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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, what outcome measures her Department will use to assess the impact of projects funded under the Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature Grants Programme.

All recipients of OCEAN Grants are required to agree outcomes and to monitor and report on progress including of proposed environmental benefits, throughout the grant lifecycle. During the application phase, proposed outcomes and the indicators used to measure progress are agreed and assessed by an external Expert Committee.

An independent evaluation of the programme is planned and will provide further evidence on progress towards agreed outcomes and overall impact.