Written questions by Heylings.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to open environmental schemes to increased numbers of farmers.

This Government has 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. Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements. 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. SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector. 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.

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

This Government has 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. Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements. 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. SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector. 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to support farmers following the ending of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

This Government has 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. Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements. 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. SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector. 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to provide financial support to upland farmers, in the context of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive 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 25 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 (CSHT) this summer and have published information that sets out what upland farmers can do now to prepare to apply for CSHT.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with local authorities to maximise the recycling of household waste.

Waste is a devolved policy area. The upcoming Simpler Recycling reforms in England will ensure that people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school - to make recycling easier and improve recycling rates. Defra has previously consulted local authorities and other key stakeholders on these reforms, and we continue to engage through regular forums and newsletters. Defra has established a joint sounding board with the Local Government Association to support policy development and implementation for local authorities. Furthermore, the Minister for Nature recently held a roundtable with local authorities to discuss our work on the Circular Economy including Simpler Recycling.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase the use of nature-based solutions to help tackle climate change.

The Government is supporting farmers to implement nature-based farming practices through a range of measures. These include habitat restoration and creation; activities to reduce the impact of invasive non-native species on sites or to address pressures on sensitive areas; improvements in water storage and management; and changes to limit emissions while maintaining agricultural profitability and increasing productivity. These measures will be delivered through our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. We now have more than half of farmers in an ELM scheme, putting us on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector. In the October 2024 budget, we committed £5 billion for farming over two years, including £1.8 billion for our ELM schemes - the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history. Trees and peat are at the forefront of our plans to reduce emissions. We are working towards our Environment Act targets to reach 16.5% tree canopy cover in England by 2050. We have pledged up to £400 million for tree planting and peatland restoration over the current and next financial year. We also recognise the potential to scale up private investment for carbon and nature projects. Learning from the success of the established UK Woodland Carbon Code and UK Peatland Code, the government is funding the British Standards Institution to build a more comprehensive framework of UK Nature Investment Standards. This includes a UK Natural Carbon Standard, which will be available to support the development of high integrity investment schemes for nature recovery and sustainable farming projects around the UK. As announced in November 2024 at COP29 in Baku, the government is committed to delivering confidence in the integrity of these growing markets and will consult on further potential measures later this year.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking legislative steps to introduce a land use framework.

The Government plans to take action toward realising a Land Use Framework in the first year of its time in power.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including a digital option in the UK’s deposit return scheme to enable consumers to recycle their in-scope containers from home

Through our regular industry engagement and international learnings from other schemes, there has been a broad consensus that a return to retail approach is the most effective way to launch a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers across the UK...

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of introducing a return-to-retail deposit return scheme on local council revenue streams.

Through our regular industry engagement and international learnings from other schemes, there has been a broad consensus that a return to retail approach is the most effective way to launch a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers across the UK...

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward his planned implementation of the (a) packaging and (b) other aspects of the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme.

This Government is committed to creating a circular economy that: uses our resources as efficiently and productively as possible, minimises environmental impacts, accelerates our progress on Net Zero, supports economic growth, and creates new jobs. The dr...

Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on the National Air Control Programme.

No decisions have yet been taken in respect of the National Air Pollution Control Plan or any replacement. In line with our statutory obligations we will continue to publish data setting out whether the UK has achieved its emission targets and whether it ...

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the outputs of the Air Quality Common Framework emissions reduction sub-group.

The Air Quality Common Framework emissions reduction sub-group is a working level meeting between officials in the UK Governments. We will consider further whether any additional information regarding emissions policies under consideration should be publi...