Farming Subsidies in York Outer Constituency
Dear Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I would like to request the following information:
1. The levels of farming subsidy in York Outer Constituency in the period January 2020 to January 2024
2. The extent to which fluctuating seed/feed prices have adversely affected profit margins in farms in City of York Constituency in the period January 2020 to January 2024
I would like you to provide this information in the following format:
A single .pdf document.
Please do not hesitate to contact me on [your phone number or email] should any aspect of my request require clarification.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Owain Gardner
Dear Dr Owain Gardner
Thank you for your email which we received on 9 January 2024.
For the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs) Defra and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) are the same legal entity.
We can inform you that the RPA will be responding to your request directly.
Should you wish to contact them please email [email address]
Kind regards
Marie Davies
Information Rights Team
11 January 2024
Our ref: RFI 6798
Dear Dr Owain Gardner,
Environmental Information Regulations – Advice & Assistance
Thank you for your request for information on 09 January 2024, which is
being considered under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
(EIR).
The information requested is considered ‘environmental information’ as it
meets the definition set out in regulation 2(1)(c) of the EIR. This covers
“measures (including administrative measures), such as policies,
legislation, plans, programmes, environmental agreements, and activities
affecting or likely to affect the elements and factors referred to in
[2(1)] (a) and (b)” including water, soil, land and landscape “as well as
measures or activities designed to protect those elements”. As such it
must be considered for disclosure under the terms of the EIR rather than
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
You have asked for.
The levels of farming subsidy in York Outer Constituency in the period
January 2020 to January 2024
The extent to which fluctuating seed/feed prices have adversely affected
profit margins in farms in City of York Constituency in the period January
2020 to January 2024
From our preliminary assessment, it is clear that we will not be able to
answer your request without further clarification. Regulation 9 of EIR
requires public authorities to provide advice and assistance to applicants
where reasonable.
What you need to do
In order to refine our searches and consider what recorded information is
relevant to your request, please can you provide clarity on what is meant
by ‘levels of farming subsidy’ at question one. Do you mean the total
monetary value of claims submitted in the York Outer Constituency or the
number of claimants within the York Outer Constituency?
Once we have received the above information, we will be able to proceed
with your request and advise whether we can provide the information.
Please note that the 20-working day timescale for responding to your
request will commence from the date that we receive the clarification.
If you need further information
If you have any questions about this email, you can contact us by email
[1][email address].
You can find more information on how we handle personal data in our
[2]Personal Information Charter and [3]RPA Customer Privacy notices on
[4]GOV.UK
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Team
Rural Payments Agency | Eden Bridge House | Lowther Street | Carlisle |
CA3 8DX
Tel: 03300 416502 | Email: [5][email address]
Follow us on Twitter @Ruralpay
About this email
This email has been sent to you because the email address has been
provided to us. If you no longer wish to be contacted electronically,
please let us know. If you have done this recently, please allow for this
to take effect.
Security
Please be on your guard against emails that request any of your security
details. We will never ask you by email to enter (or record) these
details. If you receive an email like this, you should not respond.
Legal
This email message is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If
the message is received by anyone other than the addressee, please delete
it from your computer.
The Rural Payments Agency does not accept responsibility for changes made
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While all reasonable care has been taken to avoid the transmission of
viruses, it is your responsibility to ensure that onward transmission,
opening or use of this message and any attachments will not adversely
affect your systems or data. No responsibility is accepted by the Rural
Payments Agency in this regard, and you should carry out appropriate virus
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References
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2. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rpa-privacy-...
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5. mailto:[email address]
Dear Information Rights Team, RPA,
Many thanks for your reply of 11 January 2024.
I can confirm that I am seeking details of the following:
1) The total monetary value of claims submitted in the York Outer Constituency and how this has changed year on year since in the period January 2019 to January 2024
2) The number of claimants within the York Outer Constituency and how these numbers have changed year on year in the period January 2019 to January 2024
3) How rising seed/feed prices have affected 1 and 2 in the period January 2019 to January 2024
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Owain Gardner
17 January 2024
Our ref: RFI 6801
Dear Dr Owain Gardner,
Environmental Information Regulations – acknowledgement
Thank you for your email on 12 January 2024, in response to our email of
11 January 2024 regarding your request for information with the reference
RFI 6798. Your request is being considered under the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).
You have requested
1) The total monetary value of claims submitted in the York Outer
Constituency and how this has changed year on year since in the period
January 2019 to January 2024
2) The number of claimants within the York Outer Constituency and how
these numbers have changed year on year in the period January 2019 to
January 2024
3) How rising seed/feed prices have affected 1 and 2 in the period January
2019 to January 2024
We have interpreted ‘claims’ to mean all land-based schemes and grants
administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). If this is incorrect,
please advise of the schemes/grants which are of interest to you.
Details of current land based funding for farmers, growers and land
managers administered by the RPA are included in the information published
on GOV.UK at the links below:
[1]Funding for farmers, growers and land managers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[2]Environmental Stewardship: guidance and forms for agreement holders -
GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The RPA also administered the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), which ended
after the 2023 scheme year. More details about BPS are published on GOV.UK
at the link below:
[3]Basic Payment Scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We normally expect to respond to requests within 20 working days.
If you need further information
If you have any questions about this email, you can contact us by email
[4][email address].
You can find more information on how we handle personal data in our
[5]Personal Information Charter and [6]RPA Customer Privacy notices on
[7]GOV.UK
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Team
Rural Payments Agency | Eden Bridge House | Lowther Street | Carlisle |
CA3 8DX
Tel: 03300 416502 | Email: [8][email address]
Follow us on Twitter @Ruralpay
About this email
This email has been sent to you because the email address has been
provided to us. If you no longer wish to be contacted electronically,
please let us know. If you have done this recently, please allow for this
to take effect.
Security
Please be on your guard against emails that request any of your security
details. We will never ask you by email to enter (or record) these
details. If you receive an email like this, you should not respond.
Legal
This email message is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If
the message is received by anyone other than the addressee, please delete
it from your computer.
The Rural Payments Agency does not accept responsibility for changes made
to this message after it was sent.
While all reasonable care has been taken to avoid the transmission of
viruses, it is your responsibility to ensure that onward transmission,
opening or use of this message and any attachments will not adversely
affect your systems or data. No responsibility is accepted by the Rural
Payments Agency in this regard, and you should carry out appropriate virus
and other checks.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-...
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/basic-paymen...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
6. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rpa-privacy-...
7. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
8. mailto:[email address]
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
09 February 2024
Our ref: RFI 6801
Dear Dr Owain Gardner,
Environmental Information Regulations – Information Request
Thank you for your email on 12 January 2024, in response to our email of
11 January 2024 regarding your request for information with the
reference RFI 6798. Your request has been dealt with under the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).
You have requested.
1) The total monetary value of claims submitted in the York Outer
Constituency and how this has changed year on year since in the period
January 2019 to January 2024
2) The number of claimants within the York Outer Constituency and how
these numbers have changed year on year in the period January 2019 to
January 2024
3) How rising seed/feed prices have affected 1 and 2 in the period
January 2019 to January 2024
Please find the information you have requested in the attached annex.
The title of the revenue streams included in this information have been
shortened to their individual acronyms as follows: -
FETF – Farming Equipment Technology Fund
FETF AHW – Animal Health and Welfare
BPS – Basic Payment Scheme
CS – Countryside Stewardship
ES – Environmental Stewardship
SFI – Sustainable Farming Incentive
There are a number of caveats which apply to the information we are
releasing to you. Please be aware the figures are accurate as of 24
January 2024, which is when the information was collated and correspond
to scheme years encompassing the date range 1 January – 31 December.
Please note that with regards to Question 3 of your request we can
confirm that the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) does not collect
information on seed and feed prices. Therefore, this information is not
held. Additionally, you will see from the information for the
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) there are no figures for claims made
in 2019 and 2020. This is because the SFI pilot scheme started in 2021.
For 2019 and 2020 we do not hold any information for those two years.
Therefore, this information is also not held.
This information you have requested is therefore exempt from disclosure
under regulation 12(4)(a) EIR ‘Information not held’. This is a
qualified exemption, which usually means that a public authority is
required to conduct a public interest test to determine whether or not
information should be disclosed or withheld. However, the Information
Commissioner (IC) takes the view that a public interest test in cases
where the information is not held would serve no useful purpose.
Therefore, in line with the IC’s view RPA has not conducted a public
interest test in this case.
We also attach Annex A below, explaining the copyright that applies to
the information being released to you.
What you need to do
If you are not happy with the way we have handled your request, you can
ask for an internal review. These requests should be submitted in
writing within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original request. You should email your request for a review to
[1][email address]
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision by following the link to the Information Commissioner’s website
[2]here.
They can also be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Please note that generally the Information Commissioner cannot make a
decision unless you have first exhausted RPA’s own complaints procedure.
If you need further information
If you have any questions about this email, you can contact us by email
[3][email address].
You can find more information on how we handle personal data in our
[4]Personal Information Charter and [5]RPA Customer Privacy notices on
[6]GOV.UK
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Team
Rural Payments Agency | Eden Bridge House | Lowther Street | Carlisle |
CA3 8DX
Tel: 03300 416502 | Email: [7][email address]
Follow us on Twitter @Ruralpay
About this email
This email has been sent to you because the email address has been
provided to us. If you no longer wish to be contacted electronically,
please let us know. If you have done this recently, please allow for this
to take effect.
Security
Please be on your guard against emails that request any of your security
details. We will never ask you by email to enter (or record) these
details. If you receive an email like this, you should not respond.
Legal
This email message is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If
the message is received by anyone other than the addressee, please delete
it from your computer.
The Rural Payments Agency does not accept responsibility for changes made
to this message after it was sent.
While all reasonable care has been taken to avoid the transmission of
viruses, it is your responsibility to ensure that onward transmission,
opening or use of this message and any attachments will not adversely
affect your systems or data. No responsibility is accepted by the Rural
Payments Agency in this regard, and you should carry out appropriate virus
and other checks.
Annex A - Copyright
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright.
You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study
and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an
exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs or
logos) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission for the
purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.
Most documents produced by RPA will be protected by Crown Copyright. Most
Crown copyright information can be re-used under the [8]Open Government
Licence. For information about the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright
information please see [9]The National Archives website.
Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information
about obtaining permission from a third party see the [10]Intellectual
Property Office website.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/foi-...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
5. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rpa-privacy-...
6. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
7. mailto:[email address]
8. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/...
9. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
10. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
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