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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with stakeholders on the potential impact of rural depopulation on land management, biodiversity and progress towards national climate targets.

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.

Defra has not had specific discussions with rural stakeholders on the potential impact of rural depopulation on land management, biodiversity and progress towards national climate targets.