Asked by: Ruth Edwards (Conservative - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to adopt a national hedgerow planting and restoration target equivalent to that of the national tree planting target.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HM Government does not currently have plans to adopt a national hedgerow planting and restoration target equivalent to that of the national tree planting target.
We are required by the Environment Act 2021 to set at least one long-term biodiversity target, in addition to our target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. This target, and others set under the Act, will help target the causes of decline and drive actions to deliver nature recovery.
We will also be setting out our pathways to meet these targets in the Environmental Improvement Plan due in 2023. To meet our species abundance target we will need to create more, better joined up habitats, which will include hedgerows.
Asked by: Ruth Edwards (Conservative - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department is taking to mandate the use of Inshore Vessel Monitoring Systems (I-VMS) for fishing vessels under 12 metres.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Control and enforcement is a devolved matter. Defra, the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive continue to work together to share information and ensure a coordinated approach to monitoring, compliance and enforcement across UK waters.
The requirement to have a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for all vessels under 12 metres when fishing in English waters, irrespective of nationality, will ultimately be mandated by a Statutory Instrument and amendments to the licence conditions for those fishing vessels.
This work is progressing, and following an initial public consultation in 2018, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) recently undertook a series of engagement sessions and an industry survey to gain further feedback. This feedback will be used to inform planned discussions about the specification requirements with companies that may supply the required VMS devices.
The MMO plans to conduct more sessions with industry over the summer and autumn and hopes to be able to begin roll-out of VMS devices to the under 12 metre fleet following this engagement.
Asked by: Ruth Edwards (Conservative - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish the next Marine Protected Areas Network report.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Marine Protected Areas Network report is published every six years. The latest report was published in 2018 and the next will be published in 2024.
Asked by: Ruth Edwards (Conservative - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the lifetimes of the (a) Marine Protected Areas and (b) Highly Protected Marine Areas programmes.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Marine conservation is a devolved competence and the following information therefore relates to England only.
We view MPAs as permanent features of our conservation efforts at sea and the improvements we will see to marine biodiversity within each site would be lost if their protection was to be removed. We will keep them under review and make changes where new scientific evidence suggests it is needed.
On 8 June 2021, the Government published its response to the Benyon Review into Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). The Government accepted the central recommendation that we should take forward some pilot sites with the purpose of biodiversity recovery. The Government is developing criteria for HPMA identification to create a list of potential sites this year, followed by consultation and designations in 2022. We will evaluate the effects of pilot HPMAs on the ecosystem, social and economic factors and this evaluation will inform future HPMA work.
Asked by: Ruth Edwards (Conservative - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to announce a further round of the Green Recovery Challenge Fund or similar funding stream for local biodiversity and nature projects.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In November 2020, the Government announced that it would double the size of the Green Recovery Challenge Fund (GRCF) by making an additional £40 million investment. Round two of the GRCF opened for applications on 9 March. It will fund projects that restore nature, tackle climate change and connect people with the natural environment while creating and retaining jobs in the nature sector. We will review the effectiveness of projects in delivering against these aims before announcing any further rounds.
In addition, over the next five years, the Nature for Climate Fund will drive a step-change in tree planting and woodland creation in England. This will be critical to achieving the Government's UK manifesto target of planting 30,000ha of trees per year by 2025, as well as restoring peatland. Farmers and other land managers in protected landscapes have been allocated funding from the Future Farming and Countryside Programme.
The Government has also recently launched the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund. This will provide technical assistance grants of up to £100,000 to environmental groups, local authorities, businesses and other organisations to develop nature projects in England that can attract private sector investment.