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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to use measures of socioeconomic deprivation to inform targeted tree planting programmes in urban areas.

The Trees Programme includes a number of schemes that support urban tree planting. We know that lower urban tree cover often correlates with higher socioeconomic deprivation. England’s Community Forests (ECF) help address this by planting trees in and around urban areas; improving wellbeing, tackling climate change and creating places for nature with over 1800 Ha planted in 2025/26.

In line with development of spatial targeting, informed by the Land Use Framework, we are exploring new datasets and tools to better target new trees and woodlands, including future support for urban trees, and how to prioritise areas of deprivation.