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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address fungi being a notified feature in 0.3 per cent of SSSIs in England; and whether they will commit the necessary resources for new sites already on Natural England’s SSSI pipeline to be so notified.

While only a small proportion of existing sites currently have fungi recorded as monitored features, Natural England (NE) continues to improve consistency in how all features are identified and assessed.

As around 8% of England has been designated as SSSI over the past 40 years, NE considers that most suitable areas have already been notified, though further cases may arise as evidence improves and environmental conditions change.