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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will (a) publish separate 25-year plans to restore biodiversity and to grow more, buy more and sell more British food and (b) take steps to ensure that each such plan will contribute to the other's objectives.

We are putting in place an ambitious 25-year plan to promote and grow our world-leading food and farming industry, encouraging enterprise and boosting productivity right across the food chain.

In addition, Defra is currently investing £4.2 million over three years in the Sustainable Intensification research Platform (SIP). This is designed to investigate integrated approaches for farmers to produce more food whilst simultaneously protecting and enhancing biodiversity, and the natural environment in general. The SIP will also develop tools to enable decision-makers to balance our need to produce more British food with the need to protect our natural resources.

The Government is currently developing the framework that will guide the development of a 25-year environment plan for England, which will include biodiversity. Biodiversity policy is a devolved issue, but we will maintain a constructive dialogue with the Devolved Administrations throughout the development of the plan, through the Four Countries Biodiversity Group.

The Government will, of course, ensure that these two long-term approaches complement each other.