§ Mrs. Ann CampbellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to encourage farmers, conservationists and local authorities to work together on land management. [32425]
§ Mr. BoswellThe Ministry has recently established new consultation arrangements to bring together key farming, conservation and local authority interests to work with us in developing our programme of agri-environment schemes. These include. the National Agri-Environment Forum, the first meeting of which I chaired in March, which includes representatives from around 25 major national bodies. We have also established regional agri-environment consultation groups in each of the nine MAFF regions. These groups bring together local farming, conservation and Government bodies to ensure that schemes are responsive to local and regional needs.