Recommendation 16

We asked the Department what its role is in relation to creating and retaining ‘green’ jobs. It told us that the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, established in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and initially funded to £40 million, has been extended in the recent Spending Review, and the fund doubled to £80 million. The Department noted that the initial fund was oversubscribed and estimates that the projects started by it will create around 3,000 new jobs and safeguard around 2,000 existing jobs in a range of nature and conservation activities.44 35 C&AG’s Report, para 2.17 36 Q 77 37 Q 61 38 Q 77 39 Q 80 40 Q 78 41 Q 80 42 Q 79 43 Q 80 44 Q 82 Achieving government’s long-term environmental goals 13 Environmental impacts in spending decisions