Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data his Department holds on the number of trees planted in Wellingborough constituency since 2010.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forestry Commission publishes statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These can be found in Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares.
This Government has not set specific targets for individual constituencies and the statistic the hon. Member has requested is not currently available.
Our England Trees Action Plan has kickstarted tree planting over the past 3 years. We reported over 3,600 hectares of new woodland and trees outside of woodland planted in 22/23. This represents the highest woodland planting rate for nearly a decade and an almost 40% increase on the previous year. The figures for planting in 23/24 are scheduled to be published as part of Official Statistics in June 2024.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Church plans to take steps to plant trees on diocese lands.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
Diocesan land is managed by individual dioceses at a local level and, as such, the Church Commissioners are unable to plant trees on diocesan property. However, the Church Commissioners work with diocesan teams and other church bodies to encourage the responsible use of land, reducing carbon emissions and increasing biodiversity where appropriate, including incorporating environmental improvement into food production.
The Church Commissioners’ rural estates team has assisted with the creation of a guidance note for diocesan officers on ‘managing land for climate and nature’, attended net zero meetings, and engaged with local diocesan environmental officers. Staff from the Rural Estates team have also met with the Rural Bishops Group to illustrate their work managing the rural estates and share experiences that apply to dioceses. They will continue to share details of tree-planting undertaken by the Commissioners with our diocesan partners and are keen to work together on further improving and implementing good practice.
In 2023, the Church Commissioners planted over 1.5million trees on their Forestry and Farmland holdings, 700,000 of which were in the UK.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees have been planted on behalf of his Department in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency since 2020.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forestry Commission publishes statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These can be found in Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares.
This Government has not set specific targets for individual constituencies and the reporting statistic the hon. Member has requested is not currently available.
Our England Trees Action Plan has kickstarted tree planting, we have planted nearly 13 million trees over the past 3 years. Last year we planted 3,600 hectares of new woodland and trees outside of woodland, this represents the highest planting rate for nearly a decade and an almost 40% increase on the previous year.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 his Department has had with Birmingham City Council on levels of tree planting in Birmingham.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has had no recent discussions with Birmingham City Council on tree planting rates in Birmingham. Local authorities can take advantage of grant schemes to help increase levels of tree planting in their areas, including:
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the 2019 Conservative manifesto commitment to plant an additional 75,000 acres of trees a year by the end of the next Parliament, how much has been spent on tree planting as of 28 February 2024.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Nature for Climate Programme has spent £272.4m between April 2020 and February 2024 on tree planting and activities to increase the capacity of the forestry sector. The Programme will continue to fund these activities until the end of 2024/25, supporting the Government’s commitment to treble tree planting rates by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2024 to Question 8421 on Tree Planting: Finance, for what reason the statistics for planting of trees in Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators, updated on 9 August 2023 are provisional for 2022/23; what the changes are in the revisions of previous years in that release; and for what reason the statistics are released on an annual basis.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
New planting of woodland and trees in England is reported in statistics derived from returns from a number of contributors and range of grant types. After first release of the statistics, it is possible for more accurate data to become available hence the reason the statistics are described as provisional.
The Forestry Commission will normally make necessary revisions to new planting statistics when those figures next appear in any related publication including the Forestry Statistics report and its accompanying datasets, available from the Forest Research website at: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/.
A key reason that statistics on new planting are published annually is that there is one tree planting season a year. The Forestry Commission does publish interim statistics on new planting in England for the first half of the financial year where data are available at mid-year, and these are available in its Headline Performance Updates, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators.
The Forestry Commission seeks to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics published on the UK Statistics Authority website, available at https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) enabling local authorities to set tariffs for the unnecessary felling of trees and (b) using the monies raised for (i) replacement tree planting and (ii) other relevant schemes.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The felling of trees in England is a legally controlled activity regulated by the FC, which, with some exceptions, requires a Felling licence. If a licence is not acquired the felling is an offence and the individual can be subject to a fine. The amount individuals can be fined for illegal felling recently increased, and Forestry Commission can now issue an unlimited fine for felling they deem in breech of regulations.
In many instances it is also possible for the Forestry Commission to serve a Restocking Notice, which compels the offender to restock the land with trees. Recent changes ensured restocking notices are now considered land charges, which means replanting trees will be required on land where trees were wrongly felled, even if the land is sold or new planning permissions are applied for on the land.
Local planning authorities also already have the power to serve Tree Preservation Orders which protect individual trees or areas of trees, even where they are exempt from the need for a felling licence.
Anyone who contravenes an Order by damaging or carrying out work on a tree protected by an Order without getting permission from the local planning authority is guilty of illegal felling and subject to the fine described. No assessment has been made in regard to adding any additional tariffing system, however, we committed to reforming our felling licence system and controls in the England Trees Action Plan; and indeed, strengthened the enforcement provisions of the felling licence regime through the Environment Act 2021.
Further work has begun investigating potential future legislative reforms to the system that would primarily involve the introduction of greater flexibility to licence conditions, improved clarity around felling controls and UK Forestry Standard requirements.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of (a) the adequacy of her Department's tree mapping and (b) the implications for her policies of trends in tree planting.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Forest Research undertakes the National Forest Inventory (NFI) exercise. Measurements collected from field surveys are combined with the area and general woodland composition data derived from the NFI woodland map to generate quantitative estimates of known accuracy describing Britain’s ‘current’ woodland structure, composition, condition, biodiversity and social use. It is a rolling programme designed to provide accurate information about the size, distribution, composition and condition of our forests and woodlands and also about the changes taking place in the woodlands through time. It is essential for developing and monitoring the policies and guidance that support the sustainable management of woodland in Great Britain. You can find more information on the Forest Research website at https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/national-forest-inventory/about-the-nfi/
In 2020 an independent panel carried out a review of the NFI. In this review the NFI’s importance was formally confirmed as being essential in both supporting and evidencing policy and investment decisions. The report and Forest Research response is published on their website at https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/national-forest-inventory/nfi-user-review-2020-findings-and-recommendations/
Forestry Commission has also published an opportunity map of low sensitivity for woodland creation which identifies areas which are more likely to be suitable for woodland creation - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-the-land-information-search. This is to help people who are interested in planting trees, or investing in woodland creation, identify the best places to do so.
We will also publish a Land Use Framework for England in 2023 which will help us to strike the right balance between different land uses as we deliver on our ambitious targets and commitments to improve the environment, deliver Net Zero and support food security.
Asked by: Earl of Leicester (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the overall success rate of tree planting and survival was recorded from local authorities who received funds in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022, from (a) the Local Authority Treescapes Fund, and (b) the Urban Tree Challenge Fund.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Forestry is a devolved matter and so this answer is for England only.
The Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF) has an expected survival rate of 100% for standard trees in the first two years, dropping to 90% from year three. A selection of planting sites is inspected each year. Any excess failures will require remedial action for trees to be replaced. All post-planting reports for the Local Authority Treescape Fund (LATF) confirm a survival rate of at least 75%.
The UTCF also includes three years of establishment payments for weeding, watering and aftercare to help secure successful establishment. In 2022, this government also offered extraordinary payments to UTCF holders to replace trees lost due to the hot and dry weather.
Figures for these funds are provided in the table below.
Year | Fund | Funding awarded (£m) | Local authorities funded |
2021-22 | LATF | 8.4 | 42 |
2021-22 | UTCF | 8.4 | 63 |
2022-23 | LATF | 6.7 | 35 |
2021-23 | UTCF | 3.6 | 39 |
Asked by: Earl of Leicester (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many local authorities in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022, received grants from (a) the Local Authority Treescapes Fund, and (b) the Urban Tree Challenge Fund.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Forestry is a devolved matter and so this answer is for England only.
The Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF) has an expected survival rate of 100% for standard trees in the first two years, dropping to 90% from year three. A selection of planting sites is inspected each year. Any excess failures will require remedial action for trees to be replaced. All post-planting reports for the Local Authority Treescape Fund (LATF) confirm a survival rate of at least 75%.
The UTCF also includes three years of establishment payments for weeding, watering and aftercare to help secure successful establishment. In 2022, this government also offered extraordinary payments to UTCF holders to replace trees lost due to the hot and dry weather.
Figures for these funds are provided in the table below.
Year | Fund | Funding awarded (£m) | Local authorities funded |
2021-22 | LATF | 8.4 | 42 |
2021-22 | UTCF | 8.4 | 63 |
2022-23 | LATF | 6.7 | 35 |
2021-23 | UTCF | 3.6 | 39 |