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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase biodiversity in UK gardens.

Under the National Pollinator Strategy the Government works with research, voluntary and private sector partners to develop advice so everyone can provide and manage nesting and feeding habitat for bees and other insects in their gardens, window boxes, allotments or community gardens. We promote this advice through the Bees’ Needs website and through the Defra-coordinated, annual Bees’ Needs Week campaign to celebrate and encourage nationwide action. Advice includes Five Simple Actions, detailing steps that gardeners can take to help pollinators and garden biodiversity.

The Government is also addressing the needs of biodiversity in urban areas through its plans to introduce a mandatory biodiversity net gain requirement for development in England. This will help to ensure that new developments include wildlife-friendly green spaces.

We will continue to work in partnership with scientists and practitioners to review and improve the evidence base, to inform our policy and we will be sharing examples of nature-friendly gardening during the 2019 Year of Green Action. This will include a garden, developed in partnership with the Sensory Trust, at this year’s Royal Horticultural Society Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, which will showcase the many ways in which gardens can contribute to increased biodiversity.