Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable Group report Growing a Green Economy: The importance of ornamental horticulture and landscaping to the UK, published in August, and accompanying plan Unlocking green growth: A plan from the ornamental horticulture & landscaping industry.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra recognises the crucial role that the domestic ornamental horticulture industry plays both in promoting people’s well-being and to the economy. The Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable Group (OHRG) report and associated action plan identifies how barriers to the sector’s growth can be unlocked through a collaborative approach between Government and industry.
Whilst no specific assessment of this has been made, Defra has been working closely with the OHRG and the sector to build on good work already happening within the industry, and will ensure that where Government can help, it will support the opportunities outlined in the report and its associated action plan.