Trees: Disease Control
Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to increase biosecurity measures to protect trees from the importation of non-native tree pests and diseases.

James Paice (Minister of State (Agriculture and Food), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

DEFRA and the Forestry Commission launched the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Action plan on 18 October 2011, which set out an integrated approach to dealing with the increasing biosecurity threats to Britain’s trees and forests. The action plan details steps to be taken now and in the future regarding import controls, practical actions, communications and engagement, and research. One theme of the action plan is to minimise the risk of new threats to trees from entering the UK, including through improvements in the EU plant health import rules and gathering evidence for a consultation on the current concession that allows imports of some plant material in passengers’ baggage.

The action plan was developed by DEFRA and the Forestry Commission, with vital help from a wide range of stakeholders from across the forestry and research sectors, including the devolved Administrations, which participated in a series of workshops to identify priorities and areas for action.

The Forestry Commission has also proposed to implement a UK protected zone for oak processionary moth (OPM) with a general requirement to prevent the introduction of the pest into parts of the UK where it is not present. The European Commission has responded positively to this proposal and we have provided the Commission with the exact delimitations of the protected zone. For the protected zone to be implemented, OPM must first be listed as a “harmful organism” under the EU directive. This process is ongoing.