Nature Premium

The Nature Premium Campaign is asking the government to guarantee regular and ongoing nature experiences for all children and young people with additional funding for those who need it most. As a quick update, we have: • A Corker of an idea! • Governance – We are Sector Specialist Group within the Institute of Outdoor Learning managed by a constituted Steering Group. • Expertise and support - The Steering Group is made up of representatives from major conservation organisations, and three head teachers. We are also being supported by Bishop Jonathan Frost (the CofE education lead). • A practical proposal - where the Nature Premium funding would go directly to each education setting to be used to support the children and young people’s regular and ongoing nature experiences with respect to their life experiences and the school location. • A Financial Model - the Social Bridging Finance Trial (SBF) model that has been designed to allow public bodies to test innovative policies at no financial risk, until the benefit has been proven. In this model the funders, policymakers, and implementers work in partnership and negotiate the responsibilities and Key Outcomes of the trial. Funders would support the Nature Premium SBF trial for 3 years on the condition that when Key Outcomes are achieved the public body sustainably funds the policy. • A funding Coalition – we have started to build our funding coalition to create an ambitious trial proposal. • Where will the money come from? We know it’s the obvious question, question, and we have been collecting ideas such as a UK version of '1% for the planet' funding. We think that a funding coalition is practical when Labour said that they would borrow to invest. Earlier this year Kenneth Ferguson (who designed the SBF model) and I made a presentation to Stephen Morgan MP about the Nature Premium proposal, his response was ‘why wouldn’t you do that?’