Latest application window opens for 2024 Countryside Stewardship agreements

FROM Tuesday, 21 March, farmers and land managers can submit applications for the 2024 Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier agreements which will reward them for their actions to protect and enhance the natural environment, in particular the diversity of:- wildlife, water quality, air quality and natural flood management, while continuing to produce food.

Countryside Stewardship gives farmers and land managers the opportunity to be paid for environmental work alongside sustainable food production, from:- restoring wildlife habitats and managing woodlands, to mitigating flood risks. 32,000 Countryside Stewardship agreements are now in place across England; a 94% increase in uptake since 2020; including nearly 26,000 Mid Tier agreements.

Following farmer feedback, the scheme has continued to evolve and improve with:-

• The removal of the limit on the value of capital items in the water or air quality, hedgerow and boundary, or natural flood management priorities.
   

• A broadened offer to support natural flood management, create more areas of scrub, and reduce nitrogen inputs in groundwater.
   

• Improvements to the application process to make it easier for farmers and land managers, with a new online application service, the removal of the need for farmers to request an application pack before starting their application, automatic checks to enable applications to be processed quicker, and an annual declaration.
   

• An average increase of 10% for revenue payment rates and 48% for capital payment rates, as announced in January.

The scheme plays an important role in the Government's efforts to make food production more resilient and efficient whilst contributing towards the UK's environmental goals on:- carbon, biodiversity, water quality and net zero.

Among the habitats which farmers are already being paid to protect and enhance under Countryside Stewardship are grasslands, which was the focus of the latest Sir David Attenborough's Wild Isles documentary...

More than 50,000 hectares of different types of grassland are already managed under Countryside Stewardship agreements, with a 100,000 plus hectares under Environmental Stewardship agreements.

This shows Countryside Stewardship is a key vehicle for delivering significant and important outcomes for the climate and environment, alongside food production, working together with farmers and rural communities.

Farming Minister, Mark Spencer said:- "Countryside Stewardship is already popular amongst farmers, with almost 32,000 people signed up across England and something on offer for every type of farm. With the latest application window opening today, I urge farmers to take a look at the full range of options and capital items available and consider the improved application process and the removal of the limit on capital grants to see if they could benefit in 2024."

Rural Payments Agency Chief Executive Paul Caldwell said:- "We are continuing to improve Countryside Stewardship, building on the successes we have achieved already, which has seen more farmers and land managers applying and we want to do more. With a broadened offer and improvements to the application process, this is a great opportunity for those new to agri environment schemes and those who may have decided not to apply in the past, and I would urge farmers and land managers to get involved where possible."

How Countryside Stewardship is improving and evolving...

• As announced in 2022 that the UK Government is evolving Countryside Stewardship rather than building Local Nature Recovery as a new scheme, but incorporating all of the original ambition.
   

• Using feedback from farmers and other stakeholders the RPA have already introduced measures to improve how the scheme works for farmers and delivers positive outcomes:-
  
  1. Increased payment rates on both revenue and capital items mean that farmers and land managers are being paid more.
  
  2. Changes to the application and claim process which is cutting down on burdensome paperwork.
  
  3. Adjustments to the administration of the scheme with applications and payments being processed faster than ever.
  
  4. Improving our approach to enforcement making it fairer and more proportionate.

And further improvements are coming, with around 30 additional actions available to farmers by the end of 2024; greater flexibility over when they can apply and how they manage their agreements, with improved access for tenant farmers and increased access to Higher Tier options and agreements; and the introduction of Countryside Stewardship Plus to encourage the right things being done in the right places, enable local join up to deliver bigger and better results and facilitate testing of innovative payment mechanisms, such as payment by results. 

What is happening for 2024 Mid Tier agreements? Well, a number of new options in Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier are available to those applying from today. Farmers and land managers can support natural flood management; create more areas of scrub; and reduce nitrogen inputs in groundwater alongside a broad range of other options and capital items that are available. Existing Wildlife Offers for arable, mixed, lowland grazing and uplands farmers, provide a package of actions that help support the wildlife on farms by providing sources of nectar and pollen for pollinators and winter food and improved habitats for birds.

Applications are now open for multi year grants where payments are made annually for 5 years, as well as a range of grants for specific capital works including capital to help prevent water and air pollution, support natural flood management, and create or restore hedgerows. The limit on the value of capital items that can be included in a Mid Tier agreements has been removed. Dedicated advice to support management of water and air pollution and support natural flood management is also available from Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) officers in all catchments

Farmers should also consider the range of standalone capital offers available.

Applications for 2024 can be made via the Rural Payments Service [link needed], and a number of measures have been made to enhance the administration of scheme.

For this year, a new online application service will be available so it's clearer and easier to make an application. Farmers simply need to accept and download an agreement, there is no need to request an application pack so farmers can start building their application straight away. The application service includes some new functionality that will allow us to carry out checks automatically. This will enable the RPA to process applications much faster.

From this year the RPA has already introduced an annual declaration as part of the CS claim which will also make the process much more quicker, reducing the administrative burden for farmers and land managers.

The changes to Countryside Stewardship are a further step in improving and enhancing our environmental land management offer announced by the Government in January.

Let us know your thoughts on this news topic... Email our Newsroom at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com or send us a message on:- Facebook or Twitter.
 

North West Region has 4th worst rate of "ghost children" reveals new report

SEVERE absence from Schools has jumped by a staggering 50% over less than 2 years, according to an alarming new study from a major think tank. Across the country, the number of children missing half of their time in School has reached a record high.

The report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) finds that the North West's number of severely absent so called:- 'ghost children' not at their desks more than 50% of the time; is the 4th worst in England with 20,206 children across the Region being out of School more often than not. Nearly 15% of all severely absent children across the country live in the North West. It is roughly the equivalent of 20 entire Schools where the children are mostly missing lessons.

The North West's rate of severe absence is the 4th worst in the country. Inner and Outer London have the lowest rates of severe absence, 1.3% compared to 2.1% in the North West.

The startling CSJ report, Lost and Not Found, highlights the immense educational damage done by School shutdowns because of Covid. More than 1 in 50 children are regularly skipping lessons despite remaining on class rolls.

It is not just severe absence that is on the rise. More than 200,000 children are persistently absent in the North West (absent more than 10% of the time). More than a quarter of children from the Region are missing classes on a regular basis. More than 1 in 10 of all persistently absent children across the country live in the North West.

1 of the top 5 local Authorities with the worst rates of persistent absence, highlighted in the report, is from the North West. Knowsley had the 3rd highest rate of persistent absence in the country (33.0%). 2 local Authorities in the North West ranked in the worst 10 local Authorities in England for severe absence. Liverpool had the 7th worst rate of severe absence in the country (2.9%) and St Helens had the 8th (2.8%).
 

Local Authorities with highest rates of persistent absence (Summer 2022)
Ranking	Geographic Location	Region	Enrolments Persistently Absent	Percentage Persistently Absent
1	Middlesbrough	North East	6,965	33.8%
2	Bradford	Yorkshire and The Humber	27,292	33.6%
3	Knowsley	North West	5,781	33.0%
4	Rotherham	Yorkshire and The Humber	12,109	32.1%
5	Barnsley	Yorkshire and The Humber	9,606	31.7%
6	Bristol	City of South West	16,516	31.6%
7	Doncaster	Yorkshire and The Humber	12,585	31.5%
8	Birmingham	West Midlands	53,430	31.2%
9	Sunderland	North East	10,572	31.1%

The report exposes the many reasons children are missing School including:- increased anxiety and mental health problems, unmet special educational needs/disabilities, and issues at home.

The Government has stated that the attendance gap is 1 of the key risks for the Department for Education this year and that this gap:- "cannot be explained by directly permissible Covid19 related absences."

At an alarming pace, children are disengaging with education entirely. To combat this shocking trend the CSJ sets out a seven-point plan to support children back into School:-

1. Roll out attendance mentors... The Department for Education should roll out a national programme of 2,000 attendance mentors. A proven intervention, these mentors would work with families to understand and remove the underlying barriers to School attendance. A national programme would cost an estimated £80 million per year. This could be funded through the existing Supporting Families programme.

2. Ensure families can access the right support... The current Department for Education guidance on attendance should be made statutory. This would help ensure all parents and children are able to access the appropriate support they need to both prevent and reduce absence.

3. Put more support in place in Schools:-

• As part of a broader Parental Participation Strategy, the Government should release guidance on the best practice for engaging parents of children who are severely absent.
   

• Family Hubs should be integrated with existing School Services and collocated within Schools.
   

• The Government should fast track its commitment to roll out designated mental health leads for all Schools. School should be supported to develop a whole School approach to mental health.

4. Improve School attendance data... The Department for Education should develop new metrics to track School attendance. This data should examine attendance patterns at an individual and School level and should be incorporated into the attendance dashboard.

5. Recognise the value of relational work... The Government should follow through on its 2019 manifesto commitment to invest £500 million in new youth clubs and services, where there remains considerable under spend. This should be scaled up through a new match-fund scheme designed to inspire major businesses, charities and third sector organisations to support a national mission of returning our young people to School.

6. Introduce an 'enrichment guarantee' in our Schools... The Government should introduce a new:- 'enrichment guarantee' in Schools. When activities take place in the morning, breakfast clubs should be incorporated as part of the enrichment guarantee.

7. Ensure fines are working... The fines for School Attendance Orders and attendance prosecution should be made the same value to avoid creating perverse incentives that push children out of the education system.

Flick Drummond MP, a member of the Commons Education Select Committee, says in a foreword to the report:- "School absence has become a defining feature of our education system. The CSJ has revealed that there is 1 child in every class who is being denied access to a brilliant education. 1 child in every class who we cannot account for. Our most vulnerable children are those most likely to be missing. 140,000 children have slipped through the cracks. We must act urgently to get these children back into School. If we do not act now, we will have failed this generation."

The CSJ's Policy Director, Joe Shalam, said:- "The North West may have 1 of the worst rates of School absence, but this is a national scandal with children missing School at a terrifying rate. If more than a quarter of children are regularly missing classes, we are failing an entire generation. A generation that will be locked away from reaching their undoubted potential. Far too often, Schools and local Authorities are unable to provide the support that children need to access education. This cannot be allowed to go on. Our recommendations provide a blueprint for how we can support the most vulnerable severely absent children to return to School."