Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve planning and permitting processes for strategic water-resource schemes approved within Water Resource Management Plans, particularly to enable abstraction reductions from chalk streams.

The Government is working towards improving soil health across England by measuring and monitoring the national condition of soil. Establishing a baseline is essential for evaluating change and identifying improvements or declines in soil health.

National soil monitoring began in October 2023 under the England Ecosystem Survey (EES), part of the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme. This five-year survey will provide a baseline of soil health in England, with Analysis Ready Data from earlier years published in December 2025: https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5610689568440320.

This data will feed into a Soil Health Indicator being developed by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. A national soil health baseline will be published by 2030.