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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of specialised staff working in the climate and natural environment sectors; and what assessment they have made of any risks arising from skilled staff transferring to other sectors.

The Government recognises the challenges to ensuring a skilled workforce to achieve Net Zero and our environmental goals and targets. We have committed to publishing a Green Jobs Plan in 2024, which we are currently working with employers to develop through the Green Jobs Delivery Group. The Plan will outline actions to support the upskilling and retention of staff with specialist climate and environmental skills to develop a skilled and sufficiently sized workforce.

To inform this Plan, we have been undertaking workforce assessments for key sectors, engaging with industry leads to understand the cross-cutting themes, shortages and skills gaps related to the needs of the Net Zero and Nature workforce.