To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to ensure provisions on the protection of nature transposed from EU law into UK law are upheld in legislation.
Answered on
24 October 2022
We have been clear about the importance of environmental protection across the United Kingdom, not least through our world leading Environment Act, which includes a legally binding target to halt the decline of nature by 2030. We have legislated through the Environment Act and will continue to improve our regulations and wildlife laws in line with our ambitious vision.
Earlier this year we published a Nature Recovery Green Paper, setting out proposals to reform our system of protections, including the Habitats Regulations. The Nature Recovery Green Paper consultation closed in May and we are now in the process of analysing responses and will publish a response on conclusion of this exercise.
My department is carefully considering the scope of the delegated powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, and whether they can be used to deliver a better, bespoke British system of nature protections to replace the provisions in the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended).