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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the evidence pack for the nature recovery green paper will be published; and whether he plans to extend the consultation.

There is no additional evidence pack for the Nature Recovery Green Paper. The initial proposals set out in the Nature Recovery Green Paper are based on publicly available evidence and advice from our experts. Alongside the Nature Recovery Green Paper, we published a summary of the HRA Review Working Group's findings, as well as guidance on regulation 9 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.

The Nature Recovery Green Paper consultation was published on 16 March and will run for 8 weeks, closing on 11 May.

The evidence reports and impact assessments for the Environmental Targets consultation are currently undergoing final assurance. The length of the consultation response period will be extended to reflect the length of delay in publishing the underlying evidence reports.