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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what evaluation they have carried out of the benefits of the grant-in-aid they provide to the National Forest Company.

Since 1995, the grant in aid provided by Defra to the National Forest Company (NFC) has facilitated benefits to the environment, economy and communities with an increase in forest cover from 6% in 1991 to nearly 21% in 2018, planting 8.7 million trees and creating more than 7,000 hectares of new habitat. 70% of woodlands have been brought into active management and there has been an increase in the visitor economy of 30% with an economic impact of £428 million each year, supporting more than 5,000 jobs.

A report commissioned by Defra and the NFC (attached) in 2010 calculated a net present value for the National Forest of £721 million between 1991 and 2100. The report estimated that by 2100 the cost-benefit ratio of the National Forest will be 1:4.8 for regeneration, biodiversity, wildlife and non-use values, landscape, recreation, carbon sequestration and timber production. The largest contributor to the benefits is the recreational value. The additional indirect benefits of regeneration, ecosystem services, health, education and social care are not captured in this analysis.