MPs challenge Defra minister over SFI funding claims

Claims made by Defra that it had to close the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2024 scheme because it had run out of money have been called into question by MPs in the House of Commons. 

When the government announced it was suspending SFI 2024 on Tuesday (11 March) with immediate effect, it portrayed the scheme as a victim of its own success, saying that with 37,000 multi-year live agreements, the budgetary cap had been reached.

Following complaints about the lack of transparency, Defra then published figures on Wednesday (12 March) showing that £1.05bn had been set aside for SFI for 2024-25 and 2025-26, out of a two-year budget of £5bn for farm support in England.

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But Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee chairman Alistair Carmichael said the figures presented were “inadequate and do not tell the whole story”.

Speaking in a House of Commons debate on the future of farming on Thursday (13 March), he explained that, just two months ago, senior Defra officials had told his committee there were just 11,000 applications in the pipeline and 7,000 contracts.

The permanent secretary at Defra had said “there may come a point when the budget comes under pressure and we have to consider taking action”, but had indicated that future funding “would depend on the spending review”, which is expected in June.

This week’s Defra statement of a £1.05bn allocation for SFI over two years was the first time any such figure had been put in the public domain, said Mr Carmichael.

“Without that transparency, how on earth can farmers possibly know when money will be running down, and when they should be getting their applications in?” he asked.

Mr Carmichael added that small family farms and upland farms would be left behind, and accused Defra of “making it up as you go along”.

Clarity 

Shadow Defra secretary Victoria Atkins also demanded more clarity on the government’s accounting.

She pointed out that the Defra budget for 2024-25 had actually been set by the previous Conservative government, “including the £300m that was rolled over from the previous year”.

Ms Atkins demanded confirmation from Defra farm minister Daniel Zeichner that the 2025-26 budget would not be slashed by Labour following the upcoming spending review.

“If he can’t confirm that, then these figures are meaningless as it could be removed at a stroke by the chancellor,” she said.

Ms Atkins also pressed the minister for the exact figure of what had been spent on the SFI in 2024-25, and what the cap was that had led him to pull the plug on the scheme so abruptly.

Mr Zeichner was unable or unwilling to provide an exact figure, saying only that Labour had been more transparent that the previous government when it came to Defra spending.

“What we do over multiple years is we have to monitor it very closely,” he said. 

“What we cannot do and will not do is play fast and loose with the nation’s finances.”