Timber reporting pilot study

At present the UK Government’s timber procurement policy has no associated requirements for reporting. One of Defra’s actions following the Construction Sector Project (June 2008), was to undertake a pilot study to look at the reporting of timber procurement by government bodies. The pilot project focused on a limited selection of Defra bodies which were known to have some experience in collecting data on timber purchases or which were expected to be able to give good feedback on the process.

Specifically the pilot study looked at the reporting of timber procurement by government bodies and the study was primarily aimed at:

• Considering different processes and methods, and assessing the best outcomes

• Providing the basis for recommendations to support actions taken by other public and private sector bodies in the future.

The report is available for download here: The Timber reporting pilot study (July 2009) PDF

Based on the findings from the timber procurement reporting pilot study it is recommended that:

1) reporting on timber for all major construction projects (new builds and refurbishment over a threshold value) should be compulsory (section 4.1) and

2) for all other timber and wood products not purchased for a major construction project, that the relevant public sector body would be required to operate an appropriate system of internal spot-checks and audits, supplemented by an external programme across government (Section 4.2).

Defra will be following up on the recommendations and sees the report as a step towards setting up reporting and monitoring systems, which will be a key part of the ongoing strategy to implement the timber procurement policy.