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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees have been planted in England in each of the last five years.

The Forestry Commission routinely publishes statistics on planting rates in England as part of its Key Performance Indicators.

The reporting of new planting in terms of numbers of trees, reproduced in the table below, is based on the area of grant claims approved for payment under the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), and from 2017-18 all other recorded forms of Government support. Together this accounts for nearly all new planting of woodland in England.

The Government’s support for this woodland creation has predominantly been from the Countryside Stewardship scheme (under the RDPE). Further Government support has been through Forestry England, the Woodland Carbon Fund, the High Speed 2 Woodland Fund, the Environment Agency, the National Forest Company, and in the Northern Forest.