Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Conclusion 6
First Report - Soil health
Published 5 Dec 2023
Paragraph 37
Addressed to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Soil Health All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
There is a lack of leadership and focus on soil health in Government policy. The awaited land use framework could certainly help but, given that the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and the Environment Act targets are already the central focus of policy and scrutiny, we believe that it would be better to also focus these targets on soils, giving them equal status to air and water and therefore encouraging better integration of these interdependent elements of the environment. The next update of the EIP is due by 2028, a date by which a baseline map of soil health should be ready. This presents a perfect opportunity to update the EIP and the Environment Act targets to better incorporate soils; and for the Government to refine its target to get more soils under “sustainable management.”
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, First Report - Soil health (HC 245), paragraph 37, 5 December 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 21 March 2024 (deadline 5 February 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it welcomes the Committee's recommendations and is "carefully considering them alongside our existing initiatives", while setting out its own timings and positions on individual recommendations.
- On soil data, national soil monitoring is under way within the tNCEA programme, with the soil health baseline due "by 2028, subject to further capital funding". Defra will publish a progress report on the soil health indicator by June 2024.
- On statutory soil targets, the government sees target-setting as "an iterative process" and will "keep our targets framework under review". The next Environmental Improvement Plan review is due in 2028.
- On annual reporting for ELM schemes, it is reviewing how best to meet its Agriculture Act 2020 reporting commitment and says it is "unlikely" that it can report annually on soil health impacts.
- On soil remediation and reuse, it intends to pilot a Soil Reuse and Depot scheme by December 2026 and expects revised construction guidance by summer 2024. It will assess voluntary approaches "before considering any regulatory models, or the need for a specific taskforce".