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 the 25 Year Environment Plan; and whether her Department plans to takes additional steps to help restore nature.

The Environment Act 2021 designated the 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP), published in 2018, as the first Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). As committed to in the Environment Act, on the 31^st January the Government published its revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23) which continues to use the 25YEP's ten goals as a basis.

EIP23 sets out the progress made against all ten goals, the specific targets and commitments made in relation to each goal, and our plan to continue to deliver existing targets and the overarching goals.

Under the Environment Act 2021, Defra must report annually on the implementation of the EIP and review it every five years, so will continue to publish an Annual Progress Report setting out progress over the previous 12 months, alongside the 25 YEP Outcome Indicator Framework. Our annual progress reports can be found here:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/25-year-environment-plan-progress-reports

This Government is committed to halting and reversing nature’s decline, and the UK has been leading international efforts in developing an ambitious and transformative framework of global targets under the Convention of Biological Diversity. EIP23 sets out how the Government plans to restore nature by improving the quality of our environment.