Asked by: Anne McGuire (Labour - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made in the development of the Woodland Carbon Code.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Woodland Carbon Code, developed by the Forestry Commission, was introduced in July 2011 following a pilot phase that began in September 2010. Subsequently, a group scheme has been launched to enable financial costs to be shared by participating schemes, alongside a shared responsibility for ensuring that Woodland Carbon Code requirements are met at all sites. In July 2013 the Code was launched on the Markit Environmental Registry to provide open and transparent project registration as well as Woodland Carbon Unit issuance, tracking and retirement. As of 31 March 2014, 202 projects covering an area of 15,401 hectares had registered with the Woodland Carbon Code, of which 67 projects had been validated.
Asked by: Anne McGuire (Labour - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans that the commercial timber manufacturing sector will be represented on the proposed public forest trustee body.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
In January this year, we set out a list of ten core principles for the new body, including that it would be managed by experts and have access to the best advice. We intend that the commercial timber manufacturing sector should be represented in the arrangements, giving effect to this commitment.
Asked by: Anne McGuire (Labour - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on developing an ecosystem valuation approach.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Defra and HM Treasury produced new Green Book supplementary guidance in 2012 on how to account for nature's value at:
This supplementary guidance covers the practical application of techniques for valuing environmental impacts in policy appraisal. It applies to all programmes, policies and projects. An important recommendation in this guidance is the use of the ecosystem services framework.
Defra is also supporting independent research on developing further our understanding of nature's economic and social value through the National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-On Project (NEAFO), which will report later this year.
Asked by: Anne McGuire (Labour - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on the development of the Grown in Britain certification scheme for timber products.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Government supports and is very encouraged by the Grown in Britain initiative, which is working to maximise the long-term benefits that our woodlands can bring to the environment, social well-being and the economy. As Grown in Britain is a sector-led initiative, the Government is not responsible for the development of the brand licensing system that will be applied to timber products produced by Grown in Britain commercial partners.
Asked by: Anne McGuire (Labour - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department gives the private sector on steps to increase the area of woodland with a current UK Forestry Service compliant management plan.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Forestry is a devolved issue. UK Forestry Standard compliant management plans are a matter for the devolved administrations.
In England, the Forestry Commission, with input from the private sector, has recently published new management plan templates with accompanying guidance. This delivers the commitment in the Government's response to the report by the Forestry Regulation Task Force to develop a series of UK Forestry Standard compliant management plan templates for a range of forest types.
Grant funding is available through the English Woodland Grant Scheme to support the production of woodland management plans and similar support is planned as part of the next Rural Development Programme. In the next programme an approved UK Forestry Standard compliant management plan will be a prerequisite for further woodland grant support.
Asked by: Anne McGuire (Labour - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase the planting of conifers.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 March 2014 to the hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, Official Report, column 75W.
Asked by: Anne McGuire (Labour - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recommendations have been made to him by the Natural Capital Committee on the ecosystem services provided by woodland.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Natural Capital Committee's (NCC) second report to the Government's Economic Affairs Committee was published on 11 March. The report does not make specific recommendations that only apply explicitly to woodland. It does however use woodland based examples to illustrate a number of opportunities to enhance ecosystem service values. A copy of the report is available at: http://www.naturalcapitalcommittee.org/. The Government plans to respond to the NCC's recommendations in summer 2014.
In 2012, the NCC published its principles for guiding decision making regarding forestry in the UK in response to recommendations made by the Independent Panel on Forestry report. The NCC's response is available at: http://www.naturalcapitalcommittee.org/advice.html
Asked by: Anne McGuire (Labour - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made towards the creation of a new public forest trustee body as proposed in the Government's Forestry and Woodlands Policy Statement 2013.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Government is making good progress in developing plans for the new, operationally independent public body to manage the public forest estate, as announced in the Forestry and Woodlands Policy Statement, published in January 2013. Defra and the Forestry Commission have worked closely with a wide range of stakeholders in designing the features of the new body. Subject to Parliamentary time, the Government intends to legislate at the earliest opportunity.