§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received in support of separating the two branches of the Forestry Commission into separate organisations; and what discussions have taken place.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 9 February 1993]: The House of Commons Agriculture Committee, in its report "Land Use and Forestry", published in February 1990, recommended that the Forestry Commission's forestry authority and forest enterprise functions should be divided between separate departments. The Government did not accept this recommendation, but subsequently agreed that the Forestry Commission should carry out an internal reorganisation to distinguish clearly between its functions as a Government Department and its role in managing publicly owned forests. This reorganisation took place with effect from 1 April 1992.
The Government have since received some representations in support of splitting the two parts of the Forestry Commission into separate organisations, most notably from the Centre for Policy Studies and the Adam Smith Institute. No discussions have taken place.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much public access in(a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) England has been lost since 1981 when Forestry Commission land was sold to the private sector.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 9 February 1993]: The Government have retained no direct interest in such land following its sale by the Forestry Commission and no official statistics on the provision of access by the new owners have therefore been collected.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much Forestry Commission land in(a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) England has been sold to the private sector each year since 1981; and how much money has been raised in each case.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 9 February 1993]: The areas of land sold by the Forestry Commission in each year since 1981 are shown in the following table. These include woodlands and other land such as agricultural land and residential properties. The total receipts from these sales are also shown. A breakdown of the receipts by country is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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Forestry Commission land sales Scotland Wales England Great Britain Year ended March (hectares) (hectares) (hectares) (hectares) Receipts (£ million) 1982 7,371 1,743 1,309 10,423 6.9 1983 8,135 1,450 2,523 12,108 14.6 1984 36,543 3,347 4,680 44,570 23.6 1985 18,359 3,522 6,976 28,857 22.1 1986 10,555 3,229 2,789 16,573 17.0 1987 6,220 1,950 2,786 10,956 14.7 1988 3,359 977 4,593 8,929 13.1 1989 4,286 1,760 1,629 7,675 12.4 1990 4,620 1,242 1,989 7,851 13.0 1991 4,754 1,118 1,556 7,428 12.0 1992 3,517 1,657 1,737 6,911 14.5
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he has taken or intends to take, to introduce legislation which will ensure public access before and after Forestry Commission land is sold.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 9 February 1993]: I refer the hon. Member to the announcement made on this subject by my right hon. and learned Friend the then Secretary of State for Scotland on 21 November 1990, Official Report, columns 164–66. The Government have no plans to introduce legislation.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hectares of land the Forestry Commission has held in each of the years since 1979 in(a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) England; and what percentage of total land this is.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 9 February 1993]: The information is given in the following table:
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Year ended 31 March Area (hectares) Percentage of total land Scotland 1980 799,700 10.4 1981 800,052 10.4 1982 797,511 10.3 1983 793,540 10.3 1984 759,758 9.9 1985 741,993 9.6 1986 732,154 9.5 1987 729,217 9.5 1988 727,670 9.4 1989 725,576 9.4 1990 723,497 9.4 1991 720,467 9.3 1992 718,421 9.3 Wales 1980 160,700 7.8 1981 160,674 7.8 1982 158,979 7.7 1983 157,699 7.6 1984 154,410 7.5 1985 150,901 7.3 1986 147,751 7.2 1987 145,306 7.0 1988 144,329 7.0 1989 142,654 6.9 1990 141,490 6.9 1991 140,299 6.8 1992 138,671 6.7 England 1980 303,000 2.3 1981 303,271 2.3 1982 302,193 2.3 1983 299,685 2.3
Year ended 31 March Area (hectares) Percentage of total land 1984 295,004 2.3 1985 288,080 2.2 1986 285,685 2.2 1987 282,031 2.2 1988 277,440 2.1 1989 276,026 2.1 1990 274,638 2.1 1991 272,157 2.1 1992 270,502 2.1 Note:
All the 1980 figures are rounded to the nearest 100 hectares.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many access arrangements, and how many access agreements, the Forestry Commission have made in(a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) England in each year since 1991.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 9 February 1993]: Arrangements for securing continued public access to Forestry Commission woodlands after sale, by means of prior agreements entered into between the Commission and local authorities, were introduced in October 1991. No access agreements were completed in that year, but three were concluded in 1992, two in Wales and one in England.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hectares of(a) Forestry Commission and (b) private planting each year since 1981 in (1) Scotland, (2) Wales and (3) England have been (i) new planting of conifers, (ii) restocking of conifers, (iii) new planting of broadleaf trees and (iv) restocking of broadleaf trees.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 9 February 1993]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her yesterday at column 634.