The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)

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My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, and congratulate him on securing this debate on his Private Member’s Bill this afternoon. I thank all Members who have stayed behind on a Friday afternoon to take part. It has been important to continue to highlight the intertwined issues of environmental decline and climate change. There are, of course, vital issues which this House must continue to highlight and help find solutions to.

The intention of the Bill to drive and strengthen local and other public authority action towards meeting national environmental and climate targets and objectives is important. Indeed, the noble Lord and I have discussed the need to ensure that such action is appropriately and proportionately considered, supported and delivered. This is clear from the Government’s commitment to the 13 legally binding environmental targets set out under the Environment Act, which have been discussed during this debate. These include targets on water, biodiversity, resource efficiency, and tree and woodland cover. We intend to share more delivery information about this in the future to help ensure that we get on track to meet these statutory targets.

The Government have wasted no time—it was one of the Secretary of State’s first actions—in announcing a rapid review of the statutory environmental improvement plan, the EIP, to make sure that it is fit for purpose. After our rapid review of the EIP, we will publish a revised version. This revised plan will focus on cleaning up our waterways, reducing waste across the economy, looking at the numbers of trees we will need to plant, improving air quality and, importantly, halting the decline in species by 2030. Ensuring nature’s recovery is a key priority and is fundamental to the Government’s approach to economic growth. We will develop the new plan working closely with representatives of the public, private and third sectors, and I would hope that that would include noble Members of this House.

Throughout this time, action to deliver against existing commitments will continue at pace. This includes action on regulatory and policy measures intended to deliver the kinds of action that this Bill sets out to ensure, notably those under the Climate Change Act 2008, including our targets in the net zero strategy to reduce direct emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037, and the Environment Act 2021. The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, asked about the land use framework. I said in a debate earlier this week that we were looking to publish a Green Paper by the end of the year. This will be for consultation as part of the development of the framework as we go forward.

I want to mention local nature recovery strategies. They are an important tool that we can use while we take action to deliver against our existing commitments. They will set the strategic priorities for nature recovery in a particular area and identify the best locations for land management actions to deliver these priorities. Forty-eight responsible authorities across the country are currently preparing nature recovery strategies for their area and we expect to see publication from March next year. They will be delivered through a combination of funding streams, such as biodiversity net gain, other green finance initiatives and public funding pots and, crucially, through an Environment Act requirement for public authorities to have regard to carrying out these activities.

This requirement, which is the biodiversity duty under Section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, was strengthened through the Environment Act. Noble Lords who took part in that will remember our debates on this. It came into force in January of last year. Under the duty, all public authorities must consider the actions they can take to conserve and enhance biodiversity in England and, where actions are identified, set policies and objectives as soon as practicable to deliver actions and then take that action. In making their considerations and taking such action, all public authorities must have regard to any relevant LNRSs as well as to any relevant species conservation strategies or protected sites strategies prepared by Natural England.

Local authorities and local planning authorities must also publish five-yearly reports setting out the action they have taken under the duty. The first reports have to be published by 1 January 2026. We expect this strengthened duty to ensure that public authorities make the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity a core part of the delivery of their functions.

I want to make it very clear that this Government are fully committed to protecting 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. We intend to take immediate action to realise the urgent step change needed to deliver 30 by 30 on land. We are currently in the process of reviewing our approach, and later this year we hope to confirm the criteria for land counting towards 30 by 30 in England. This will set a clear, ambitious standard to ensure that only areas that are effectively conserved and managed can contribute towards this commitment.

The noble Baroness, Lady Willis, the noble Earl, Lord Russell, and the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, all mentioned protected landscapes. As the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, said, we both understand the challenges that the Lake District National Park particularly faces. The Government are actively considering further options to ensure that our protected landscapes have the tools and powers they need to deliver for people and nature, including through regulation and guidance. Relevant authorities must now seek to further the purposes of protected landscapes to deliver better outcomes for nature, people, climate and place. The noble Baroness, Lady Willis, also asked about marine protected environments. The Government have taken significant steps to protect this environment. At the moment, there are 181 NPAs, including three highly protected marine areas. They cover about 38% of UK seas. Our priority now is to ensure that those areas are properly protected.

The Bill from the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, rightly recognises the crucial role for climate adaptation. England’s third national adaptation programme summarises the collective actions that the UK Government are taking to address risks and opportunities from climate change and to ensure that adaptation is incorporated into government programmes. As the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, said in his introduction, this is a legal requirement under the Climate Change Act 2008 and government departments are required to respond to the risks and opportunities raised in the most recent climate change risk assessment report.

The Climate Change Committee monitors and evaluates the performance of governmental organisations that have actions to address climate risks, as set out in this national adaptation programme. It publishes its findings in a biannual progress report on climate adaptation. The last report was published in March 2023; the next will be in 2025. We will then review the CCC’s recommendations from that report.

I recognise the importance of the proposed Bill’s ambition and principles. However, there are measures in place seeking to realise this ambition. Some, I know, will need time to take form, but we are fully committed to this and are closely monitoring progress. Furthermore, the review and revision of our environmental improvement plan provides the ideal vehicle to consider the Bill’s principles and their practical implications, in the manner they deserve and in collaboration across society.

I turn briefly to the question of access, which was mentioned by the noble Earl, Lord Russell. This is part of my portfolio and something that I am keen to work on in a proactive way. I am currently looking at our existing access to blue and green spaces, so that we can build on our manifesto commitment to create new river walks, and further access, going forward.

I finish by saying that, although time is not on nature’s side—the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, made that very clear—by working hand in hand across sectors on these vital issues, I am confident that we can use the opportunity of the Bill in front of us today to discuss and collectively agree on a way to deliver what sits at the heart of the vision of the noble Lord, Lord Krebs: to reduce and adapt to the impacts of climate change and restore and improve our natural environment.

I thank the noble Lord again for bringing this Bill to the House and enabling this debate. I have been very pleased to have discussions on this with him and with other noble Lords. I look forward to working with him and other noble Lords who take a keen interest in this area as we review and revise our environmental improvement plan. I assure noble Lords that this Government are firmly committed to working collaboratively as we move forward to improve the natural environment.