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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the relationship between access to core utilities and population retention in remote rural areas.

Rural policy is a devolved matter. Defra regularly publishes statistics on a range of social and economic topics including rural population trends, and rural service provision in The Statistical Digest for Rural England.

Net internal migration within England tends to be towards rural authorities, and in 2023 the rate of this migration was higher than in 2013; the exception to this is 15- to- 19- year-olds for which there is net migration from rural authorities, reflecting the movement of students.

Despite this we know that people living in rural areas often have greater distances to travel to access essential services and can struggle to access other core utilities.

This Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural business and communities. We have made a commitment that all policy decision-making including the provision of utility infrastructure should be rural proofed to ensure that rural areas are not overlooked and that the intended outcomes are deliverable in rural areas.