To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government are taking to protect the native fauna of natural woodland, with particular reference to the red squirrel, under the terms of the Bern Convention. (216338)

The UK Government are involved in an extensive range of measures to conserve our native woodland fauna.

In England, Bern Convention obligations are implemented through the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The red squirrel is listed in Schedule 5 to the WCA and as such is protected from intentional killing, injury, taking, possession, sale or intentional destruction of any structure or place used for shelter.

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan also includes a Species Action Plan for the red squirrel which primarily aims to maintain self-sustaining populations of red squirrels, and wherever practicable expand red squirrel populations where their sustainability is threatened. This action plan is being implemented through a broad partnership of Government, statutory conservation agencies and the private and voluntary sectors.

The Isle of Wight remains a haven for red squirrels in the south of England. Forestry Commission grants have resulted in 210 hectares of new woodland planting to link fragmented habitat. The Forestry Commission woods, which are managed for red squirrel conservation, have benefited from this linking.

The Red Alert North England partners have designated 16 reserves and associated buffer zones where long-term survival of the red squirrel is considered most likely. The partners’ Save our Squirrels project is delivering advice to landowners, co-ordinating squirrel control in the buffers, promoting Forestry Commission grants, raising public awareness and gaining further funding for squirrel conservation work.

The Red Squirrel Protection Partnership led by Lord Redesdale was awarded a three year £148,000 grant in June 2006 from the Rural Enterprise Scheme to support the control of grey squirrels in Northumberland to help protect the red squirrel reserves.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress the Forestry Commission for England has made in developing a policy for the restoration of priority biodiversity habitats from woods and forests; and if he will make a statement. (216633)

The Forestry Commission held workshops in 2007, which generated constructive engagement by stakeholders and gathered information on the context for the policy. The Forestry Commission, working closely with DEFRA and Natural England, has now established a process and timetable for completing development of the policy. This policy will set out how priority open habitats may be restored from woods and forests to help deliver objectives for biodiversity, landscape and cultural heritage, taking into account all of our aims for England’s trees, woods and forests. The process will include a public consultation beginning in October 2008, and the Forestry Commission aims for completion of a policy by spring 2009.