Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Bob Russell (Liberal Democrat). It was answered by George Eustice (Conservative) on Thursday, 13 February 2014 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Tree Disease

Question: What steps he is taking to safeguard trees from the threat of disease.

Answer: We have made rapid progress towards implementing the recommendations of the tree health and plant biosecurity taskforce. We have produced a prioritised plant health risk register; undertaken work on contingency planning; and recruited a senior chief plant health officer. Later this spring, we will publish a strategy which will set out a new approach to biosecurity for our plants and trees and will incorporate our response to the taskforce’s remaining recommendations.

Secondary information