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

To ask His Majesty's Government how many conservation covenant agreements under section 117(3)(b) and (c) of the Environment Act 2021 have been made since that Act came into force.

Conservation covenants are private, voluntary agreements between a landowner and a designated responsible body. Under section 136 of the Environment Act 2021, a designated responsible body must make an annual return to the Secretary of State. This return must include the number of conservation covenants under which an obligation was owed to the responsible body during the reporting period, along with the area of land to which each covenant relates. The deadline for responsible bodies to submit their first annual return to Defra is 31 March 2025.