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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Woodland Carbon Guarantee Scheme on biodiversity loss; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the criteria of the scheme to include the enhancement of biodiversity.

Trees planted under the Woodland Carbon Guarantee will be required to meet high standards around sustainable forest management, resilience and biodiversity, in line with the UK Forestry Standard, in order to qualify for funding.

Defra and the Forestry Commission are working with the forestry sector and green finance experts to develop the details of the scheme.