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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the ecological effect of ash dieback disease on the countryside.

Research by Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee has identified that 1,058 species have all or part of their lifecycle associated with ash woodlands in the UK, for example as a habitat, food source or hunting ground. Of these only 45 are exclusively recorded on ash, with a further 62 highly associated but also recorded on other species. No single tree species will be able to fill the niche provided by ash trees in terms of both its ecosystem characteristics and biodiversity contribution. The most appropriate strategy for managing the biodiversity impacts of ash dieback will vary from site to site.