HC Deb 14 June 1988 vol 135 cc109-10W
Mr. Nigel Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland why the annual target rate for afforestation in Britain is set at 33,000 hectares; on what basis this figure is calculated; and for how long this target is projected to continue.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

[holding answer 8 June 1988]: In their forestry policy statement of 10 December 1980, the Government saw scope for new planting to continue at broadly the rate of the previous 25 years, which had averaged some 30,000 hectares a year. In his statement of 9 February 1987 on the rural economy, the then Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, my right hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Jopling) indicated that the Government proposed an expansion of the new planting programme by the traditional forestry sector to 33,000 hectares a year, with encouragement being given to a higher proportion of planting on low ground of better quality. This programme was confirmed by my right hon. and learned Friend on 16 March 1988, Official Report, columns 585–87 and will be reviewed from time to time.

Mr. Nigel Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what guidance he gives to the Forestry Commission regarding the expected rate of return on forestry investment from their plantations and from the grant-aided private sector; and whether he proposes to issue new guidelines in the light of the National Audit Office report on forestry objectives and achievements and in the light of his Budget changes.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

[holding answer 10 June 1988]: The Forestry Commission is set a target rate of return of 3 per cent. in real terms on its forest estate assets. This target rate is reviewed periodically but there are at present no plans to change it. No target is set for private sector planning since the decision on whether or not to plant is a commercial one for each owner to take, although the Commission would withhold grant-aid for any planting proposals which were not silviculturally sound or eventually capable of producing a crop of utilisable timber.