Yesterday, Rt Hon Mark Spencer MP, Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries and Janet Hughes, Programme Director, Future Farming and Countryside Programme appeared before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
The session was part of a committee inquiry into the rollout of the new environmental land management schemes.
Questions from members were wide-ranging and addressed:
- government's plans for designing and rolling out the schemes
- progress in delivery, and the timelines for future delivery
- the numbers of people signing up to environmental schemes
- the approach to setting payment rates paid to farmers through schemes
- how the schemes will deliver the intended outcomes