Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
Third Report - Tree planting
Published 21 Mar 2022
Paragraph 44
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 Minister told us that the £500m allocated by the Government to woodland creation and management from 2020 to 2025 wouldn’t be enough to realise the Government ambitions, and it is not clear whether the extra funding committed in the Spending Review will fill the gaps identified by the Minister. Defra needs to clearly set out what it can achieve with the current funding allocated to woodland creation and management, and what the gap is between this and the Government’s ambitions. Defra, HM Treasury and the sector should work together to create a plan to fill any funding gaps to secure the level of funding required to support a robust woodland creation contribution to reaching net zero.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Third Report - Tree planting (HC 356), paragraph 44, 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".