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 prevent Natural England having a conflict of interest as (a) regulator and (b) service provider in the nutrient credit market.

Natural England has robust internal processes in place to ensure the integrity of their advice to Local Planning Authorities and others - including with respect to nutrient neutrality and nutrient mitigation standards and services.

While Natural England provides advice, it is Local Planning Authorities who make decisions on what nutrient mitigation to accept.

In accordance with the Direction from the Secretary of State of 28 July 2022, Natural England only intervenes to establish nutrient mitigation schemes itself where there is market failure, prioritising those catchments where interventions will have the most impact in addressing development pressures.

The Government recognises the importance of avoiding any perception of conflict of interest and will continue to ensure that standard setting and service delivery are clearly seen to be independent as nature services markets develop and mature.