To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Investor Partnerships programme at increasing the commercialisation of agricultural technologies.

The Farming Innovation Investor Partnerships programme, launched on 2 June, builds on a pilot round where recipient companies were awarded over £4 million in grant funding that leveraged more than £10 million in private investment. Most of the companies involved now have commercially available products, and have unlocked additional private funding.