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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to set a target for the creation of new native woodland; and what steps they are taking (1) to avoid reliance on imported trees, and (2) to manage and increase native woodland while ensuring that such woodland remains in good ecological condition.

We are committed to increasing woodland establishment across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by 2025. To achieve this, we announced a £640m Nature for Climate Fund which will encourage woodland creation of all kinds to achieve this.

To decrease reliance on imported saplings we are boosting domestic tree nursery capacity, including through a joint £2m investment alongside the Scottish and Welsh governments. We will also set out further plans to support domestic nurseries in due course.

To improve biodiversity and resilience, we will increase woodland management. This ensures diversity of trees' ages and species, maximising resilience to climate change, pests and diseases.