We maintain a year ahead programme for all FC statistical publications. A list of our forthcoming publications is updated on a monthly basis in the release calendar.

For information on how we comply with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Official Statistics, see our Code of Practice page. This includes information on quality and pre-release access.

Summary information on the data sources and methodology used to produce our statistics is available in our annual Forestry Statistics publication. Further information on our annual statistical surveys of the UK timber industry are available on the timber surveys page.

The Expert Group on Timber and Trade Statistics advises Forest Research and helps with the compilation of industry statistics.

Methodology

The methodology and outputs relevant to a particular topic are reviewed regularly to ensure that they are fit for purpose.

More in-depth reviews, to address specific issues, are undertaken on an ad hoc basis. These may consider:

• Potential problem areas;
• New or changed concepts, definitions and classifications;
• New or changed data sources.
• Potential method improvements
• New or changed data requirements;

For substantial methodological changes, we will produce a paper outlining the changes to be made and the effects of these changes. This paper will be released on our website before the release of any statistics based on the new methods.

There is a parallel process for survey reviews.

Further details on specific methodology and output reviews are provided alongside our publications.

User Engagement

The statistics that we produce are used by the public sector, businesses, trade associations, academics, members of the public and others for a variety of purposes, including:

• providing information on the economy/society/environment;
• informing policy and programme development;
• for policy/programme evaluation and monitoring;
• promoting the benefits of forestry;
• informing marketing campaigns;
• assessing the performance of government/ public bodies;
• facilitating academic research;
• informing investment decisions; and
• allocating resources.

In order to improve the statistics that we produce and to ensure that they remain relevant, we are interested in hearing from people who use our statistics.

We use a variety of methods to obtain the views of our users, including formal groups (e.g. the Expert Group on Timber and Trade Statistics), consultation with key users and more informal routes (e.g. comments received from users).

If you wish to provide comments on any aspect of our statistics (including the uses made of our statistics), please contact us at any time using the contact methods found at the end of this page.

Alternatively, if you would like to be consulted when we are reviewing our statistics, please register your interest by e-mailing us at statistics@forestresearch.gov.uk, noting which of the following topics you are interested in:

1. Woodland Area and Planting
2. UK Grown Timber
3. Trade
4. Carbon
5. Environment
6. Social
7. Employment & Businesses
8. Finance & Prices
9. International Forestry

Customer Service: Service Standards

If you get in touch with us, you can expect us to be polite, approachable and helpful, and to readily identify ourselves. We will make every reasonable effort to ensure that you are provided with information that is timely, relevant and accurate, and we w

ill endeavour to meet the following targets:

• We will endeavour to respond to customer correspondence, whether in paper or electronic form, within 5 working days commencing from the date when we receive your correspondence.
• Our response will either be an answer to the issue you have raised, or a notification that the correspondence is being dealt with, but noting that the reply may take longer than the initial 5-day period.
• Our holding reply will either contain a date by which we intend to provide a full response, or a date by which we will contact you with a progress update.
• We will return customers’ calls within 1 working day.

Sometimes, our service delivery standards will be affected by circumstances beyond our control and occasionally we make mistakes. When this happens we will apologise and do everything we can to put things right. If you have a concern about the quality of our service, or the treatment you have received from us, and you cannot resolve the problem with the person you have been dealing with, please contact:

Northern Research Station, Roslin EH25 9SY

E-mail: statistics@forestresearch.gov.uk

Tel: 0300 067 5238