Tabled by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by on 27 May (HL Deb, col. 1097),
when they will publish details of how new Environmental Land
Management schemes will deliver the “very clear access
commitment, backed by funding”, to which the Minister referred.
(LD)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in the name of
my noble friend, and at her request.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs () (Con)
My Lords, I declare my farming interests as set out in the
register. The Government remain committed to investing in access.
On 2 December the Secretary of State confirmed that we will
“continue to pay for heritage, access and engagement through our
existing schemes and we will consider how to maintain investment
in these areas as part of future schemes”.—[Official Report,
Commons, 2/12/21; col. 40WS.]
This includes environmental land management schemes. Our ongoing
commitment is visible through other funds, including the nature
for climate fund and the farming and protected landscapes
programme, among others.
(LD)
I thank the Minister for that reply. Does he agree that unless
you have effective co-ordination between making more footpaths
and greater access to the countryside available within the
existing structure, and things like public transport, you are
going to underutilise any possible benefit? Would the Minister
cast his eye over one of the recommendations made in the report
entitled A national plan for sport, health and wellbeing? I was a
member of the committee that produced it, and in it we suggest
that the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities—not a very
snappy title—should undertake this work to make sure there is a
cross-government approach.
(Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right: we can provide all the
footpaths and access we want, but it is about getting people out
there to use them and demystifying the natural environment for
some people. I was interested in that report, as it produced the
rather worrying finding that physical activity levels in the UK
have significantly declined, in part as a result of Covid. Much
more can be done to join this up and it is absolutely a job
across government, not just for one department.
(Con)
My Lords, may I raise access of a different kind, in connection
with the ELMS: access for tenants and how we can encourage and
incentivise longer tenancy agreements? Will the Minister use his
good offices to interact with the Treasury to ensure that the tax
changes needed for this purpose can be made in time, before the
ELMS come into effect?
(Con)
I thank my noble friend. There are ongoing discussions with the
Treasury on a variety of different aspects of agricultural
transition and reform, not least our exit scheme. But we also
want to encourage a length of tenure which encourages people to
invest in a wide variety of different activities in the
countryside, including access.
My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Rural
Coalition. Can the Minister confirm that the funds allocated for
the implementation of the Glover review are totally separate from
the funds allocated for ELMS?
(Con)
The right reverend Prelate raises a very good point. For example,
we have put some money into the farming in protected landscapes
scheme, which many different access groups are using to work with
farmers and organisations like national parks and AONBs to get
greater access. We absolutely intend that these are part of the
environmental land management schemes, but that other funding
streams can be accessed as well.
of Hardington Mandeville
(LD)
My Lords, on 2 December the Minister wrote to your Lordships
giving an update on the transition from CAP. The annexe indicated
that 70 applications have been received for trials on landscape
recovery. Could the Minister give an update on how these are
going and whether any include access to the countryside?
(Con)
A wide variety of different activities are being looked at as
part of the tests and trials. Our announcement on local nature
recovery and landscape recovery will be made next year. We are
working with the test-and-trials farmers and land managers to
ensure that access is part of this, as well as the very important
work we need to do to reverse the declines in species.
(Lab Co-op)
In reply to an earlier question, the Minister used the phrase
“ongoing discussions with the Treasury”, a phrase beloved by
civil servants and Ministers. Can the Minister tell us when he
expects these ongoing discussions to be concluded, and how they
are going to be reported to Parliament?
(Con)
I shall certainly keep the House informed about this. My
discussions with the Treasury are very fruitful in this area. The
noble Lord seems sceptical of that, perhaps, but I assure him
that there is a cross-government intention to provide better
security for farmers in future and that schemes such as our exit
scheme have the right tax framework to make them a good
incentive—but also that the other aspects that we are talking
about here, such as access and getting more people out in the
countryside, are understood. The work that I have been doing with
my noble friend has been really important in
trying to make sure that we get more people into the countryside.
(Con)
My Lords, I refer the House to my minimal interests in
agriculture. Does my noble friend not think that there is an
inevitable conflict between rewilding and public access, because
nobody actually wants to walk through countryside that is covered
in stinging nettles and brambles?
(Con)
I am not sure that I agree with my noble friend. What people want
in our countryside is variety. Rewilding Britain, the charity
promoting rewilding, has an ambition of 5% of the UK to be
rewilded by the end of this century, which seems a perfectly
achievable figure. The work that we have to do in the farmed
environment, as well, is really important —so I do not think that
he can make a sweeping statement like that.
of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, as the Minister knows, financial support for improving
public access to the countryside is a key commitment of the new
regime in the Agriculture Act. I would be interested to hear his
response to the many rambling and walking groups that are
expressing anger and frustration at the moment that the
department is not prioritising access to the countryside.
(Con)
I was disappointed by the response of the Ramblers Association,
an organisation for which I have a great regard. As set out in a
Written Ministerial Statement of 2 December:
“We will also continue to pay for heritage, access and engagement
through our existing schemes and we will consider how to maintain
investment in these areas as part of future schemes.”—[Official
Report, Commons, 2/12/21; col. 437WS.]
What we were talking about was the sustainable farming incentive,
which is only one of three schemes. Of course, there are many
other examples, such as the £500 million nature for climate fund
and the £124 million announced for the net-zero community
forests. I could go on, but I would incur the wrath of the House
if I did.
Lord McLoughlin (Con)
My Lords, the Minister has just raised a number of schemes
available to the public. I welcome the Government’s general
direction but will my noble friend be careful to ensure that they
do not overcomplicate those schemes and make them too complicated
for people to have access to them?
(Con)
My noble friend is absolutely right. One reason why we have done
this iterative process, with tests and trials and piloting these
different schemes, is because we want to make sure that they are
brought in in as effective a way as possible. We have already
reduced, with the sustainable farming incentive, the amount of
guidance to make it as simple and clear as possible. Farmers
should not be paying land agents huge amounts of money to do
those schemes; they can do it themselves.
(Con)
My Lords, in this season of good will, should we not congratulate
my noble friend the Minister on his wonderful passion for the
countryside and express the hope that he is able in the new year
to extend that passion ever more widely?
(Con)
I do not know what I can say in answer to such a generous
question, expect to say a very happy Christmas to my noble friend
and everybody else.
