Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 30 October (HL Deb, col 1155), who will sit on the parks action group; and how frequently it intends to meet.

The Parks Action Group will bring together government officials from Departments with an interest in parks and green spaces alongside experts from across the parks, leisure, heritage and environmental sectors. The first meeting will take place on 23rd November and will be chaired by Marcus Jones (Minister for Parks and Green Spaces).

The Parks Action Group will convene thematic meetings as required to support delivery of the group’s collectively agreed actions. Marcus Jones will chair a further formal meeting of the Parks Action Group in 2018, to assess progress.

The members of the Parks Action Group (Sectoral Group) are:

• Drew Bennellick, Head of Landscape & Natural Heritage UK, Heritage Lottery Fund
• Matthew Bradbury, CEO, Parks Alliance
• Graham Duxbury, CEO, Groundwork
• Helen Griffiths, CEO, Fields In Trust
• Cllr Gerald Vernon Jackson, Chair of the Local Government Association
• Dave Morris, Chair, National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces
• Paul O’Brien, CEO, Association of Public Service Excellence
• Ellie Robinson, Assistant Director, National Trust
• Dave Solly, Natural England
• Keep Britain Tidy, CEO, Allison Ogden-Newton

The members of the Parks Action Group (Cross-Departmental Group) will be senior officials for the policy areas with an interest in Parks and Green Spaces from the following Departments:

• Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra)
• Department of Health (DH)
• Department for Education (DfE)
• Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)
• Home Office (HO)
• Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)