Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Davies of Oldham (Labour) on Wednesday, 2 December 2009.

Timber

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will ensure that all purchases of imported timber by public sector bodies are derived from sustainable sources.

Answer: On 1 April, the UK Government's policy to procure timber and timber-derived products from independently verified legal and sustainable sources, or those licensed under a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) agreement, was made mandatory for central government departments. We have also actively encouraged local authorities to adopt the UK timber procurement policy voluntarily. We are working closely with the UK Timber Trade Federation and WWF and are seeing that the policy is having positive repercussions throughout UK timber supply chains. The UK Government are committed to better reporting on their timber purchases and in July Defra published a study looking at this aspect. The report is available on the Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET) website.

Secondary information