Aphra Brandreth MP: written questions 2025
96 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Sustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39270More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive were outstanding as of 12 March 2025; and what steps his Department is taking to process applications submitted before the s
Answer: As of the 24 March, of the applications that had been submitted for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 14,191 had received an agreement offers and 3,700 had not yet received an agreement offer.
Answered 24 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39268More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what communications his Department plans to send to farming businesses affected by changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive; and what support he plans to provide to staff in his De
Answer: A letter from Minister Zeichner was sent to all farm businesses on 12 March advising them of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applications. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will be writing to farm businesses affected shortly with mor...
Answered 25 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39267More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the ability of the Rural Payment Agency to process changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive.
Answer: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in recent years has delivered improvements to accessibility of their services, streamlined application processes and delivered improvements in the issuing of agreements and payment performance and are well placed to continu...
Answered 25 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordCountryside Stewardship SchemeDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39266More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to open the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier in summer 2025.
Answer: Defra announced on 11 December 2024 that the full Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme guidance will be published before applications open in summer 2025.
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39265More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason his Department did not provide six weeks' notice when closing the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme for new applications.
Answer: The high uptake of the scheme means it is fully subscribed. The decision to close the scheme to new applications was taken at that point. We could not give any advance notice because we needed to ensure fair access to the scheme and avoid creating a sudde...
Answered 28 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39264More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the amount of notice the National Farmers' Union was provided with before his Department announced that the Sustainable Farming Incentive
Answer: As with all demand-led schemes there comes a point when they are fully-subscribed. We ensured farmers and their representative bodies were made aware when that happened.
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: FinanceDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39262More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor agricultural spend against the budget and (b) reduce the time taken to make financial decisions.
Answer: We monitor forecasts of scheme uptake and spend against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising fr...
Answered 28 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming Incentive: ReviewsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39248More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how he plans to consult farmers on the review of the Sustainable Farming Incentive in a transparent way.
Answer: Since we launched the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in 2022 we have worked closely with the farming sector to develop and improve the offer to make sure it worked for as many different farmers and land types as possible. We will continue to do this ...
Answered 28 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39247More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will reopen the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applications.
Answer: We have closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for new applications because the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental targets. ...
Answered 28 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordFood SupplyDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39246More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) the war in Ukraine (b) the wider geopolitical situation and (c) the impact of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentiv
Answer: (a)The war in Ukraine led to rising oil, fuel and energy prices, which created inflationary pressures right across the food chain. Farmers experienced higher energy and fertiliser costs; manufacturers experienced higher production costs; and importers and...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordEnvironmental Land Management SchemesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39245More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the viability of farming businesses (a) whose government funding has reduced by 70% or more and (b) which are currently unable to apply for the (i) Susta
Answer: Whilst applications for the SFI24 scheme have closed, the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated. We have large-scale uptake of the scheme, with over 37,000 live SFI agreements which commit money for at least three years, and more than half of...
Answered 25 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39244More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated to the Sustainable Farming Incentive for the 2025-26 financial year; and for what reason new applications have been paused since 11 March 2025.
Answer: The farming blog published on Wednesday 12 March set out Defra’s spend over the next two years (24/25 and 25/26). These are not ring-fenced figures and have the potential to change. This showed that as of 11 March, £1.05 billion had been paid to farmers o...
Answered 28 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSjögren's Syndrome: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 17 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38796More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support people with Sjogrens to work and (b) implement a multi-disciplinary care system.
Answer: Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions such as Sjogren’s syndrome are a diverse group, so ...
Answered 25 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEmployment: DisabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 13 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38266More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help support people with disabilities into work.
Answer: Whoever they are and wherever they live, we want individuals to secure appropriate work as we know that work is generally good for health and overall financial well being. We must ensure that disabled people and individuals with health conditions have the...
Answered 21 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Special Guardianship Support FundDepartment for EducationTabled 13 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38260More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making the adoption and special guardianship support fund permanent.
Answer: An announcement on funding for the adoption and special guardianship support fund will be made as soon as possible. All future decisions will be considered as part of the next spending review.
Answered 21 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAgriculture and Business: Inheritance TaxTreasuryTabled 3 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35097More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which Finance Bill will contain the proposed changes to (a) Agricultural Property Relief and (b) Business Property Relief.
Answer: The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. Legislation implementing this policy will be ...
Answered 11 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordDomestic Waste: RecyclingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 12 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 31284More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of standardised access for residents of all local authorities to to Household Waste and Recycling Centres in in Strate
Answer: There are no plans to standardise access to Household Waste and Recycling Centres. Household Waste and Recycling Centres play an important role in helping people manage the waste they produce in a convenient and sustainable way. The Environmental Protecti...
Answered 24 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordCarbon Monoxide: AlarmsDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 10 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30397More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will take steps to ensure that carbon monoxide alarms are properly tested using (a) UK manufactured, (b) safe and (c) industry-approved test gas.
Answer: Carbon monoxide alarms should be properly tested before they can be placed on the UK market. British Standard EN 50291-1:2018 outlines the test methods and performance requirements of carbon monoxide alarms used in a domestic setting, and British Standard...
Answered 19 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordGaza: International AidForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 3 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28322More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of international aid that has been misappropriated by terrorist organisations in Gaza.
Answer: Aid diversion is an ongoing concern in Gaza, but we welcome reports that more aid is now entering Gaza, and looting has reduced. Israel must now continue to work with partners to ensure law and order is maintained in Gaza so that safe distribution of aid ...
Answered 12 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordGaza and West Bank: AntisemitismForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 3 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28321More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of UNRWA in removing antisemitic material from school textbooks used in (a) the West Bank and (b) Gaza.
Answer: Education is an essential component to the humanitarian response in Gaza, and critical to building the foundations for a sustainable and lasting peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people. It is therefore essential that partners delivering education ser...
Answered 12 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordFlood Control and SewersDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 25076More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 is being implemented in full; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK's d
Answer: This Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised SuDS in new developments. We believe that this can be achieved through either improving the current planning led approach using powers now available, or commencing Schedule 3 to the FWMA 2010...
Answered 28 Jan 2025
Original Parliament record
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