Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the interest of the Forestry Commission in Forest Holidays Group Ltd as regards (1) percentage of voting rights and (2) percentage of share ownership; and what changes to these interests have occurred since September 2012.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Forest Holidays is a Joint Venture established under the Regulatory Reform (Forestry) Order 2006. Under the 2006 Agreement between Forest Holidays and the Forestry Commission, the Commission retained a 49% stake in the Joint Venture.
A refinancing agreement was brokered in 2012 where the Forestry Commission interest in Forest Holidays represented 20% of the equity stake in the company.
A further refinancing of Forest Holidays took place in 2017, whereby the Forestry Commission retained its full equity interest as a 13.4% stake in the business.
The 20% voting rights that the Forestry Commission held in 2012 was linked to equity participation, and could be diluted down to a minimum of 10%. Voting rights that the Forestry Commission negotiated as part of the 2017 refinancing are fixed higher than equity share at 17.1% and are not subject to dilution. The 2017 voting rights also carry increased representation and greater access to information than before.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to arrange for the publication of the minutes of the meetings of the Forestry Commission's Board of Commissioners held on (1) 16 June 2016, (2) 15 December 2016, (3) 28 September 2017, and (4) 14 December 2017; and whether they will place copies of such minutes in the library of the House.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission publishes minutes and papers of the meetings of the Board of Forestry Commissioners on its website. Therefore, copies of all meeting minutes, including the meetings held on 16 June 2016, 15 December 2016, 28 September 2017 and 14 December 2017 are in the public domain, subject to any redactions of ‘official sensitive’ information or ‘business sensitive’ information which would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs, as laid out in the Freedom of Information Act.
There is no plan to place copies of minutes of the Board of Forestry Commissioners in the library of the House.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to arrange for the publication of the minutes of all the meetings of the Forestry Commission's National Committee for England held since 1 September 2016; and whether they will place copies of such minutes in the library of the House.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission publishes minutes and papers of the meetings of the National Committee for England on its website. Therefore copies of all meeting minutes, including meetings since the 1 September 2016, are in the public domain, subject to any redactions of ‘official sensitive’ information or ‘business sensitive’ information which would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs, as laid out in the Freedom of Information Act.
There is no plan to place copies of minutes of the National Committee for England in the library of the House.