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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Retained EU Law Bill on (a) Special Protection Areas and (b) Special Areas of Conservation.

We have been clear about the importance of environmental protection across the United Kingdom, not least through our world leading Environment Act, which includes a legally binding target to halt the decline of nature by 2030.

Earlier this year we published a Nature Recovery Green Paper, setting out proposals to reform our system of protections, including the Habitats Regulations. The Nature Recovery Green Paper consultation closed in May and we are now in the process of analysing responses and will publish a response on conclusion of this exercise.

Defra is carefully considering the scope of the delegated powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, and whether they can be used to deliver a better, bespoke British system of nature protections to replace the provisions in the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended).