House
of Commons Debates, Written Answers & Written Statements
Week
Ending 24 June 2011
Written Answers 21 June 2011:
Mr Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate she has made of the
likely redundancy costs in the Forestry Commission in each of the next four
financial years. [58206]
Mr Paice: The Government's clear commitment to
tackle the deficit resulted in a tough spending review for all Departments.
Although the Forestry Commission (FC) is a non-ministerial Government
Department, it receives its budget from DEFRA's Resource Budget. The net costs
for voluntary exit and redundancy schemes will be met by DEFRA where there is
sound business rationale and value for money. DEFRA has to achieve a reduction
of 30% in real terms over the spending review period.
The FC worked closely with Ministers
so they could take decisions on an appropriate spending review settlement to
ensure the delivery of key outcomes such as biosecurity. The FC's settlement,
which equates to a reduction of around 25% over the next four years, also took
account
21 Jun 2011 : Column 245W
of FC England's ability to
generate income from operating the public forest estate e.g. through timber
sales. The restructuring of FC England, FC Great Britain and Forest Research
has been based on offering a combination of voluntary exit and voluntary
redundancy schemes. The latest estimate of likely costs for these exits in each
of the next four years is as follows:
|
Best estimated cost (1) |
|
|
|
£ million |
|
2011-12 |
2.9 |
|
2012-13 |
8.4 |
|
2013-14 |
0.6 |
|
2014-15 |
0.5 |
|
(1) Subject to change dependent on take-up. |
|