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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in reference to the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change, whether he will set a target to increase the UK’s hedgerow network by 40 per cent.

Defra will encourage and support increased hedgerows through our environmental land management schemes. Working with Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot participants and gathering learning from the pilots, we are incorporating this feedback into the development of the live version of the Hedgerow Standard and its supporting capital items, which are due to be rolled out into the scheme in 2023. Defra is currently working on a response to the Climate Change Committee report and their recommendations, which is likely to be published in early 2023.