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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the ecology sector as part of delivering nature recovery objectives and wider green economic growth.

Our environmental improvement plan provides a stable, long-term framework for investment and a guide for the developing the technologies and skills to deliver it. We recognise the importance of the ecology sector in supporting project pipelines for Biodiversity Net Gain, the Woodland Carbon Code and other schemes.

The Environment Agency is developing an Ecology Discipline within its Science Profession, restructuring its ecologists’ technical development and aligning their capabilities to the Government Science and Engineering Profession. This will clarify professional standards, define technical capabilities, and help workforce planning to ensure it has the skills needed to deliver nature recovery and green economic growth. It will help the retention of skilled staff by enabling career paths to be mapped across different ecological functions. We will continue to monitor the ecology sector and potential need for additional measures.

The Government is currently consulting on the proposed subject content of a new Natural History GCSE: New natural history GCSE to grow next generation of green careers - GOV.UK. This new qualification will help students build a strong understanding of the natural world, alongside the knowledge, skills and hands-on experience to build careers in the ecology sector.