Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under which category of expenditure her Department funds the Sussex Wildlife Trust; and for what purpose. [89058]

Richard Benyon MP; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State: DEFRA does not provide core funding to the Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT). However, the trust has received departmental funding for some particular purposes. In September 2011 DEFRA awarded SWT, on behalf of the Sussex Biodiversity Partnership, a one-off grant from the Local Nature Partnership capacity building fund to help it to explore the potential for a Local Nature Partnership in Sussex. In 2011-12 DEFRA's Biodiversity Programme provided funds for a small study to review and standardise the collection of information on occurrence of wild species and habitats in the south east of England. This project was led by the

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Sussex Biodiversity Records Centre, which is hosted by SWT. SWT also receives annual funding in respect of agri-environment agreements funded through the Rural Development Programme for England.

SWT receives small grants from Natural England and the Environment Agency which both also fund the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre for ongoing supply of data on species and habitats to support conservation planning. Additionally, the Environment Agency plans to fund a partnership project between the SWT, the Environment Agency and the Woodland Trust which will deliver environmental improvements in the Sussex Ouse catchment.