Written questions by Stephenson.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to provide guidance to forestry authorities on prioritising energy generation in the context of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

The forestry renewables measure, announced as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, aims to integrate renewable energy into our natural landscape. Provisions will be in place to ensure that renewable energy developments on forestry land are not at the expense of our natural environment. Forestry England’s general duty to promote the interests of forestry and development of afforestation, as set out by the Forestry Act, will be unchanged. The Public Forest Estate comprises a mixture of woodland and non-woodland areas. Only projects at suitable locations within the Public Forest Estate will be taken forward to deliver energy generation projects. Renewable energy developments will be subject to the planning process which will include environmental screening, surveys, and mitigation measures on any potential impacts on landscapes and ecology. The estimated footprint of these projects will be relatively small, and we expect no net loss of woodland area.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of hectares of forestry land that will be made available for energy generation, in the context of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

The forestry renewables measure, announced as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, aims to integrate renewable energy into our natural landscape. Provisions will be in place to ensure that renewable energy developments on forestry land are not at the expense of our natural environment. Forestry England’s general duty to promote the interests of forestry and development of afforestation, as set out by the Forestry Act, will be unchanged. The Public Forest Estate comprises a mixture of woodland and non-woodland areas. Only projects at suitable locations within the Public Forest Estate will be taken forward to deliver energy generation projects. Renewable energy developments will be subject to the planning process which will include environmental screening, surveys, and mitigation measures on any potential impacts on landscapes and ecology. The estimated footprint of these projects will be relatively small, and we expect no net loss of woodland area.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees he plans to plant in Bedfordshire as part of plans to increase woodland cover.

Tree planting grant schemes are demand led so it is not generally possible to state where the trees will be newly planted, although a range of sensitivities will prevent permission to plant being granted in some locations. Additional planting will be dependent on future applications. The Forestry Commission publishes statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These can be found in Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares. This government has not set specific targets for individual constituencies and the reporting statistic the hon. Member has requested is not currently available. The statistics are produced annually and show recorded new planting from administrative records and grant schemes with estimates for planting without grant aid.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to help grow the forestry sector in Bedfordshire.

Defra is funding a significant package of grants and activity across England to increase tree coverage and support the forestry sector. This includes funding a national network of fifteen Community Forests. These Forests are planting thousands of hectares of new trees and woodland in and around our towns and cities providing social, economic and environmental transformation. The Forest of Marston Vale is one of this network with tree planting sites in Bedfordshire. On 27 February 2025 the Government also relaunched the Timber in Construction Roadmap. The Roadmap will boost the forestry sector across England by encouraging the use of sustainable, low carbon building materials, fulfilling Government’s commitment to 1.5million homes, creating a circular economy and accelerating economic growth. These actions will go alongside recommitting to existing plans such as promoting timber as a construction material, boosting skills and capacity across the supply chain and increasing the supply of sustainable timber products.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Forestry and Arboriculture Training Fund will support courses available in Bedfordshire.

The Forestry and Arboriculture Training Fund is currently closed for applications. The Forestry Commission is collecting feedback from those who have attended the course and will be working with key stakeholders to deliver the Forestry Sector Skills Plan.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of all (a) ancient and (b) veteran trees included in the Ancient Woodland inventory.

The Ancient Woodland inventory (AWI) identifies the location of ancient woodland sites and does not map individual ancient and veteran trees therein or outside of ancient woodlands. The Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI) is hosted and managed by the Woodland Trust and records the number and location of ancient and veteran trees. It currently has 190,000 trees mapped for the UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 6 of the ADAS and Stephenson Halliday's report entitled Review of the implementation of National Planning Policy Framework para 186c, published on 27 August 2024, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of planning officers' specialist arboricultural expertise.

We are using the evidence from this Review (Review of the implementation of the NPPF para 186 (c) in applications and appeals in or within 15 metres of ancient woodlands or near ancient and veteran trees), and subsequent engagement with stakeholders, to explore what options are available to improve the implementation of the NPPF regarding ancient woodland and ancient and veteran trees.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 3 of the ADAS and Stephenson Halliday's report entitled Review of the implementation of National Planning Policy Framework para 186c, published on 27 August 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations on compensation strategies.

We are using the evidence from this Review (Review of the implementation of the NPPF para 186 (c) in applications and appeals in or within 15 metres of ancient woodlands or near ancient and veteran trees), and subsequent engagement with stakeholders, to explore what options are available to improve the implementation of the NPPF regarding ancient woodland and ancient and veteran trees.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government on the potential merits of requiring arboricultural (a) reports and (b) impact assessments for all major developments.

We are using the evidence from this Review (Review of the implementation of the NPPF para 186 (c) in applications and appeals in or within 15 metres of ancient woodlands or near ancient and veteran trees), and subsequent engagement with stakeholders, to explore what options are available to improve the implementation of the NPPF regarding ancient woodland and ancient and veteran trees.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 3 of the ADAS and Stephenson Halliday's report entitled Review of the implementation of National Planning Policy Framework para 186c, published on 27 August 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations on mitigation strategies.

We are using the evidence from this Review (Review of the implementation of the NPPF para 186 (c) in applications and appeals in or within 15 metres of ancient woodlands or near ancient and veteran trees), and subsequent engagement with stakeholders, to explore what options are available to improve the implementation of the NPPF regarding ancient woodland and ancient and veteran trees.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 3 of the ADAS and Stephenson Halliday's report entitled Review of the implementation of National Planning Policy Framework para 186c, published on 27 August 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the paragraph on Identification of ancient and veteran status.

We are using the evidence from this Review (Review of the implementation of the NPPF para 186 (c) in applications and appeals in or within 15 metres of ancient woodlands or near ancient and veteran trees), and subsequent engagement with stakeholders, to explore what options are available to improve the implementation of the NPPF regarding ancient woodland and ancient and veteran trees.

Food and Rural Affairs, how often the Ancient Woodland Inventory is audited.

The Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) was originally surveyed in the 1980s. Counties in the south-east of England were reviewed and updated between 2005 and 2015. The AWI is currently being audited with 35 counties in England being reassessed and where necessary boundaries are being redrawn to reflect changes in land use. Nine county revisions have been completed and published as the Revised Ancient Woodland Inventory (England). The remaining 26 counties are expected to be published over the coming months. Natural England also has a process in place to amend the AWI on a site-by-site basis where evidence for a change is supplied. You can find the original dataset here: Ancient Woodland (England) - data.gov.uk and updated and audited counties are being published here: Ancient Woodland - Revised (England) - Completed Counties.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses, published 4 February 2025, whether the additional funding of £250m funding for flood defences was included in his Departmental budget set at the Autumn Budget 2024.

The figure of £2.4 billion was an initial estimate at the time of the Autumn budget as the department worked through the details of the floods’ settlement following the Spending Review. Following the outcome of the Spending Review and as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the Government announced we will invest £2.65 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining and repairing flood defences. This compares to £1.05 billion spent in 2023/24. As part of the £2.65 billion invested the Government announced an additional £140 million to fill funding gaps on schemes for new flood defences. The record £2.65 billion will better protect 52,000 properties by March 2026, with maintenance of existing flood defences also being prioritised, ensuring a further 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored, a total of 66,500 properties will benefit.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses, published 4 February 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the £2.65 billion on the Environment’s Agency estimate of properties better protected between 2021-2027.

The figure of £2.4 billion was an initial estimate at the time of the Autumn budget as the department worked through the details of the floods’ settlement following the Spending Review. Following the outcome of the Spending Review and as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the Government announced we will invest £2.65 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining and repairing flood defences. This compares to £1.05 billion spent in 2023/24. As part of the £2.65 billion invested the Government announced an additional £140 million to fill funding gaps on schemes for new flood defences. The record £2.65 billion will better protect 52,000 properties by March 2026, with maintenance of existing flood defences also being prioritised, ensuring a further 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored, a total of 66,500 properties will benefit.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses, published 4 February 2025, how much and what proportion of the £2.65 billion is new money.

The figure of £2.4 billion was an initial estimate at the time of the Autumn budget as the department worked through the details of the floods’ settlement following the Spending Review. Following the outcome of the Spending Review and as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the Government announced we will invest £2.65 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining and repairing flood defences. This compares to £1.05 billion spent in 2023/24. As part of the £2.65 billion invested the Government announced an additional £140 million to fill funding gaps on schemes for new flood defences. The record £2.65 billion will better protect 52,000 properties by March 2026, with maintenance of existing flood defences also being prioritised, ensuring a further 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored, a total of 66,500 properties will benefit.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Land Use in England published on 31 January 2025, what the process is for (a) designating and (b) creating new (i) national river walks and (b) national forests.

The Government is progressing plans to designate nine new National River Walks across England, one in each region, to enhance access to nature. This is a priority for us and we are currently considering several delivery options, as well as reviewing where existing river walks are in place. Further details will be provided in due course. Defra is running a competitive two-stage process to select the first new national forest. This process is in the final stages and further details will be provided in due course. Alongside this competition we are considering plans for other national forests.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the increased investment in maintenance of flood defences will allow the Environment Agency to keep 98% of its high-consequence assets in the required condition over the next two years.

This Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record, as years of underinvestment and damaging storms left just 92% of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high-consequence assets at required condition, meaning approximately 60,000 properties are at a higher risk. The Environment Agency (EA) is reprioritising £72 million from capital programme funding, for the 2025/26 financial year, to maintain high consequence assets at target condition. This funding will ensure assets are as resilient and reliable as possible and operate as expected in flood events.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of providing protected geographic food status for the Bedfordshire Clanger on Bedfordshire.

This would require an application and would be subject to the normal process.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will consider granting protected geographic status to the Bedfordshire Clanger.

This would require an application and would be subject to the normal process.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the number of British pies with protected geographic food status.

This would require an application and would be subject to the normal process.