PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Environmental Land Management Schemes - 12 September 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

I echo the good wishes of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to your chaplain, Mr Speaker, and to Terry, who have nourished us in mind, body and spirit.

I congratulate the hon. Lady on her election to the House. This Labour Government are fully committed to environmental land management schemes. We will optimise the schemes so that they produce the right outcomes for all farmers, including small, grassland, upland and tenant farmers who have been too often ignored, while delivering food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable way.

On a visit to a local farm this summer with the National Farmers Union, it was raised with me that some farmers are not signing up for one of the Government’s sustainable farming initiatives, because they fear being locked in when a better deal may be just around the corner. If we want farmers to farm more sustainably, we need to ensure that they are getting the support they need to do so. With that in mind, will the Minister clarify whether farmers who sign up for an SFI will be able to transition to an alternative one, and if not, whether the rules will be reviewed so that they can do so?

I believe a cow was very interested in the hon. Lady’s coat on one of her recent visits—I hope both the cow and the coat have recovered.

We encourage all farmers to apply for the sustainable farm initiative, and we are actively looking at how we can achieve stability going forward.

I call the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee.

It is a great pleasure to see my hon. and right hon. Friends in their places on the Front Bench.

The environmental land management scheme approach was a really innovative idea from the previous Government, but its implementation has been a shambles and it is leaving far too many farmers desperately worried about their future. Can my hon. Friend tell me any more about what the Government have inherited and the urgent steps that they will take to support Britain’s farmers to farm in a more natural way in the future?

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his election to Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee—obviously the finest Committee in Parliament, of which I have very fond memories. He is right, and he will know that this Labour Government are addressing the £22 billion hole in the public finances. No decisions on the farming budget have been taken. Spending on the Department’s priorities will be confirmed as part of the spending review, but we will not be overturning the apple cart and we are fully committed to environmental land management schemes.

I call the Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Arguably, and in the view of some of us, ours is the finest Select Committee in the House.

The problems with the uptake of ELMS have been at the heart of a significant departmental underspend. No fair-minded individual would blame the current Government for that, but if that money disappears back into the Treasury, never to be seen again on farms, that blame will be attached to the current Government. In opposition, they said that any underspend should be rolled over into future years. Is that still their position in government, and how will they do it?

I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his election to the second best Committee in the House of Commons. We will have to sort that out outside.

There was about a £350 million underspend in the farm budget under the previous Government, who failed on their manifesto pledge to spend £2.4 billion a year on farmers. We are looking at everything as part of the spending review and decisions will be announced in due course.

In my constituency we are about to hold regular water quality summits, alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Southend East and Rochford (Mr Alaba), with the water company, Ofwat, the local council, the Environment Agency and, most importantly, residents, with the aim of ending the scourge of sewage dumping. Does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State agree with me that this is a good local model and a good blueprint to be used nationally, and would he like to join us at an upcoming meeting?

I cannot speak for the Secretary of State, but I am sure that all Ministers will fight over any invitation to visit my hon. Friend’s gorgeous constituency. We are announcing a review into water. I urge him to participate and feed into that review. The sort of innovative model that brings partners together is certainly one we will be looking at.