Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enable more people to benefit from the (1) mental, (2) physical, and (3) social, health benefits of (a) green spaces, and (b) gardening.

In 2020, Public Health England published Improving access to greenspace: A new review for 2020, which examined the health effects access to green space, including gardening. The report found evidence that exposure to greenspaces can promote and protect good health, aid in recovery from illness and help with managing poor physical and mental health, including social impacts such as loneliness and community interaction. A copy of the review is attached.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is supporting the preparation of a national cross-Government framework of green infrastructure standards, to ensure new developments include accessible green spaces and areas with little or no green space can be improved for the benefit of local communities. Good quality green infrastructure plays an important role in addressing issues of social inequality and environmental decline in urban and rural locations, whilst also leading to better places to live.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is leading a cross-Government project on tackling mental ill-health through green social prescribing with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement, Natural England, Sport England and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The project is taking place between April 2021 to April 2023 at seven sites in England. It will test ideas for embedding green social prescribing such as gardening and walking into communities, in order to improve mental health outcomes including social health; reduce health inequalities; reduce demand on the health and social care system; and develop best practice in making green social activities more resilient and accessible.