Barry Gardiner

In 2020, Defra commissioned an independent review of the Darwin Plus programme. This found Darwin Plus projects to have a strong, positive impact on the capacity of the Territories to deliver long-term strategic outcomes for the natural environment, which enhances protection of biodiversity ecosystems. During his Kew Lecture on 17 September 2024, the Foreign Secretary declared reversing the decline in global biodiversity as a Government priority. It is estimated that the UK Overseas Territories are home to over 90% of known endemic British species.

Information on individual projects funded under Darwin Plus is available on the programme website (https://darwinplus.org.uk/). The programme’s performance is reviewed annually and published on the UK Government’s online Development Tracker.

In November 2024, Minister Doughty and Minister McCarthy met with the elected leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories at the UK Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council. The UK Government confirmed that it would continue to work in partnership with the Territories to support the protection of their unique environments and to help address biodiversity loss.

Total funding allocated to Darwin Plus projects in each financial year since 2019-20 is provided in the table below.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee, as the Government’s statutory nature advisor, does not have, nor is it aware of, an estimate of the total percentage of the biodiversity for which the UK has global responsibility and is located in the UK Overseas Territories. Of the total number of endemic species associated with the UK’s biodiversity, 94% reside in the Territories.

UK Government biodiversity spend is across multiple organisations and this funding contributes to other objectives, such as water quality, net zero and food security. As such it is not possible to provide an exact figure of total domestic expenditure on biodiversity.

For 2024-25, the department has committed to make available up to £10 million in direct support for biodiversity in the UK Overseas Territories. Future funding will be subject to the outcomes of spending review and business planning processes.

The third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), co-hosted by France and Costa Rica in June, will be at a critical time for the ocean and a stocktake of progress towards UN Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.

The UK is supportive of an action-orientated UNOC and looks forward to the event. Defra are leading on the planning for UK attendance at the Conference and formal invitations from the co-hosts are expected to be shared soon after which Defra will confirm Ministerial attendance.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

In deciding how to manage instances of non-compliance, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) follows the principles of inform, educate, enforce in accordance with their published Compliance and Enforcement Strategy: Compliance and Enforcement Strategy - GOV.UK.

The threshold for evidencing non-compliance with the landing obligation is high, often requiring discarding to be observed/witnessed. Evidence can be drawn from a range of sources but must meet the required burden of proof for the sanction being applied.

The issuing of verbal or written advice depends on whether the inspection is conducted at sea or in port. Verbal advice is issued at sea in circumstances where relaying correspondence is more difficult and written advice is issued as a consequence of inspections in port.

The MMO aims to resolve straightforward investigations within 6 months. More complex cases may take longer.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are already protected from the point of designation by the planning and marine licensing regimes that cover activities such as dredging for aggregates and construction of offshore wind farms. Fishing activity falls outside the scope of these regimes, so fisheries regulators make detailed assessments of the impact of all fishing activities on the protected species and habitats in our MPAs and develop byelaws to restrict fishing when it has been assessed as damaging. Over 60% of England’s 181 MPAs have these byelaws in place.

As mentioned in my answer to PQ 17500, the Department is considering next steps for fisheries management in MPAs in the context of our domestic and international nature conservation obligations and how we support the fishing sector.

The Department has not yet been able to provide a timescale for these measures due to the need to follow due process and consider how we can best meet the Government’s priorities. The Government recognises the need for action to protect and restore our marine environment, while supporting a sustainable fishing industry.

The 68th Global Environment Facility Council meeting will discuss a programme of work to fund projects that will deliver environmental benefits, including contributing to achieving the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. The UK’s priorities will be to support improved access to GEF finance for recipient countries.

The 3rd Council meeting for the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) will discuss the programming of the GBFF in its first year of operation. The UK will reconfirm the additional pledge of £45 million to the GBFF made at CBD COP16.

Defra have already assessed which fisheries should have mandatory Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) and published the results in 2023.

The assessment concluded that over 24 metre pelagic trawlers in English waters should be a priority. Implementation began in summer 2024.

A further four fisheries were also identified as priorities. In those fisheries, REM will be mandatory for vessels over 10 metres.

There is one early adopter vessel volunteering to take part in the first fishery, over-24 metre pelagic trawlers in all English waters. Further vessels will be recruited for implementation in other fisheries.

Due to the nature of the negotiations, it is not appropriate to publicly disclose negotiating documents detailing the UK’s opening positions. Our bilateral negotiations with the EU and our trilateral negotiations with the EU and Norway have both concluded. The written record of the bilateral and agreed record of the trilateral negotiations, including final total allowable catch limits are available on GOV.UK.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rotherham, on 16 September 2024, PQ 4529: It is essential to manage bottom trawling in our Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) appropriately due to the significant damage it can have on protected seabed habitats. The department is considering next steps in the context of our domestic and international nature conservation obligations and how we support the fishing sector.

The Department is considering next steps for both stages 3 and 4 of the process.

The Secretary of State determination of fishing opportunities for British fishing boats sets UK fishing quotas. This quota is only allocated to British-registered and licensed vessels. These vessels must comply with the economic link licence condition. This requires a certain amount of fish to be landed into the UK or requires the employment of UK crew or other measures which ensure that the UK benefits economically from the quota.

In recent years, quota available to the under 10 metre fleet in England has significantly increased but remains underutilised. To boost catches by the non-sector, quota licence caps have temporarily been removed, and trials exploring different quota allocation methods have been introduced.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only

a) Defra has been reviewing the operation of the landing obligation as part of wider reforms to discards management in England. In 2025, these reforms will include trialling changes to how we account for catches and the establishment of a discard reduction scheme to encourage more selective fishing practices.

b) In the last 3 years, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has recorded 32 instances of non-compliance with the landing obligation. Following the MMO Compliance and Enforcement Strategy, 23 instances were addressed by verbal advice, 2 were addressed by advisory letters and 3 were addressed by official written warning to master and owner. The remaining 4 are under investigation with decision pending. No instances have resulted in court action during this period.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer to Question UIN 18874 on 17 December 2024.

The government is committed to reinvigorating commonhold and making it the default tenure.

Our forthcoming White Paper on reforms to commonhold will outline proposed reforms to the model and our plans to introduce a comprehensive new legal framework.

The government has also made clear it intends to publish draft legislation on leasehold and commonhold reform in this session so that it may be subject to broad consultation and additional parliamentary scrutiny.

We will also engage with stakeholders on the process for converting existing flats to commonhold and consult on the proposed ban on new leasehold flats. We will set out further details in due course.

The government is committed to reinvigorating commonhold and making it the default tenure.

Our forthcoming White Paper on reforms to commonhold will outline proposed reforms to the model and our plans to introduce a comprehensive new legal framework.

The government has also made clear it intends to publish draft legislation on leasehold and commonhold reform in this session so that it may be subject to broad consultation and additional parliamentary scrutiny.

We will also engage with stakeholders on the process for converting existing flats to commonhold and consult on the proposed ban on new leasehold flats. We will set out further details in due course.

As outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the Leasehold and Freehold Act contains a small number of specific but serious flaws which would prevent certain provisions from operating as intended. We intend to rectify these via primary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.

As outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation. We will set out next steps in due course.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent regulator, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is not involved in operational decisions, does not hold information on ongoing cases with the BSR, and cannot comment on an individual case. The client, or the person who submitted the application, should engage the BSR directly.

The new Building Control process for higher-risk buildings was introduced as part of the Building Safety Act in 2022 and is an important part of the government’s continuing programme of work to ensure people are safe in their homes. We understand that it is taking longer to embed than envisaged and I know the BSR is working with the sector to resolve these issues at pace.

My department is closely monitoring the situation to make sure the BSR and industry resolve outstanding delays quickly and make sure the expectations on the quality of submissions are better understood.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent regulator, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is not involved in operational decisions, does not hold information on ongoing cases with the BSR, and cannot comment on an individual case. The client, or the person who submitted the application, should engage the BSR directly.

The new Building Control process for higher-risk buildings was introduced as part of the Building Safety Act in 2022 and is an important part of the government’s continuing programme of work to ensure people are safe in their homes. We understand that it is taking longer to embed than envisaged and I know the BSR is working with the sector to resolve these issues at pace.

My department is closely monitoring the situation to make sure the BSR and industry resolve outstanding delays quickly and make sure the expectations on the quality of submissions are better understood.