Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of disease on trees.

Tree health risks are systematically assessed through the publically available UK Plant Risk Register (approximately one third of the nearly 1000 pests and diseases on the register are forestry pests and diseases), risks are reviewed monthly and prioritised for actions such as surveillance. Forestry Commission carry out aerial and ground based surveillance on priority risks to tree health, including Phytophthora ramorum, oak processionary moth, ash dieback and the results are published on the Forestry Commission website.