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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications have been made to the Green Recovery Challenge Fund; and what amount of that funding has been applied for to date.

The £40 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund is a short-term competitive fund that will kick-start environmental renewal whilst creating and retaining jobs in the conservation sector across England. The fund was launched on 14 September and is being delivered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. There are separate application processes for grants of over £250,000 and grants of under £250,000. Applicants for the larger grants were required to submit an Expression of Interest in advance of a full application.

We have received 202 Expressions of Interest, totalling £270.6 million. 56 of these, totalling £72.1 million, have been invited to submit full applications for the larger grant size. For the smaller grant size, 565 applications were received, totalling £97.4 million.

I am very pleased that the fund has received such a high level of interest. Defra, National Lottery Heritage Fund and our ALBs are working very hard to complete the assessment process and ensure this money is made available as soon as possible to kick start projects on the ground this winter. This will support our ambitions for a green recovery, delivering nature and climate projects while creating and retaining jobs across the country.