Chamber and committees

The Energy Strategy has a commitment to develop a Bioenergy Action Plan that will provide clearer scope for the development of bioenergy in the Scottish energy system. A guiding principle is that biomass is produced and managed in a sustainable way, and should be used in heat-only or combined heat and power schemes to maximise available heat and local supply.

The Scottish Government promotes an active and competitive market for wood material. The specifics of how much material gets directed to any one industry are determined by market forces.

Two reports on breast screening uptake by deprivation have been produced by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland and are available on the ISD website, http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Breast-Screening/ . Uptake of breast screening has been about ‎17-18% lower in women who live in the most deprived areas of Scotland compared with those who live in the least deprived areas.

The Forestry Commission publish an annual estimate of the total woodfuel usage by fuel category in the report ‘Woodfuel demand and usage in Scotland’: https://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/images/corporate/pdf/Woodfuel-Demand-and-Usage-in-Scotland-2016.pdf

The figures are based on a survey of the largest users of biomass in Scotland and data supplied by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Figures from each of those reports since 2008 have been reproduced in the following table. The latest year that information is available for is 2016. Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand oven dry tonnes (odt).

The total wood fuel usage in Scotland by major wood fuel category:

The Climate change plan is available online here:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/scottish-governments-climate-change-plan-third-report-proposals-policies-2018/pages/15/

The current area of woodland in Scotland is 1,440,000 hectares and this represents 18% of the Scottish land area (around 8 million hectares). To achieve 21% woodland cover will require around 240,000 hectares of woodland creation, or an average of 17,000 hectares of woodland creation between 2018 and 2032.

Historically Scotland’s annual woodland creation figure has varied considerably, ranging from a maximum of over 30k hectares in the early 1970s to a low of 2.7k hectares in 2010.

Annual figures can be found here: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/5145/planting1976-2018.xls

The area of new tree planting in Scotland (including known natural colonisation) is published annually as an official statistic by the Forestry Commission: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/5144/WAPR2018.xls . Data for each of the last ten years has been reproduced below.

The most recent year that final planting data is available for is the period between April 2016 and March 2017. Provisional results for the period April 2017 to March 2018 have been released and so these have also been included in the following table.

Area of new planting in Scotland since 2008

The Scottish Government is working with Forest Research and all parts of the forestry sector to provide accurate forecasts of timber availability at the Great Britain level and for different regions of Scotland which allows the wood panel industry to plan investment. On the basis of this information, Norbord has expanded their plant at Dalcross; investing £95 million and receiving £12 million of public funding from Highland and Island Enterprise.

In addition, the Scottish Government has recognised the imperative to increase Scotland’s long-term timber production potential in order to address climate change concerns as well as to provide raw materials for industry, including wood panels. As a result, new planting targets embedded in the Climate Change Plan are to increase woodland creation to 15,000 ha p.a. by 2025, and forestry grant budgets have been increased by £6 million in 2018-19 accordingly.

No official statistics are available for the number of people employed either directly or indirectly by the wood panel industry.

The Wood Panel Industries Federation estimates a UK wide direct employment of just over 2,300 people and indirect employment of approximately 5,200 jobs. In 2015 Forestry Commission Scotland published a report on the Economic Contribution of the Forestry Sector in Scotland: https://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/images/corporate/pdf/economic-contribution-forestry-2015.pdf which estimated that the production of wood panels, board and pulp and paper employed directly 1,126 full time equivalents (FTE) and 631 FTEs indirectly in 2012-13.

No official statistics are available for the GVA of the wood panel industry. The Wood Panel Industries Federation estimate a UK wide GVA of approximately £850 million per annum.

In 2015 Forestry Commission Scotland published a report on the Economic Contribution of the Forestry Sector in Scotland: https://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/images/corporate/pdf/economic-contribution-forestry-2015.pdf which estimated that the production of wood panels, board and pulp and paper contributed £74.3 million to GVA in Scotland in 2012-13.

Within the wider context of integration and health and social care, it is the responsibility of Integration Authorities to commission and plan respite care services and support to meet the needs of their local population.

Respite care is a service intended to benefit both carers and the cared for person by providing a short break from caring tasks. Scottish Government funds Shared Care Scotland which manages three schemes: Creative Breaks; Better Breaks and Time to Live. Shared Care Scotland is allocated £2.3m annually by Scottish Government to fund these schemes. More information on Shared Care Scotland can be found here: https://www.sharedcarescotland.org.uk/creativebreaks/

Local authorities have a new duty under the Carers Act to prepare and publish a "short breaks services statement" which set out information on short breaks available in Scotland (and locally) for the carer and the cared-for person. These statements should help people understand what types of short breaks are available and who to contact for more information. The first statement must be published by the end of December 2018.

I have asked Steve Dunlop, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to respond. His response is as follows: