Forestry Statistics 2019

Forestry Statistics is a compilation of statistics on woodland, forestry and primary wood processing in the UK.

Where possible, statistical information in this publication covers the whole of the United Kingdom, and is broken down to give figures for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  However, there are some topics for which data are currently only available for some parts of the UK, and these tables are labelled accordingly.

The tables within each chapter (including data for charts), along with longer time series (for some topics) are available to download in spreadsheet format from the Statistics Data Downloads page at www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/data-downloads/.  Further information on data sources and methodology are provided in the Sources chapter.

Selected statistics from this publication are provided in "Forestry Facts and Figures 2019", available at www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/.

We also publish a range of other Official Statistics, available at www.forestresearch.gov.uk/statistics/. 

Organisational change

From 1 April 2019, the Forestry Commission’s functions in Scotland transferred to Scottish Forestry and to Forestry and Land Scotland.  At the same time, “Forest Enterprise England” was renamed “Forestry England” and remains an agency of the Forestry Commission.

The Forestry Commission's functions in Wales transferred to the Welsh Government and to Natural Resources Wales on 1 April 2013.

We have used current organisation names throughout this publication, rather than the names of the organisations that existed at the time to which the data refer.

Statistical release practices

We aim to release statistics as soon as they are available. All of our National Statistics and other Official Statistics publications are available on our website www.forestresearch.gov.uk/statistics/.  Release dates are published on our website for the year ahead. Publications are made available at 9.30 am on the day of release. 

Statistical revisions policy

Revisions to statistics can occur when further data become available or errors are corrected.  We will normally revise statistics when the figures next appear in any publication.  However, if the revision is significant (i.e. resulting in a major change to the published figures), a note showing the revisions will be published as soon as possible on the Forest Research website and distributed to all known recipients.  In addition, the web versions of any current publications affected will be revised.  See our full revisions policy here: FC Revisions policy, for further information. 

Quality

Summary information on quality is available in the Sources chapter of this publication. More details are provided in quality reports for individual topics, available at www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/about-our-statistics/code-of-practice/quality-of-official-statistics/. 

Release date: 26 September 2019

Coverage: United Kingdom

Geographical breakdown: Country (where possible)

Issued by: Forest Research, 231 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh, EH12 7AT

Statistician: Sheila Ward, 0300 067 5236

Enquiries: Robert Stagg, 0300 067 5238 statistics@forestresearch.gov.uk

Website: www.forestresearch.gov.uk/statistics/

National Statistics Status

National Statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value, and it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.

The continued designation of these statistics (Forestry Statistics and Forestry Facts & Figures) as National Statistics was confirmed in March 2012 following an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority (now the Office for Statistics Regulation) against the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Since the latest assessment of these statistics in 2012, we have made improvements including:

• Expansion of content to cover data on additional topics, including felling, public opinion on tree health and woodland fires.
• The addition of key findings at the start of each chapter, to provide users with a brief overview of the statistics.
• Provision of more detailed information on the methodology used, particularly in relation to the estimation of woodland area.