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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has taken steps to help increase domestic production of virgin and waste wood.

Trees are at the forefront of Government action on Net Zero – not just because of the carbon they lock up as they grow, but because of the carbon that stays locked up when timber is put into long-term use.

We have set a new legal target that will see tree cover reach 16.5% of England’s total land area by 2050, which will increase productive woodland.

Our Woodlands into Management Forestry Innovation Funds are supporting projects that will develop new technologies and working practices to help homegrown timber production meet demand.

Last year, we published the Timber in Construction Roadmap setting out the Government’s plan to increase the safe use of timber in construction in England.

We increased the recycling target for businesses handling wood packaging in 2024 to 42% (from 35% in 2023) and will be setting recycling targets to 2030 as part of the new packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations that will come into force later this year.