Speeches by Dollimore.

“You have expressed some concerns that with these changes there might be a smaller pool of land available for tenant farmers. Who do you see buying up that land instead? Would it be other landlords who would then lease the land?”

“I am conscious of time, and given the discussion so far, I am going to combine the questions. I would like to begin by echoing my colleagues’ comments, to place on record our thanks to the farming community, the hard work that everybody in the rural community does day in, day out to put food on our table. We really app…”

“High net worth individuals for example.”

“So why would they be paying APR?”

“Would that not be, on the previous discussion, about institutions that do not die holding much of that land?”

“We know from the evidence Arun has submitted that 56% of those qualifying for APR under the current regime had not received any income from farming in the last five years. Do you think that reflects very wealthy individuals who are not genuinely farming and paying for very expensive legal advice in order to take advant…”

“Just to touch on those points, Stuart you mentioned expensive legal advice that people might be taking. I will not ask you what your hourly rate is.”

“David, Arun, any reflections on that?”

“Jeremy, you also mentioned that the changes we are talking about today have not impacted those institutions that do not die. I was quite surprised when speaking to local farmers to learn that a lot of farmland in my constituency in Hastings and Rye is owned by an Oxford college: All Souls College. I understand this is …”

“Does that happen often in your experience, Jeremy?”

“The land is genuinely being farmed. Yes, that is clear.”

“I am hearing from you that when various different claims have been bandied around about a percentage that may or may not be affected by these changes, some have rebutted those figures by saying that those who are not impacted are those people with pony paddocks or whatever, but what I am hearing from the panel is that …”

“I just want to bottom out this point that has been touched upon around pony paddocks and whether there is a bit of a myth around that at present. Colleagues have referenced that perhaps if somebody had a house, two fields and some ponies, they might currently be on the list of people benefiting from APR. Can the panel …”

“Just finally, you did not touch on energy prices and the impact they have had. Has that been a big issue?”

“Parents, teachers and students in my constituency were horrified to find out that the University of Brighton Academies Trust has been taking a whopping 20% of the Government grant meant for our local schools and education. What is the Minister doing to resolve these issues and make sure that every child in Hastings and…”

“rose—”

“My colleague on the Select Committee has great expertise on the farming industry. He will therefore know that, for the last 14 years, the record of his party in government has been one of failure for our farming industry, with 12,000 farms closing since 2010 and energy bills skyrocketing because the Conservative party …”

“The right hon. Lady talks about the figures. Does she accept that her Government’s record was one of leaving £300 million of the farming budget unspent in the Treasury coffers, not helping farmers?”

“Yes. Then looking at the wider system issues around water interruptions, how are you working to make sure that we do not have incidents like this happening again? If I take the most recent incident of which I have the most experience, that was due to a pipe that had been identified by Southern Water for repair in 2007.…”

“I am pleased to hear you can look at it where there is a complaint, because the leader of my council wrote to you in August regarding this incident and the lack of compensation. We would be grateful if you could look into that incident. We have not yet had a reply on that matter. Residents have not been compensated, th…”