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

To ask His Majesty's Government what was their original target number of apprenticeships supported by the Green Recovery Challenge Fund Round 1, and how many apprenticeships were completed.

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund (GRCF) was an £80 million fund over two rounds to support nature recovery and conservation across England between 2020 and 2023. It was developed by the last government in response to COVID-19 and administered on behalf of Defra by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF). Comprehensive independent evaluation reports for both rounds are available on the NLHF website.

The GRCF was an open grant programme that sought to meet a range of objectives. While green jobs and skills was a key objective of the Fund, no target was set for the number of apprenticeships supported.

Monitoring data from grantees show that 252 apprenticeship roles were created across Round 1, accounting for 201 Full-Time Equivalents.