§ Sir John FarrTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will consider introducing a procedure of inquiry in principle, where appropriate, in relation to streamlining Forestry Commission activities;
(2) if he will consider the introduction of a maintenance grant linked to five-year plans of operation for forestry management purposes;
(3) if he will make arrangements so that grants in relation to the woodlands grant scheme are henceforth based on the total area of the approved unit of forest land applied for;
112Wbefore the complete closure. In all cases the exclusions took effect before recorded landings had reached the level of the allocation made to each of the groups concerned. As part of the normal arrangements for distributing internally the United Kingdom's quotas those groups disadvantaged by this year's closure will be compensated next year with correspondingly increased quotas. It is estimated that 85 per cent. of the allocation untaken as a result of the total closure of the fishery is attributable to vessels based in Scotland.
(4) if he will take immediate steps to introduce a grant towards forest road construction to enable better access to inaccessible areas;
(5) if he will take steps to increase the better land supplement to £400 per hectare.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonAll these aspects of the Government's support arrangements for forestry were covered in the Forestry Industry Committee of Great Britain's paper "Options for British Forestry", a copy of which was sent recently to the Secretary of State for Scotland. The Government will consider the recommendations contained in that paper and will respond to the committee in due course.