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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of UK seas out to 200nm are designated as (a) Special Areas of Conservation and (b) Marine Conservation Zones.

The Government is committed to creating a Blue Belt of Marine Protected Areas around our coast. Currently 7.6% of UK seas are designated as Special Areas of Conservation, 1.4% as Special Protection Areas and 8.0% as Marine Conservation Zones (known as Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas in Scotland). Accounting for overlaps, a total of 16.2% of UK seas are designated as Marine Protected Areas.