§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the viability and number of farm business tenancies. [118962]
§ Alun MichaelThe Government believes that the tenanted sector has an important role to play in developing a sustainable and diverse future for the8W farming industry. Many Farm Business Tenancies are too short to provide the security a tenant needs to develop and diversify their businesses. That is why the Government asked the Tenancy Reform Industry Group to put forward proposals for tenancy reform. The Tenancy Reform Industry Group has reached an industry consensus on these issues and its report to Government was published on 3 June. We have welcomed the report and will be considering the Tenancy Reform Industry Group recommendations carefully.
The June Agricultural Census shows that there were just over 12,300 Farm Business Tenancies in England at June 2002. The recently published results of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers' Annual Tenanted Farms Survey for 2002 shows that in England and Wales some 18,200 hectares of previously un-let land have been let on Farm Business Tenancies. After taking account of losses of let land during the survey period there has been a net gain to the tenanted sector of some 10,500 hectares. The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers' survey also shows that the average length of a Farm Business Tenancy is just under 4 years and that some 80 per cent. of lets involve bare land.