Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Conservators of Ashdown Forest are considered to be a public authority.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Whether the Conservators of Ashdown Forest are considered a public authority depends on the specific legal context. There is no general or universal definition of a public authority in UK law. It may include any individual or organisation that carries out functions on behalf of the public or a particular section of the public. Where an organisation needs to understand if it is defined as a public authority in a particular context, it will need to seek its own independent legal advice.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many sites of special scientific interest in England were assessed in (1) 2021, (2) 2022, (3) 2023, and (4) 2024.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 1 April 2023 Natural England changed from a unit (or area)-based assessment and corresponding reporting process to one based on the features within each site, called Whole Feature Assessment. A feature is a habitat, species or geological characteristic for which the site is important.
More information is available here TIN216 Edition 2 Environment Act Interim Target for protected sites - TIN216 and a copy is attached.
As of March 2025, the proportion of SSSI features that had an up-to-date condition assessment in England is 31.6%
The breakdown of the number of assessments in England in each of those years was as follows:
2021- 939 assessments
2022- 781 assessments
2023- 591 assessments
2024- 921 assessments
The number of assessments in a year refers to either an assessment of a unit (pre-2023), or a feature (from 2023) on a site and not to a whole site. More than one unit or feature may be assessed on a site in a year, and the same site may have been visited in more than 1 year to monitor different units or features.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many sites of special scientific interest in England have up-to-date condition assessments.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 1 April 2023 Natural England changed from a unit (or area)-based assessment and corresponding reporting process to one based on the features within each site, called Whole Feature Assessment. A feature is a habitat, species or geological characteristic for which the site is important.
More information is available here TIN216 Edition 2 Environment Act Interim Target for protected sites - TIN216 and a copy is attached.
As of March 2025, the proportion of SSSI features that had an up-to-date condition assessment in England is 31.6%
The breakdown of the number of assessments in England in each of those years was as follows:
2021- 939 assessments
2022- 781 assessments
2023- 591 assessments
2024- 921 assessments
The number of assessments in a year refers to either an assessment of a unit (pre-2023), or a feature (from 2023) on a site and not to a whole site. More than one unit or feature may be assessed on a site in a year, and the same site may have been visited in more than 1 year to monitor different units or features.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have set a deadline for the Marine Management Organisation to issue byelaws for consultation for the remaining Marine Protected Areas.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department has not set a deadline for consultation due to the need to follow due process and consider how we can best meet the Government’s priorities. The Government recognises the need for action to protect and restore our marine environment, including meeting the Environment Act target for Marine Protected Areas, while supporting a sustainable fishing industry.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on the River Deben Action Plan.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Publicly launched in May 2024 the "Recovering the Deben - From Source to Sea" action plan developed by The East Suffolk Catchment Partnership (ESCP) continues to secure action in the catchment. Since the plan’s launch, the East Suffolk Catchment Partnership has been working with landowners to develop natural flood management schemes in the upper catchment, with the Forestry Commission to improve woodland connectivity, and with a wide range of stakeholders to improve riparian habitats. In addition, the partners have come together to share monitoring and evidence and are developing a State of the Deben Report. A successful bid on behalf of the partnership by the Rivers Trust into the Water Restoration Fund marks a major milestone in supporting the action plan ambitions. With funding in place, the Rivers Trust is recruiting a Programme Manager to work with partners, stakeholders, and local communities to secure further improvements such as addressing fish passage, installing buffer strips alongside the watercourse throughout the catchment, the use of nutrient attenuation ponds, and increasing the understanding of catchment water quality impacts on the Deben Estuary, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in need of recovery.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on environmental targets, particularly species abundance and reducing river nutrient pollution.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have paused the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) ahead of reforming it. This is the third time SFI has been paused. We will confirm plans for the reformed SFI in the summer and we expect that scheme to contribute to these outcomes. There are also tens of thousands of farmers in SFI for three years, supporting those outcomes.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 18 February (HL4686), whether they will now answer the question put, namely how many miles of the King Charles III England Coast Path (1) have been, and (2) are still to be, completed.
Answered by Baroness Hayman
The Government is continuing to make progress on the King Charles III England Coast Path (KCIIIECP), with over 51% of the path completed and now open for public use.
Of the remaining 1,270 miles, establishment works are underway on 976 miles, with less than 300 miles still to be approved. The entire project is set to be completed by Spring 2026, and when finished, the KCIIIECP will become the longest waymarked and managed coastal walking route in the world.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the budget for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was and is in 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budgets are published as Supplementary Estimates each year.
The table provided below shows the Departmental Expenditure Limits following Supplementary Estimates for the Resource and Capital Budgets, excluding Annually Managed Expenditure and Non-Budget Expenditure.
Year | Resource DEL £m's | Capital DEL £m's | Total DEL £m’s |
2021-2022 | £4,444.55 | £1,420.23 | £5,864.78 |
2022-2023 | £4,743.14 | £1,761.60 | £6,504.74 |
2023-2024 | £5,381.61 | £2,112.65 | £7,494.26 |
2024-2025 | £5,694.28 | £2,300.31 | £7,994.59 |
Further details can be found by searching for the published Central Government Supply Estimates for the relevant years on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many miles of the King Charles III England Coast Path (1) have been, and (2) are still to be, completed.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The King Charles III England Coast Path is expected to be completed by Spring 2026. This government has inherited a delivery programme that has been delayed by several factors such as rising costs of materials and constrained capacity in local authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the King Charles III England Coast Path to be completed.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The King Charles III England Coast Path is expected to be completed by Spring 2026. This government has inherited a delivery programme that has been delayed by several factors such as rising costs of materials and constrained capacity in local authorities.