§ 2. Mr. Nobleasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what action he is now taking on the report from the Windblow Action Group about storm damage to Scottish forests.
§ The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. William Ross)I would refer the right hon. Member to the statement I made on 4th April, 1968. Further details have since been announced by the Forestry Commission.—[Vol. 762, c. 619–23.]
§ Mr. NobleI thank the right hon. Gentleman for that reply, but I have not myself yet been able to see what the Forestry Commission has said. Will he consider whether the subsidy is given for enough classes of timber so that arrangements for selling it can be adequate? Will he reconsider the question of investment grants to the timber industries? At a time when people are trying to make these industries more efficient, it seems a pity to give such grants only to the Forestry Commission, since this will not give the industries the incentives they should have.
§ Mr. RossThe question of investment grants for forestry is not new. Nor is it related purely to the emergency. It would be wrong to relate them to one part of the industry. I will look at the other point raised by the right hon. Gentleman and see whether it is covered.
Earl of DalkeithWhy did it take three months to produce inadequate relief for a vital import-saving industry? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that what he has done does little to help out the industry or the nation in the short term and in the long term?
§ Mr. RossThe hon. Gentleman is wrong in his assumption that this assistance is inadequate. The provision we are making should meet the need fully. I also want to put right a suggestion that in 1953 much shorter time was taken over this matter. In fact, about the same amount of time was taken. In 1968, however, we did not have such a concentration of windblow as we had in 1953. It was more scattered and the complications of investigation were such that time was inevitably taken up.