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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of offshore wind farms on marine biodiversity.

Offshore wind developments have the potential to cause environmental damage. The main impacts are to seabirds (from collisions, displacement, and foraging pressures), to the seabed from cabling, and to certain cetaceans from construction noise.

In the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government committed to an Offshore Wind Environmental Improvement Package (OWEIP). This will deliver several measures to support the accelerated deployment of offshore wind developments while protecting and enhancing the marine environment. These measures include; reforms to Habitats Regulations Assessments for offshore wind, establishing a Marine Recovery Fund to deliver strategic compensation, delivering Offshore Wind Environmental Standards which will include standards for underwater noise, and agreeing a new approach to monitoring in order to increase our understanding of potential impacts of offshore wind on the marine environment.