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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to increase the proportion of sites of specific scientific interest monitored every six years.

Since 2013 Natural England has adopted a risk based approach to the frequency of monitoring sites, which varies according to a range of factors such as risk to the site and the stability of its ecology.

Natural England continues to support and encourage its partners and major owners of sites of specific scientific interest (SSSI) in the work they do on SSSI monitoring. Natural England is also developing its approach to the monitoring of SSSIs, including use of new technologies such as remote sensing and greater partnership involvement. This work will form part of Natural England’s continued risk based approach to decide how frequently a site should be monitored and is intended to improve efficiency of SSSI monitoring.