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 her Department has made of the progress the Forestry Commission has made towards achieving its target of improving the semi-natural score of plantation in ancient woodland sites by at least one class by 2044.

Progress towards the target is assessed annually through Forestry England's semi-natural scoring of plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS), which is reported in Forestry England's Natural Capital Accounts. Between April 2024 and April 2026, 337 hectares moved out of semi-natural score 4 and 303 hectares moved into semi-natural score 1, demonstrating progress towards the 2044 target of improving the semi-natural score of PAWS by at least one class.