Former Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby
One has only to look over the hedges of eastern England to agree with those who are predicting the worst harvest in living memory. What assessment has the Secretary of State made of the impact that will have on the wider rural economy—in particular, the availability and price of straw, which is vital for the livestock sector, and important commodities such as potatoes, which are likely to...
Obviously, as part of the European Union and the single market, we could not impose checks to ensure that diseases such as African swine fever did not come into the country. The Minister has said that there will be a graduated approach to the introduction of the checks. What is the timescale for ramping them up to a level that he believes will be satisfactory? If consignments are diverted to...
I thank the Minister for giving way. We have talked a lot about fines and penalties, but could he advise me whether the court has the power to direct compensation to be paid to the farmers? In many of these cases, the value of livestock is much greater than any fine that can be levied. Of course, the farmer does not get access to the fine money, but they may well need compensation for their...
rose—
It is a great pleasure to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Philip Dunne), who chairs the Environmental Audit Committee, on which I served for some time. I was pleased that he referred to my Committee’s report on soil health and spoke about baselines on where we are with our soils. A lot of soil testing work has been done in Northern Ireland. As we have heard, although...
What recent assessment he has made of UK food security.
Does the Minister share my concerns that a perfect storm may be brewing? With grain prices on the floor, a third of the wheat crop either not being drilled or flooded out, and rape being increasingly difficult to establish, some of the long-term, multi-annual stewardship options are becoming increasingly attractive. And that is not to mention those idiots in Wales taking 20% of land out of...
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on the proportion of applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive made in the last 12 months in which more than (a) 25%, (b) 50% and (c) 75% of the applicant's holding was focused on uses other than food production.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of land covered by applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive was tenanted farmland in the 2023-24 financial year.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on the proportion of land covered in applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive in the last 12 months which is focused on uses other than food production.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many submissions to the second hydrogen allocation round her Department received by 19 April 2024; what the total production capacity of the projects in those submissions is; and if she will provide a breakdown of the locations of those projects by region.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the support available for the biopesticide industry.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to help reduce the transition costs for farmers moving to regenerative agricultural methods.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of regenerative agriculture on achieving the Government's climate goals while increasing UK food security; and whether her Department is taking steps to increase the adoption of regenerative farming practices.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any of the zero emission buses funded by the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (a) are and (b) will be manufactured outside the UK.
