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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Government's 25 Year Environment Plan, what steps he plans to take to ensure that development sites are monitored and levels of biodiversity maintained.

The 25 Year Environment Plan set out our ambitious plans for improving biodiversity by embedding a net gain approach to development. We have already strengthened planning policy and the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published in July, makes it clear that development should provide net gains for biodiversity. We will shortly be consulting on biodiversity net gain through the planning system.