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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to increase the funding to Natural England.

Natural England, like all other Defra sponsored bodies, receives a budget to carry out its duties and responsibilities in line with what is affordable and the Government’s priorities for the natural environment. Natural England has responded to the need to balance public spending and to deploy resources to best effect.

Defra’s recent one-year Spending Round settlement for the financial year 2020/21 saw an additional £30 million for terrestrial and marine biodiversity measures, to support the maintenance and restoration of vital habitats for wildlife, progress nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and deliver the 25 Year Environment Plan. Government departments will shortly begin planning for a full Spending Review in 2020. Defra will work with Natural England to determine future funding necessary from 2020 to deliver Natural England’s contribution to Government’s ambitions for the environment.