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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what body is responsible for monitoring progress against the 2017 Conservative manifesto commitment to plant 1 million trees in towns and cities; and (a) what progress his Department has made towards and (b) what his timescale is for achieving that commitment.

DEFRA will track progress towards its 1 Million urban tree commitment, including by drawing on the Forestry Commission’s wider monitoring of trees planted with central government support. An initial assessment of progress will be made in the spring of 2020, when the first Urban Tree Challenge Fund projects are up and running. The timescale for meeting the commitment is the end of the current Parliament in 2022.