Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of classifying all territorial waters as Marine Protected Areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has signed up to the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030 (30by30 target). Domestically, we have designated a comprehensive network of MPAs covering 40% of English waters, based on recommendations from our scientific advisors (Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee). Our priority is to ensure all sites are managed appropriately to meet our statutory MPA target.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help farmers secure long term private finance for nature restoration.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As we set out in our Agricultural Transition Plan update in January, we want farmers and land managers to be able to confidently and securely access payments from both the public and private sector for the environmental benefits they produce.
The Government is:
We published an update on 12 March on progress to implement other measures in the Nature Markets Framework, and we will consult on specific steps and interventions needed to support growth of high integrity carbon and nature markets in the coming months.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2024 to Question 18175 on Nature Conservation: Finance, if he will publish a detailed breakdown of how the budget for climate change interventions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity was spent in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial years.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Later this year we will publish a detailed breakdown of all International Climate Programme spend, including those that protect and restore nature and biodiversity, through the UK's first Biennial Transparency Report under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This will cover calendar years 2021 and 2022. Future years spending will be published in future Biennial Transparency Reports.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in developing indicator E7 on healthy soils as part of the Outcome Indicator Framework for monitoring progress of the 25 Year Environment Plan.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) published a concept model for a soil health indicator in June 2023 (please see attached) and we intend to develop a more comprehensive model by 2025. A progress report on the development of the indicator will be published by June 2024.
Improving soil health and monitoring changes over time is a priority for government. The E7 indicator for soil health in England will use comprehensive data on soil characteristics (physical, chemical, and biological) and land use to show how different soils are contributing to different ecosystem services as a measure of soil health. Towards the end of financial year 2022/2023, we began national soil monitoring under the Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme. The data will inform ambitious, proactive, and sustainable policy decisions to support the government's goal to improve the state of the environment within a generation.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the press release by the Prime Minister, entitled Prime Minister commits £3bn UK climate finance to supporting nature, published on 11 January 2021, if he will provide a breakdown of where this money has been spent to date.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Between financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23 the UK spent £763 million on climate change interventions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity. This includes £402 million on programmes focussed on protecting and restoring forests and £361 million on programmes supporting other nature and biodiversity priorities such as protecting oceans and supporting land use and agriculture. All programmes supported by UK International Climate Finance, including those supporting our nature commitment can be accessed via the development tracker website and we provide a detailed breakdown of programme spend to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) every two years in line with our international reporting obligations.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to help protect hedgerows.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 set legal protections for hedgerows in England and Wales. These existing regulations prohibit the removal of most countryside hedgerows (or parts of them) without first seeking approval from the local planning authority.
In June 2023, the Government launched a consultation on how hedgerows should be further protected in England. The responses to the consultation supported bringing hedgerow management rules into regulation and this is what the Government will do as soon as parliamentary time allows. The regulations will require a 2-metre buffer strip, measured from the centre of the hedge, where no cultivation or application of pesticides or fertilisers must take place, and will ban the cutting of hedges between 1 March and 31 August. The regulations will support other Government actions and incentives, including over 90,000 km of hedgerows being managed through 16,000 agreements in the Government’s Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes.
Defra is also working with stakeholders and other Government departments to understand how to support the creation and maintenance of hedgerows in non-agricultural contexts, to maximise the benefits they provide.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department paid £4,665,652 in apprenticeship levy fees and received £437,478.16 between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2023. This includes the 10% Government top up.
The department spent £2,644,021.77 of its available apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.
The data above is for Defra Core, Marine Management Organisation, Natural England, Animal and Plant Health Agency and Joint Nature Conservation Committee, which are collectively included in the Defra Levy Account.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of the marine protected area network is in (a) effective management and (b) favorable condition.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have established a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering 40% of English waters and last year introduced a new statutory MPA target. All MPAs are protected through the planning and licensing process. We are also working with regulators to introduce any necessary additional management measures. 60% of the 181 English MPAs are already protected from damaging fishing activity through byelaws, including the new byelaw announced in February to ban bottom trawling in a further 13 MPAs. Our scientific advisors (Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee) are developing an MPA monitoring strategy to assess progress towards meeting the statutory MPA target, including whether the necessary management measures are in place. The current estimate is that 44% of our protected features are in favourable condition.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 meet the Species Reintroduction Taskforce to discuss ongoing work to increase the number of red squirrels in the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is committed to working closely with the England Species Reintroductions Taskforce to help it achieve its objective to realise the full benefits of species conservation translocations for nature recovery and society. To do so, Defra attends Taskforce meetings as an observer. The Taskforce is committed to developing and publishing materials to better understand the risks and benefits of species translocations. Defra will engage with the Taskforce on the applicability of these outputs to Defra’s priorities, whether on red squirrels or any other species, once they are produced.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of land have been protected for wildlife as a result of the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Nutrient neutrality advice aims to halt further pollution of England’s most important protected waterways whose catchments cover an area of approximately 1.8m ha.
Natural England has developed a Nutrient Mitigation Scheme that has so far secured approximately 257 ha of land to reduce nutrient pollution from new housing development. This land will also be managed for the purposes of nature conservation and, where appropriate, public access.
Natural England is currently investigating other sites across England which, if considered feasible, would secure approximately 512 ha of land for the purposes of nutrient mitigation and nature recovery.
Natural England aims to avoid the best and most versatile agricultural land when investing in nutrient mitigation projects.
The nutrient mitigation scheme operates alongside a number of other providers of nutrient mitigation across England, including Local Authorities, environmental Non-Governmental Organisations, private markets and developers. Many of the solutions invested in by these providers will be nature-based and will not only reduce nutrient pollution but benefit nature and people.