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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will fund from the public purse the 13 National Trails for £1.6 million annually until 2021.

Business planning and financial allocations have not yet been completed and we are therefore not yet in a position to announce the future level of funding until 2021 for the 13 national trails.

Natural England wrote to each of the national trail partnerships last December making an interim offer of 50% of the funding made to each of the national trails in 2017/18. The offer was an advance contribution towards the costs the partnerships would incur in 2018/19 in the absence of Natural England being able to confirm its overall funding position for 2018/19.