§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how her Department's budget for the implementation of the Commission on Food and Farming's recommendations is to be spent in each year of its duration. [148441]
§ Alun MichaelThe Government announced a sum of £500 million to implement the Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food as part of the 2002 Spending Review, in addition to existing spending by Defra and other Government Departments which is already being used to deliver aspects of the strategy.
This sum covers a number of major aspects of the strategy. These include the new Environmental Stewardship Scheme (Entry Level and Higher Level) and the IT system to underpin all the England Rural Development Programme (ERDP) schemes; improvements in livestock traceability and other major animal health and welfare measures; and new food chain initiatives such as the Food Chain Centre and English Farming and Food Partnerships.
The cost breakdown is shown in the table.
line with its "Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food". The UK has a comparative advantage in terms of climate, farm efficiency and size over many of its competitors. If the dairy supply chain can work together to maximise this potential and address some of the difficulties it faces, then there is no reason why it should not succeed.