Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are employed by the non-departmental public bodies of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through Skilled Worker visas.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport does not have a record of the number of people its non-departmental public bodies employ through Skilled Worker visas as they are operationally independent.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many statutory management notices have been issued regarding Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the last three years.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since 9 December 2022, Natural England has issued zero Section 28K Management Notices.

The number of pre-requisite Section 28J Management Schemes issued since 2022 is one (issued on 1 July 2024).

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government the (1) number, and (2) value of grants issued from the Conservation and Enhancement Scheme in the last three years.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

For the financial years 2023/24 to 2025/26, the number of Conservation Enhancement Scheme (CES) grants issued, and their value is as follows:

Notes:

1) Number issued includes direct land manager agreements and SSSI investigations. The latter establish what work may be required to support actions on SSSIs that may be supported through a subsequent CES agreement with the land manager.

2) Value – this is the total value spent on CES agreements in each year. Some of this value is for multi-year CES agreed in previous years.

3) Figures for 2025/26 are expected end of year figures. However, only around £130k of this is still to be agreed in January 2026.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons why the Woodlands for Water project delivered 9 per cent of the target hectares of tree planting.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Woodlands for Water project, funded by Defra and delivered by the Riverscapes Partnership, ran from October 2021 to March 2025. At the end of the project, 288 hectares had been planted, with over 2,200 hectares of sites identified for planting. These are being pursued through other means, including through support from Rivers Trust and progressing planting through the Community Forests where appropriate.

Defra reduced funding to the project in financial year 2024/25 and the project is now closed.

Reasons for planting being below target include particular challenges around riparian planting, which typically involves small land parcels with multiple land managers alongside practical challenges of planting alongside linear features such as rivers.

We are continuing to support riparian planting through the England Woodland Creation Offer, which has stackable supplementary payments for woodlands that improve water quality, reduce the risk of flooding, and riparian buffers that improve water habitat. Our Water Environment Improvement Fund also supports targeted woodland creation for water benefits.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas by each department (including non-ministerial departments) and their executive agencies.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This information is not held centrally and would only be held by individual departments.

Found: the meeting Members present: Lord Carter of Coles (The Chair); Lord Blencathra; Baroness Cass; Baroness Coffey

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