Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 4
Third Report - Tree planting
Published 21 Mar 2022
Paragraph 34
Addressed to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Tree Planting and Woodlands All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The financial incentives the Government is providing must make it economically viable to plant trees. The overall direction of travel is laudable, and the interim English Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) provides better incentives than previous schemes. However, getting to net zero may be held up by a lack of progress and clarity on the Government’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, and how the EWCO and ELM schemes will fit together. We recommend that Defra and the Forestry Commission urgently prioritise the publication of a clear and detailed timeline for the introduction of the ELM schemes, including how the EWCO and ELM schemes will fit together, by May 2022. It is essential that Defra does this promptly give farmers and others the certainty they need to kickstart planting. By September 2022, Defra should also publish and invite comments on its modelling that underpins the new incentives regime for tree planting.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Third Report - Tree planting (HC 356), paragraph 34, 21 March 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 June 2022 (deadline 21 May 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government 'welcomes the recommendations' in the Committee's report and says that in many cases it 'has already taken action, or is planning action' to address them.
- On annual targets, it sets a planned England planting profile rising from 2,500 hectares in 2021/22 to 7,500 hectares in 2024/25, which it says is back loaded to allow new grants to become embedded.
- On the Tenancy Working Group, it says "We agree with the recommendation" and has included tree planting by tenant farmers within the group's remit.
- On Wykeham nursery, it gives no commitment to review the closure. It says the decision was "carefully considered" and will not affect tree planting ambitions, and that the site is available to lease by competitive tender.
- On seasonal worker visas, it says 30,000 visas will be available in 2022, to be kept under review with potential to increase by 10,000 "if necessary". It says a nine-month visa "runs counter to the scheme being seasonal only".