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

To ask His Majesty's Government how much DEFRA spent in total in the past financial year to create new opportunities for the public to access nature, or to improve existing public access, excluding engagement programmes.

We are committed both to creating new opportunities for the public to access nature, and to improving existing public access. For instance, in FY24/25 we spent £5.5 million on progressing delivery of the King Charles III England Coast Path and £5.6 million on progressing delivery of the Coast to Coast National Trail. We also spent £5.8 million on our Access for All programme to increase accessibility of the countryside. This excludes funding for engagement programmes such as Generation Green and Green Social Prescribing, and funding for access casework, maintenance, monitoring, and staff costs.