Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the (a) number of staff employed and (b) services provided by the Forestry Commission will reduce when it is split into the Forestry Commission Scotland and Forestry Commission England.

New arrangements for the governance and management of the Forestry Commission following the completion of devolution were announced in the Written Ministerial Statement on 7 November.

This will result in the closure of Forestry Commission corporate shared services in Edinburgh as new devolved service arrangements are established; the transfer of certain cross-border functions to the Welsh and Scottish Governments, the rationalisation of administrative functions, and the cessation of time-bound projects.

The changes are expected to result in a net reduction by 2020-21 of 46 posts of Commission staff funded through Defra.