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

To ask His Majesty's Government what initial assessment they have made of the implementation of biodiversity net gain to date.

We will build the housing and infrastructure that Britain desperately needs while protecting the environment.

That is why we are working closely with the sector to make biodiversity net gain work effectively and proportionally, with exemptions in place for any development that would have no or minimal impact on nature.

The list of specified exemptions is narrow and focused and keeps the policy ambitious, while being proportionate and deliverable for developers and local planning authorities.

Officials are monitoring the implementation of biodiversity net gain closely, and regularly meet with those engaging with it across local planning authorities, developers, and the land management sector.

Biodiversity net gain fundamentally changes how developers choose land to build on and how they design sites, and we are pleased to see so many stakeholders embracing this opportunity to deliver much needed development and deliver for the environment.