Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 3
Second Report - Environmental Land Management and the agricultural transition
Published 28 Oct 2021
Paragraph 30
Addressed to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Environmental Land Management and the agricultural transition All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Defra has put insufficient emphasis and care into managing the process of transition itself, and there is a risk that this will be a haphazard process leading to unintended consequences. Ministers’ absolute determination to press ahead with the timescale for phasing out direct payments and introducing ELM, even when confronted with significant disruption across Government and the economy, also suggests an unwillingness to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. We would expect that this contingency planning should already be taking place, and we note that Defra officials have previously asked for a delay to the pilot due to delivery concerns. After years of delay and uncertainty, time is now short, and Defra must do more to give us confidence that it will take account of changing circumstances as the agricultural transition proceeds. Defra should commit to regularly reviewing its plan for the agricultural transition and to developing contingency plans, including plans to provide for greater flexibility in the phasing out of direct payments. These reviews should draw on a comprehensive assessment of the impact of Defra’s policies. Defra should implement its contingency plans if it becomes necessary to ensure continued farm viability.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Second Report - Environmental Land Management and the agricultural transition (HC 78), paragraph 30, 28 October 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 January 2022 (deadline 28 December 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's report and says it "strongly agrees" that the agricultural transition must work for farmers and contribute to environmental objectives, while declining some specific recommendations.
- On the phasing out of Direct Payments, the Government says it is "not planning to change the profile of Direct Payments reductions", stating that suggesting otherwise would create "unnecessary and unhelpful uncertainty".
- On the budget, it will honour the £2.4 billion annual commitment to 2024/25 but is "unable to commit" beyond that, as future budgets will be decided by future governments.
- On engagement, it agrees it "can and should do more" to explain how engagement has informed scheme design, and plans to increase engagement activity in 2022.
- On whole-farm standards, it does not mandate entering whole farms into the Sustainable Farming Incentive, citing challenges, but is "continuing to investigate" land management plans through the pilot.