11. To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the likely effect of proposals for compulsory set-aside from September 2010 on existing environmental stewardship schemes for farmers. (276588)

The Government supported the abolition of set-aside in the CAP Health Check last year, but we wish to recapture the range of environmental benefits it provided. As part of our consultation on alternative approaches we published an impact assessment earlier this year, and the possible effect on existing Environmental Stewardship schemes is one of the factors we will consider in reaching a decision.