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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help support seagrass restoration programmes to scale-up.

Defra is supporting the scaling up of seagrass restoration programmes by identifying and overcoming barriers.

The Environment Agency with partners is working to restore 15% of saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster reef in England by 2043 through the Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) programme. Defra have boosted the capacity of ReMeMaRe by funding a programme office, which is supporting a pipeline of practical restoration projects.

The annual ReMeMaRe Conference gives partners from across the country an opportunity to engage with and learn from each other. ReMeMaRe has also worked with partners to produce restoration guidance and map restoration opportunities. It is also funding the development of an estuarine and coastal restoration platform, which will enhance collaboration opportunities for partners, aiming to scale up restoration activity on the ground.