TTF chief executive John White described the goverment’s statement as “a timely response” to the EAC report, which had included stinging criticism of The Federation and its Responsible Purchasing Policy (RPP).

The government said the timber trade needed to respond effectively to its demand for legal and sutainable timber.

“The government is pleased that The Timber Trade Federation is encouraging its members to progressively increase their capacity to meet government requirements,” it said.

The earlier EAC report says the low uptake of the RPP is “definitely not” encouraging and questions the need for it due to the existence of the TTF’s Code of Conduct. The committee also said the federation was in danger of misleading customers on legality/sustainability due to lack of transparent enforcement of the Code.

“I think the government’s response was fair,” said Mr White. “The government was supportive of the TTF and its work on illegal logging and expressed a hope that the RPP would become binding on members.”

Mr White said the EAC had completely missed the point on the RPP. He intends to meet committee members to brief them on the TTF’s work and the federation response to a recent Greenpeace report on Chinese plywood.

The government also said it had studied possible legal options to tackle illegal timber entering the UK. It said there were prospects for action under existing legislation but evidence remained a “significant obstacle”, though it is conducting further work in this area.