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 section 8 of the Environment Act 2021, what steps his Department is taking to include measures to improve people's enjoyment of the natural environment in future environmental improvement plans.

Under the Environment Act, the Government must report annually on the implementation of its 25 Year Environment Plan and review it every five years through publishing a revised Environmental Improvement Plan. In January 2023 we will publish the first EIP that sets out, across 10 goal areas, our cross-government targets/commitments (including Environment Act interim and long-term targets) and the strategies/policies in train to deliver against them.

Defra is delivering programmes to improve people’s enjoyment of the natural environment including: completing the England Coast Path; delivering the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme; leading the cross-government green social prescribing programme and establishing the new Coast to Coast National Trail across the North of England. We are also working across Government and with environmental organisations, businesses and wider society to implement measures to improve people’s enjoyment of nature. The publication of the upcoming Environmental Improvement Plan will summarise delivery of work to increase access to nature across Government to date, and our plans and ambitions for delivering more in this space over the next five years.