David Davies (Monmouth, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate the Forestry Commission has made of the future availability of biomass from forests managed by the Commission.

Huw Irranca-Davies (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Marine and Natural Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Ogmore, Labour)

The Forestry Commission maintains comprehensive records of the forests it manages including area, species, age, growth rates and intended management. This data is used to create and update its forecasts of future production.

Current estimates are that the public forest estate in England will produce 1.4 million cubic metres of timber per annum over the next 10 years and that to harvest significantly more would not be sustainable.

In addition to this, other wood material, for example, from small sized coppice or harvesting residues, can be chipped and used as biomass. No precise data is available on the quantities involved.

Further information on the production and use of biomass and timber is included in the Commission's Forestry Statistics booklet. The 2009 edition has just been published and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.