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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on delivering a green Brexit.

Since we have left the EU, we have introduced a range of measures to improve our environment and deliver our ambition for a green Brexit.

To take a few examples, we passed the first Environment Act in over two decades, which sets out how we plan to protect and improve the natural environment in the UK. The Act will help us leave our environment in a better state for future generations and set an ambitious target to halt species decline by 2030. This Act includes the new Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) which will effectively enforce these enhanced environmental rules and standards. By 31 January 2023 we will publish our Environment Improvement Plan, which builds on the 25 Year Environment Plan (published in 2018). It will set out how we will deliver against our cross-government targets and commitments.

We have introduced a Net Zero Strategy, and announced measures to restore nature across England, to address the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss – trebling our tree planting rate, restoring 35,000 ha of peatland by the end of the parliament, and initiating lasting action on species recovery.

Alongside these and other measures, the Retained EU Law Bill will provide further opportunity to ensure that environmental law is fit for purpose and able to drive improved environmental outcomes, whilst also ensuring regulators can deliver efficiently. This will ensure the UK regulatory framework is appropriate and tailored to the UK.

Leaving the EU also means farming in England is now going through the biggest change in a generation. Most importantly, the Government’s approach to working with the farming sector is changing. We are improving our policies and services to make them more effective, fair, flexible, accessible and workable for farmers.

We are introducing policies that work for farm businesses, food production and the environment. Food is still the primary purpose of farming, and always will be. The Food Strategy includes plans that will support farmers to boost home-grown fruit and vegetable production, and encourage people to buy more locally-sourced, high-welfare food.

Farmers also play a crucial role in protecting and enhancing the natural environment. If we want farming and food production to be resilient and sustainable over the long term, then farming and nature can and must go hand in hand. Many farmers have already moved to this way of operating. Those who are leading the way already know that you can produce quality food, at a profit with strong yields by farming with nature instead of against it.

The Government needs to catch up and help other farmers join this growing movement. This means enabling farmers to have resilient businesses, produce the food our nation needs, and also to protect and enhance the natural environment – looking after our soils, reducing air and water pollution, managing flood risk, reducing emissions and sequestering carbon.