To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent from the public purse on tree planting in each of the last five years.

Defra supports tree planting in England through three main established funding mechanisms: The Woodland Creation Planning Grant; The Woodland Carbon Fund; and Countryside Stewardship (formerly the England Woodland Grant Scheme).

Collectively, spend on these schemes over the last five years is as follows:

2014-15 - £7.9M

2015-16 - £2.3M

2016-17 - £2.0M

2017-18 - £4.2M

2018-19 - £4.6M

Over the last five years Defra has also supported tree planting through its arms lengths bodies and directly funded projects such as the Trees for Schools programme – current spend £2.5M.

Defra is also supporting a new Northumberland Forestry Partnership, and the planting of three new sites in Northumberland to coincide with the UK hosting COP26 international climate conference.