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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of progress on meeting the target of 11 million trees planted in England by 2022.

The Forestry Commission produces Official Statistics on new planting of woodland. The previous government set a target to plant 11 million trees with central government support in England in the period from 2017 to 2022, and the latest interim report shows that 5,036 hectares of land, equating to about 8,286,000 trees, were newly planted in the 3.5 years from April 2017 to September 2020, on track to achieve that target. The statistics are available here: Government supported new planting of trees in England: Interim update for the half year April to September 2020

The current government has committed to increase tree planting to 30,000 hectares per year by 2025, across the whole UK. This is in line with the rate recommended by the Climate Change Committee and reflects the role trees can play in combating climate change.