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1130540

registered interest
date	06/06/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the contribution that green bridges make to biodiversity.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	261183
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2019 answer text <p>Green bridges are structures designed to provide wildlife and non-motorised users with easy and safe crossing of main roads and railways.</p><p> </p><p>In 2015, Natural England published a review of the literature on green bridges. The review looked at 53 case studies from Europe and North America and found evidence that, in the majority of cases, green bridges were utilised by wildlife, although an assessment of their effectiveness in conserving wildlife populations was limited by the lack of long-term monitoring data. Guidance on the design of green bridges was also published by the Landscape Institute based on research undertaken by Natural England.</p><p> </p><p>In 2015, the Government published research which included an assessment of the A21 Scotney Caste Green Bridge, constructed by the then Highways Agency, which found that of all incidences of bats crossing the road to and from the Scotney Castle Estate, 97 per cent used the green bridge. At least five bat species were recorded foraging over the bridge which was also used by deer, badger and breeding dormice.</p><p> </p><p>The Government will keep the evidence for the effectiveness of these structures under review as new green bridges are planned and implemented.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 14/06/2019 11:08:13 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

1130541

registered interest
date	06/06/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which key performance indicators his Department uses to assess progress in improving the UK’s biodiversity.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	261184
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2019 answer text <p>Domestic biodiversity policy is a devolved matter. The UK government has a range of performance indicators for England, although we do also work with the devolved administrations to compile indicators at UK scale for international reporting.</p><p> </p><p>In June 2019 the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-environment-food-and-rural-affairs-single-departmental-plan/department-for-environment-food-and-rural-affairs-single-departmental-plan-may-2018" target="_blank">Single Departmental Plan</a> which includes biodiversity performance indicators for England, including: extent of marine protected areas and condition of protected sites and priority habitat.</p><p> </p><p>In May of this year, the Government published a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/25-year-environment-plan" target="_blank">new indicator framework</a> for the 25 Year Environment Plan, setting out a transparent, comprehensive framework that shows how the environment in England is changing and whether it is improving over time. These indicators include diversity and health of our seas, wildlife and wild places, and nature on land and water.</p><p> </p><p>To support reporting of progress across the whole of the UK, the government publishes a set of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/biodiversity-indicators-for-the-uk" target="_blank">UK Biodiversity Indicators,</a> updated annually. These measure long term trends in the UK’s biodiversity and progress against our international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 14/06/2019 09:52:58 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

1093501

registered interest
date	22/03/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to meet UN biodiversity targets on halting species decline and improving the condition of protected sites.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	235742
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/03/2019 answer text <p>Domestic biodiversity policy is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only, except in relation to our plans internationally.</p><p>On land, around 94% of our protected sites, covering over 1 million hectares, are now in good condition or have management in place to restore their condition. At sea, we are putting management measures in place to protect and expand our Marine Protected Areas. We have consulted on a third tranche of 41 Marine Conservation Zones. Sites to be designated will be in place by 7 June.</p><p>Our agencies and non-Departmental bodies are working on species recovery projects with landowning and conservation partners, for example on freshwater pearl mussel, short-haired bumblebee and stone curlew.</p><p>The ongoing declines in nature are a global problem that need a global solution. That is why the UK is committed to playing a leading role in developing a global post-2020 framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity that is ambitious and transformational. Our Darwin Initiative supports global action by providing grants to protect biodiversity and the natural environment, with £10.6 million awarded in 2018. Defra has contributed almost £6 million over the last three years to Darwin Plus for Overseas Territories’ biodiversity. We continue to support activities to end poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, and have recently passed new legislation to close our domestic ivory market, which will be the toughest ivory ban in Europe and one of the toughest in the world.</p><p>The UK Government has committed to protecting the ocean, and has called for at least 30 per cent of the ocean to be in Marine Protected Areas by 2030. Our Blue Belt programme will protect marine habitats and species in 4million km<sup>2</sup> around the Overseas Territories by 2020.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 27/03/2019 16:16:00 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1078625

registered interest
date	27/02/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to prevent loss of biodiversity in the UK.
tabling member constituency	North Herefordshire
tabling member printed	Bill Wiggin
uin	226587
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2019 answer text <p>Domestic biodiversity policy is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only, except in relation to our plans internationally.</p><p> </p><p>Our 25 Year Environment Plan sets out over 200 actions to enhance the environment and has long-term goals for recovering nature.</p><p> </p><p>We are developing a new environmental land management system that will reward farmers and land managers for delivering environmental outcomes such as protection of habitats, which will support our biodiversity goals.</p><p> </p><p>At sea, we are expanding our protected areas. Last summer we consulted on an ambitious third tranche of 41 Marine Conservation Zones. Sites to be designated in this tranche will be announced and in place by 7 June.</p><p> </p><p>The ongoing declines in nature are a global problem that need a global solution. That is why the UK is committed to playing a leading role in developing a global post-2020 framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity that is ambitious and transformational. Our Darwin Initiative supports global action, awarding £10.6 million to projects in 2018, for example sustaining snow leopard conservation in Nepal. Defra’s contribution to Darwin Plus, our main funding source for UK Overseas Territories’ biodiversity, has totalled nearly £6million over the last three years. We continue to support activities to end poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, including introducing a ban on ivory sales which is the toughest in Europe and one of the strongest in the world.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 08/03/2019 14:43:56 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	1428 label Biography information for Sir Bill Wiggin

1077291

registered interest
date	25/02/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2019 to Question 216362 on Biodiversity, how much funding his Department has allocated to each organisation in relation to reducing biodiversity loss in each year since 2014.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	225567
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not allocate funding specifically for reducing biodiversity loss. Funding is allocated to Defra non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and executive agencies in order to support their functions including biodiversity conservation. It is for those bodies to allocate resources to programmes aimed at tackling biodiversity loss.</p><p> </p><p>Funding allocated to NDPBs and executive agencies is only a small proportion of the Government funding for biodiversity. For example, funding for agri-environment and forestry agreements, and for marine biodiversity also address biodiversity conservation.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 28/02/2019 10:07:07 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1077295

registered interest
date	25/02/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what legislative proposals his Department plans to bring forward to address the decline in biodiversity.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	225571
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>We are taking action through our widely welcomed Ivory Act to support the conservation of elephants. We will launch a call for evidence in the coming months on extending the ban on UK ivory sales to other ivory-bearing species.</p><p>Our forthcoming Environment Bill will include ambitious legislative measures to take direct action to restore and enhance nature. Subject to consultation, we will legislate on biodiversity net gain to ensure that new developments have a positive effect on the environment. We will also consider proposals for conservation covenants. In terms of trees, we will take action to stop illegal deforestation and deliver on our manifesto commitment to ensure councils consult if they are removing street trees. This will give the public a greater say in street tree management.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 04/03/2019 15:43:58 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1054567

registered interest
date	04/02/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to slow biodiversity loss in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	216362
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2019 answer text <p>This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.</p><p> </p><p>In England we are investing in our protected sites, in the restoration and creation of wildlife-rich habitats and in species recovery.</p><p> </p><p>At sea, we are expanding our protected areas. Twelve Special Protection Areas have been designated since 2017, with more under consideration. Last summer we consulted on an ambitious third tranche of 41 Marine Conservation Zones, to be designated later this year.</p><p> </p><p>On land, around 94% of our protected sites, covering over 1 million hectares, are now in good condition or have management in place to restore their condition. We have established management to create approximately 130,000 hectares of additional wildlife-rich habitat since the publication of <em>Biodiversity 2020 </em>in 2011.</p><p> </p><p>In the last two years we have announced new funding for peatland restoration and tree planting. In April 2018, £10 million of funding for peatland restoration was allocated to four large-scale peatland restoration projects in England. Additionally, in the 2018 Budget, the Chancellor announced £60 million for new woodland creation through the Woodland Carbon Guarantee and Urban Trees Challenge Fund.</p><p> </p><p>Our agencies are working on a range of species recovery projects with landowning and conservation partners, for example on freshwater pearl mussel, short-haired bumblebee and stone curlew. We also protect a wide variety of our most threatened native species through the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulation 2017. These laws make it an offence to intentionally kill, injure or capture listed species, as well as damage or destroy breeding sites.</p><p> </p><p>Our 25 Year Environment Plan steps up our ambition further, setting long-term goals for recovering nature and setting out over two hundred actions to enhance the environment.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 07/02/2019 10:57:31 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1045942

registered interest
date	22/01/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by what date his Department plans to publish the UK's sixth national report to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	211141
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2019 answer text <p>The UK’s sixth national report will set out the UK’s progress towards the goals and targets set out in the global strategic plan for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). A draft report has been prepared and is in the final stages of internal review prior to submission and publication. We aim to submit to the CBD in the first quarter of this year.</p><p> </p><p>The UK is committed to being the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it and we are committed to leading action globally on halting the loss of biodiversity, including under the Convention on Biological Diversity.</p><p> </p><p>We have undertaken consultation and review by specialists in the Government, NGO and academic sector to ensure the report is based on best available evidence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey grouped question UIN 211219 question first answered 28/01/2019 17:21:46 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1010181

registered interest
date	19/11/2018
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the global rate of biodiversity loss; and what effect that assessment has had on the formulation of his Department's policies.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	192825
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2018 answer text <p>The UK is a signatory to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a global endeavour to halt biodiversity loss. As a party to the CBD, the UK collaborates in assessments of biodiversity change, which are published in the Global Biodiversity Outlook series, the flagship publication of the CBD. As such, the government does not do its own assessment of the global rate of biodiversity loss, but it does an assessment of biodiversity loss in this country.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The UK is also a member of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, which in March adopted four regional assessments that evaluate biodiversity and ecosystems services. These assessments provide vital evidence on which to make informed decisions balancing the needs of people and nature in four world regions. In May 2019 the Platform will adopt a new global synthesis of the state of nature and ecosystems, the first such report since the landmark Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was published in 2005.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 27/11/2018 17:11:47 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1002713

registered interest
date	06/11/2018
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Biodiversity
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department spent on biodiversity conservation in (a) England and (b) the UK Overseas Territories in each of the last three financial years.
tabling member constituency	Oxford West and Abingdon
tabling member printed	Layla Moran
uin	188902
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2018 answer text <p>Defra spend on biodiversity in England was £278m in 2015/16; and £258m in 2016/17. Figures for 2017/18 are still being compiled for publication, and should be available in July 2019 as part of our update of our Biodiversity Indicators.</p><p>These figures include a proportion of the total expenditure on agri-environment schemes (55% – the proportion that is assessed to directly contribute to biodiversity outcomes specifically). They also include expenditure by Natural England, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission on managing the public estate, advice, research and monitoring.</p><p>This is likely to be an underestimate as spend on biodiversity is integrated into a wide range of Departmental programmes that support multiple outcomes. For example, the figures do not include all spend on marine and fisheries. In 2018/19 £21m will be spent on activities that contribute to the conservation of marine biodiversity. In addition to this, much of the Department’s work to improve the sustainability of our fisheries will also contribute to improving marine biodiversity.</p><p>The main source of Departmental funding for biodiversity in the UK Overseas Territories (OTs) is through Darwin Plus, also known as “The Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund”. Defra’s contribution to Darwin Plus funding in the last three years is as follows: £1.85 million in 2015/16; £2 million in 2016/17; £2 million in 2017/18. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development also contribute.</p><p>Defra leads on a number of environmental protection projects under the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) but these are funded and administered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 12/11/2018 10:59:33 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4656 label Biography information for Layla Moran