applications for this scheme remains open until 31 July 2025, after which Defra will continue to pay out to applicants for their projects. Successful applicants can make up to three claims once they have a Grant Funding Agreement in place but can claim as soon as parts of a project are complete. Defra’s focus is on ensuring farming becomes more profitable as the best way to make farming businesses viable for the future. This will ensure the long-term food security this country needs.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have applied for the Improving Farming Productivity Grant; how many of those applications were successful; and how much has been paid out per (a) grant category and (b) round.

The total number of full applications received for Improving Farm Productivity to-date is 413. Of those appraised, 204 have been offered a grant to the value of over £23 million, 84 applications have been rejected or withdrawn, and 125 are currently in appraisal. A total of over £11 million has been paid out from the scheme to-date across both rounds; £9.4 million from Round 1 applications, and £1.6 million from Round 2. All applications in Round 1 were for robotic equipment, whereas in Round 2 £1.5 million has been paid out for solar projects, and £31,000 for robotic and automatic equipment. We do not currently categorise applications in any greater detail. Successful applicants can make up to three claims once they have a Grant Funding Agreement in place but can claim as soon as parts of a project are completed.