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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees will be planted in order to reach the Government’s target of 11 million trees in each year from July 2019 to the end of this Parliament.

Between 1st April 2017 and 31st March 2019 we have planted 3.64 million trees towards our target of 11 million by the end of this Parliament, and we are on track to meet the target.

The Woodland Carbon Fund, Woodland Creation Planning Grant and Countryside Stewardship initiatives are already in place to support land managers to plant trees. They are demand-led grant schemes for independent landowners. It is therefore not possible to have exact annual planting figures for future years.

In order to increase tree planting rates, we have simplified the application process for our grant schemes, and made them open for applications year-round. We have also announced £5.7 million to kick start a new Northern Forest, as well as £50 million for the Woodland Carbon Guarantee scheme, which will open for applications this year.