Construction Industry: Timber

Earl of Kinnoull Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I am very happy to congratulate Fera. It does excellent work. When I went to Forest Research, I saw some of the wood that had, shall we say, unpleasant visitors in it, so I know that both Fera and Forest Research do important work and help biosecurity in this country. I know the noble Baroness is keen for me to visit Fera and I will of course consider that.

[The Earl of Kinnoull (CB)]

My Lords, the level of afforestation in Great Britain is about 13% and the average in the EU is mid-30%, so it is good to hear about planning for the planting of more trees. The biggest danger to tree-planting remains the grey squirrel. Recently, there was the welcome publication, at last, of the Grey Squirrel Policy Statement, which is the new name for the action plan. Can the Minister give the House some edited highlights of what the Government are doing about the grey squirrel problem?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The noble Earl is always very quick to talk about the grey squirrel, and rightly so. As he says, we have recently published our plan on grey squirrel management—if any Members are interested, they can find it on the Defra website. At the moment, the main way people manage populations is through culling as best they can. We would prefer to have more humane ways of managing pests. As the noble Earl knows, we are now investing in the scientific research on contraceptives that is taking place. If we can crack that, it would make a huge difference, but I urge noble Lords to read the document.