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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the minutes from the Biodiversity Target Advisory Group meetings that have taken place since 26 October 2020; and for what reason there has been a delay in publishing those minutes.

Expert groups have been invaluable in helping inform environmental target development. They have provided guidance on evidence processes and best available evidence bespoke to individual proposed targets. The discussions held by these groups, such as the Biodiversity Target Advisory Group, Water Expert Advisory Group and Resources & Waste Targets Expert Group, have been informative and complex. We are seeking to publish the minutes of all expert meetings as part of a package of information that explains how target proposals have been developed. This will be published alongside a public consultation on proposed targets in early 2022.

The minutes of all expert group meetings will be made publicly available via the Gov.uk website alongside all existing minutes, and expert group Secretariats will continue to maintain oversight of the drafting and publication of minutes. Given the systems approach to target development, we consider that publishing all the minutes in a tranche will best inform the consultation process.