Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 9
Third Report - Tree planting
Published 21 Mar 2022
Paragraph 64
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)
Tree nursery representatives and the Forestry Commission told us that nurseries in the UK will struggle to expand production to deliver the number of young trees required for the Government to achieve its planting ambitions by the end of this Parliament. We believe that the Government should aim to meet all UK planting needs from domestically grown trees. To achieve this the Government needs to give the sector greater confidence to invest and expand production, given that it can take up to four years to grow the trees required for planting. We reiterate our recommendation that the UK Government set annual targets for the number Tree planting 41 of trees that will be planted in England, which we believe would greatly help the sectors’ confidence in the Government’s commitment to tree planting. We also ask the Government to update us on progress establishing a confidential information sharing system with nurseries, and on the outcomes of the £10m invested via the tree production innovation fund.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Third Report - Tree planting (HC 356), paragraph 64, 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".