Pulse.Assent

The Government has announced a review to deliver fair funding for farmers in all four parts of the UK when we leave the EU.

The Secretary of State announced today that an independent advisory panel will look at what factors should determine the distribution of agriculture funding between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in this Parliament.

This will consider each country’s individual circumstances, including environmental, agricultural and socio-economic factors. Farm numbers and farm sizes will also be taken into account to make sure all parts of the UK are treated fairly.

The review, led by Lord Bew of Donegore, will provide recommendations for how the annual amount of convergence funding is fairly split between the four countries in the remainder of this Parliament once the UK has left the Common Agricultural Policy. It will be informed by previous allocations but will not revisit these decisions or redistribute money that has already been committed.

Lord Bew was Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life for five years and has contributed to a number of Bills, reviews and reports since his appointment as a non-party-political peer by the independent House of Lords Appointments Commission in February 2007. He will be joined on the panel by representatives from each devolved administration to ensure that their voices are heard.

The government is also committing that it will not simply apply the Barnett formula to changes in Defra funding beyond this Parliament. This means that farmers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will not just be allocated funding according to the population size of each nation, which are in each case significantly smaller than England.

The Government has already confirmed that overall funding for UK farm support will be protected in cash terms to the end of the Parliament in 2022, providing more certainty than any other EU member state.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

This important review, led by Lord Bew, will explore how we can deliver funding for farmers that supports the individual needs of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We are committed to making sure that future funding is fairly allocated, and are also confirming that the Government won’t simply apply the Barnett formula to Defra’s funding beyond this parliament.

Meanwhile our funding commitment up until the end of the Parliament gives more certainty for UK farmers than any other EU member state.
Lord Bew said:

“I’m very pleased to be chairing this review to explore an issue that is important to so many in the agriculture sector. I am anxious to consult widely and I look forward to getting started as soon as my fellow panel members have been appointed.”

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

This review will establish fair funding arrangements for our vital Welsh farming industry. With the UK Government committing to do away with a Barnett model for agricultural funding, farmers in every part of Wales can look forward to greater future financial protection.

Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell said:

The UK Government is committed to delivering fair funding for farmers and has already guaranteed the same cash total for farm support in all parts of the UK until 2022. This review is an opportunity to ensure the challenges Scotland’s unique landscape brings are fully recognised in future farm support allocations.

Under the present arrangements, Scotland receives twice as much money for farming support than might be expected were the Barnett formula alone to be used. The commitment that future agriculture funding will not simply be Barnettised should be welcomed across the board.

This reinforces our commitment to Scottish farmers and I urge the Scottish Government to stop keeping them in the dark about its plans for the future of agriculture in Scotland.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, said:

The farming industry is one of Northern Ireland’s most significant employers, making a vital contribution to economic growth.

We welcome this important review into ensuring a fair allocation of funding for farmers across Northern Ireland and the whole of the United Kingdom.

The review will conclude prior to the 2019 Spending Review with the aim of informing future funding decisions. The Terms of Reference can be read in full on gov.uk.

The UK is providing a major new UK aid package to help screen, prevent and tackle malnutrition in Yemen, Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt announced today.

The UN estimates that 17.8 million people do not have reliable access to food across Yemen, including 1.8 million children who are acutely malnourished.

Today’s UK aid package will screen 2.2 million children under the age of five for malnutrition and provide urgent treatment for 70,000 of the most vulnerable children.

UK aid will also:

• provide treatment to 3.2 million children suffering from childhood illnesses such as pneumonia, measles and chickenpox;
• enable 818,000 people to access water and sanitation which will help to prevent diseases from spreading; and
  help to prevent anaemia in 500,000 children by supporting iron and folic acid supplementation (nearly 90% of under-fives in Yemen are anaemic);
• scale up mobile health teams to provide care to the most vulnerable that might otherwise be unable to access health services.

Speaking on UN World Food Day, Minister Burt said:

The UK is extremely concerned at the deepening humanitarian crisis in Yemen, including recent reports of the growing risk of famine to millions of Yemenis who do not know where their next meal is coming from.

Children are suffering the most and are 12 times more likely to die from diseases. Today’s UK aid package will help identify cases of malnourishment earlier and provide life-saving care for those most in need.

We continue to call on all parties to this conflict to support the UN Special Envoy’s peace talks to find a political solution, which is the only way to bring the humanitarian crisis to an end.

UK aid is also supporting the World Food Programme (WFP) to support over 800,000 Yemenis with food vouchers for one month.

The UK has been at the forefront of the humanitarian response to the Yemeni crisis. It has consistently been one of the largest donors to the crisis and has helped secure vital access for food, fuel and medicine.

Last year UK aid support to UNICEF helped to successfully treat over 166,000 children for severe acute malnutrition and 1.4 million children for common illnesses.

Meritxell Relaño, UNICEF Representative in Yemen, said:

The United Kingdom, through its Department for International Development (DFID), is a key partner of UNICEF work in Yemen. Since 2016, DFID, along with other donors, has supported the humanitarian response in Yemen, particularly in the health and nutrition sectors, providing rapid response to disease outbreaks and helping vulnerable children and their mothers to access food.

Just yesterday, the United Nations warned that 13 million people in Yemen are on the brink of famine.

This renewed commitment from DFID comes at a time when we need support from our partners more than ever, to provide more than 2.5 million malnourished children with the urgent assistance they need to survive.

 Notes to editors

• Today’s UK aid package of a £96.5 million programme will fund UNICEF to tackle malnutrition in Yemen over three years. This is a multi-year commitment, and some of today’s funding is from the £170 million announced on 3 April 2018 in response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen for this financial year (2018/2019).
• The £170 million UK funding announced in April 2018 brought the total UK bilateral support to Yemen to over £570 million since the conflict began in 2015.
• As well as supporting the frontline delivery of medical care and assistance, UK aid will also strengthen health systems in Yemen by providing expertise to public health authorities to improve policies and strengthen the monitoring of malnutrition to enable officials to make better-informed decisions.
• Minister Burt chaired a side-event at the United Nations General Assembly last month to issue a Call to Action to the UN, NGOs and donors to tackle malnutrition in Yemen more comprehensively.