Speeches by Reynolds.

“That is the direction of travel. We do not want to make any big changes to the schemes because, as Josh and Sarah said, you want to be able to make sure that these are accessible to smaller farmers and people who do not have the money to pay consultants. Yes, we are looking at what we can do to improve the accessibilit…”

“It will not just be the Department, obviously. We are not suggesting that we would stop doing ELMS or SFI by 2030. It is about setting a direction of travel, about trying to increase the share of the market in these things. You are right that these things are not easy and they are not often quick. However, we expect ov…”

“I am not centrally planning the agriculture economy from Whitehall, so I do not—”

“No, I am not blaming Steve.”

“We have not set a target. We would like to boost, and we can get into this, but as you will have seen, one of the first things we did in response to the Minette Batters independent farming profitability review is to set up the farming and food partnership board and take forward sector growth plans, which again is anoth…”

“I am sure. I am preaching to the converted here. We are taking that up with the—”

“What are the barriers to growth? There are lots of different barriers to growth, but a big one is planning. We discussed the issue of poultry at the second farming and food partnership board but—”

“Yes, I agree with that.”

“That remains to be seen. It is not in the diary for the moment, but we are working closely with MHCLG. By the way, I did discuss this with Steve back in December, before he launched the consultation on the NPPF, which has those permitted development rights in there, which would affect the industry’s ability, essentiall…”

“We are looking to sort it, and you are right to be impatient for change. I would like to see change happen more quickly. As Emily says, the planning barriers—”

“We can talk about the intermediate steps in a moment, but the overall vision by 2050 is that we move to a more productive, more profitable, more resilient and more sustainable farming sector, and that we have a strategic shift towards a lower input and a more nature-friendly farming system.”

“Yes, it concerns me. I do not want us to be in this position in the first place, which is why, in the new legislation we are bringing to Parliament, there will be a performance improvement regime to stop water companies falling into high levels of debt and poor performance in future. No, I would much prefer that that m…”

“You asked me this in the Chamber. We have not set—”

“Can I add something I have done recently, just to update the Committee? In addition to the Water Minister, Emma Hardy, meeting the company last week, I have also very recently—and apologies, Alistair, I need to send you copies—sent letters to South East Water and to the regulators with regard to these disruptions, sett…”

“With regard to the performance SAR, the bar is high; it has not been used before. We have received representations that the criteria perhaps should be clearer, and that is something that we will keep under review. I do take the point you are making, but whatever the Government do with regard to any water company, we ha…”

“I have answered. It may not have been the answer that you wanted, but I did answer that we have not set out a target. As you know, I take exception not with your use of the 0.6% figure but with its use by others who underestimate the importance of farming. Taking agriculture on its own, without thinking about the entir…”

“You are being unfair.”

“There are other aspects of the Climate Change Committee report that we are looking at. We are also looking at different solutions to the problem that you are outlining. With regard to cows, obviously the big problem is methane, and there are other things you can do rather than reduce the numbers.”

“I understand it is a difficult market, and there are many factors beyond the Government’s control—the global price of beef, for example. I cannot sit here and tell a beef farmer what to do in precise numbers in the next five years because it will also depend on what happens in the global market.”

“We definitely want to see fairer supply chains. I will come to your question, but first it is worth putting on the record, Chair—I think the Committee knows this—that we brought the Groceries Code Adjudicator from DBT into DEFRA last week, which we think is a very good thing to do, and we are looking at what more we ca…”