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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the area of new woodland planting was in 2015-16; and what assessment she has made of progress towards meeting her Department's target for such planting.

Forestry is a devolved matter and the answer refers to England only.

Figures published by the Forestry Commission show that between April 2015-June 2016, 1,292,000 trees were planted on 968 hectares, supported by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).

In addition, the Forestry Commission estimates that a further 165 hectares of woodland was created without RDPE support during 2015-16.

The Government remains committed to planting 11 million trees during this Parliament.