Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that organisations in Scotland are able to participate in its programmes to expand tree planting.

Forestry is a devolved area of responsibility. However, the UK Government continually engages with the Scottish Government to realise our high ambitions for increasing planting across the UK. We are confident that we are on track to meet the UK-wide target of planting 30,000ha per year by the end of this Parliament.

All of the administrations play a part in delivering the programme and to share best practice and work together on cross-border projects. In fact, Scottish Forestry is leading the review of the UK Forestry Standard, which sets out the UK’s approach to sustainable forest management, and the report is due for publication in late 2022.