HC Deb 26 March 1986 vol 94 cc941-3
8. Mr. Ron Davies

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what new forestry management initiatives are presently being considered by the Forestry Commission; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. John MacKay

The Forestry Commission regularly takes initiatives aimed at improving its efficiency and effectiveness.

Mr. Davies

Will the Minister give an assurance that if the Government intend to introduce any further changes in forestry practice they will not follow the example that they set yesterday when they announced considerable policy changes by means of a written answer? Will he give a guarantee that there will be full consultation before any changes are introduced; that the results of such consultations will be made widely available; and that when the changes are made they will be made openly by means of a statement in the House?

Mr. MacKay

This week the Forestry Commission instituted two consultation exercises, one about the membership and procedures of the regional advisory committees, and the other about the role of and the interrelationship between forestry and conservation. I know that the hon. Gentleman has a considerable interest in this subject. The one thing that there is plenty of in this area is consultation.

Mr. Corrie

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his statement earlier this week. In widening the grades of land that can be planted, does he accept that we must have good co-operation between agriculture, forestry and the environment to get the situation right in Scotland? Will he have discussions with his right hon. Friend in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to try to get some plan for the rural economy that will take these things into account?

Mr. MacKay

My hon. Friend is right. It is important to encourage new planting against the background, first, of considerable and increasing surpluses in food production, and, secondly, against the background of our enormous import bill for timber and timber products.

Mr. Buchan

Will the Minister bear in mind that the worst possible way of ensuring future intelligent management decisions is to allow to develop the practice of private sales of publicly owned forestry and potential forestry land? Will he also bear in mind that the forests of Scotland are there not only for the benefit of their owners, but for the amenity and future of the people of Scotland? Will he resist the ideological craziness of the Prime Minister in her privatisation schemes?

Mr. MacKay

The disposal policy of the Forestry Commission is still that which was set out by my right hon. Friend the Member for Ayr (Mr. Younger), the former Secretary of State for Scotland. Both the Forestry Commission and the private sector have an important role to play in the increasing amount of afforestation in Scotland and in the important and interesting employment that it brings to our rural areas.

Mr. Maclennan

If the Minister values trees as an alternative to crops in surplus, is he thinking about how to provide farmer-foresters with an annual income?

Mr. MacKay

I am, indeed, thinking about that. It is one of the matters being discussed inside and outwith the Government. We are discussing how we can encourage farm forestry, and how to encourage farmers to plant trees in place of crops that are currently going into intervention. The hon. Member in correct is saying that one of our problems is how to find a way to provide an income for the farmer, certainly in the first 15 years of the life of the trees.

Mr. Home Robertson

The Minister is still somewhat equivocal about the Government's ideas for privatising the forestry enterprise of the Forestry Commission. When does he expect his right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State to reply to my letter of 4 March in which I asked for a specific undertaking that the Government did not intend to sell off the Forestry Commission's forestry enterprise?

Mr. MacKay

The position is the quite clear one which I mentioned earlier and which I mentioned at our last Question Time. The disposals policy for the Forestry Commission is as set out by my right hon. Friend the Member for Ayr (Mr. Younger). As to the correspondence between my right hon. and learned Friend and the hon. Member, may I suggest that the hon. Member should just hold his patience.