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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department provides to the tree officer profession in the arboricultural sector.

Defra and the Forestry Commission, provide regular support, engagement and dialogue with local authority tree officers and their professional associations (The Association Of Tree Officers; The London Tree Officer's Association; and The Municipal Tree Officers Association) on matters pertinent to them and their members respectively.

This work is ongoing and has led to the development of The Urban Tree Manual and The Urban Tree Challenge Fund, the England Trees Action Plan and most recently the new duty for local authorities to consult on the felling of street trees contained within the Environment Act 2021. Defra continues to work with tree officers to refine and publish guidance for local authorities on how to implement this duty, which we intend to publish in late 2022.