Japanese Knotweed

Lord Dubs Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, because it is very important that we raise awareness of this plant: awareness-raising is a key element of the strategy on invasive non-native species. There have been many initiatives, such as the Be Plant Wise and Check, Clean, Dry campaigns launched by Defra. It is very important that we all work together on this, because the examples of where it is working and we are eradicating the plant are of huge benefit to local communities.

[Lord Dubs (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister has described welcome progress, for which the Government are to be thanked. However, how far have we got on this? The Minister mentioned individual initiatives. Where are we in terms of the national scale of the problem?