Minutes: Forest Services board meeting 29 July 2025
Published 17 April 2026
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Forest Services (FS) board 31st meeting minutes, Tuesday 29 July 2025, 14:00–16:30 in person at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Sheffield and via MS Teams.
Minutes
The Chair opened the meeting by welcoming attendees and highlighting recent engagements, including leadership conferences, ministerial visits and updates on key funding and strategic reviews. Several staffing changes and positive feedback from recent events were noted.
Previous meeting minutes from 26 March were approved, with no conflicts of interest declared.
Key updates covered woodland creation progress, funding challenges, increases in restocking notices and judicial reviews and developments in plant health. Discussions covered regulatory responsibilities, grant structures and long‑term sector challenges such as dry weather impacts and conifer production incentives.
The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee update from Hilary Allison and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs update from Emma El-Deen covered financial planning, cybersecurity, risk management, spending review outcomes and forthcoming policy announcements. Concerns were raised about staff retention amid budget uncertainty.
The financial update from Derrick Osgood noted early‑year underspending, pay award uplifts and audit sampling increases. Q1 performance remained strong despite staffing and budget pressures, with priority‑led work protecting essential delivery.
The board discussed the refreshed FS strategy, with emphasis on leadership language and board‑level sign‑off. The board noted Sam Malpass’ new role at Scottish Forestry. They thanked Sam for her work over the years and wished her well.
Further discussions covered biomass, sustainable aviation fuel, timber markets, public perceptions and policy coherence.
Updates on the science and innovation strategy highlighted research priorities, sector engagement and the need for clearer articulation of climate resilience, economics and governance. A follow‑up session was planned after consultation outcomes.
Ips typographus management progress was reported, including over 100 outbreak sites and significant advancements in diagnostics and eradication. A new grant scheme for high‑risk areas was in development. Public perception and long‑term access considerations were noted.
The next scheduled board meeting would be Wednesday 29 October 2025 via MS Teams.