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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that air quality standards are improved across the UK by the planting of trees.

The Government’s plans for tackling air quality are set out in the national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide, which was published in December 2015 and will be revised by 31 July this year. The Government is considering the extent to which trees might be used as part of the wider mix of actions to improve air quality, which will be informed by a report from the Air Quality Expert Group.