On the detail of the new scheme, as I mentioned earlier, we will consult with stakeholders on how it needs to be reformed to work better for farmers and the environment. We do not want a repeat of problems for farmers, so we need to get it right. We must also look at budgets through the spending review. I cannot give specifics of when it will start up again, but we will start it up again. The current system will last for three years, so we need to look at how to get the next system in place as soon as practically possible, having taken those steps.

On the six weeks’ notice, the SFI scheme was set up as a demand-led scheme. Our aim was to allow as many farmers to join as possible before it was paused. We were not able to give any advance notice of the need to close, because we were concerned that, if we said that we would be closing it, we would suddenly have a lot of extra demand without the funding to manage that demand. I know that this is not what noble Lords want to hear, but that was the reasoning behind it. We must be able to afford to give the funding to support the applications that come in, and budget constraints are very difficult at the moment.

While we aim to give notice and are clearly aware that the website mentioned six weeks, there is no requirement in the scheme to do that. I appreciate that it did say six weeks. As part of reforming it, we want there to be much more sophisticated, effective budget controls around this. As the noble Lord mentioned, farmers need certainty. To give them certainty, we need to ensure that we can assess the scheme in such a way that we can provide that.