Non-native Species

(asked on 3rd April 2019) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what governance and enforcement structures his Department plans to introduce with respect to invasive non-native species after the UK has left the EU.


Answered by
Thérèse Coffey Portrait
Thérèse Coffey
This question was answered on 11th April 2019

When we leave the EU the existing Great Britain Programme Board on non-native species and the Non-native Risk Analysis Panel will take over the role of the EU Committee on Invasive Alien Species and the EU Invasive Alien Species Scientific Forum respectively and be expanded to include Northern Ireland. The Non-native Species Secretariat will continue to support the Programme Board.

The UK has significant expertise in invasive non-native species, including in the area of risk analysis. In Great Britain we have had a comprehensive framework for assessing risks posed by these species since 2007 and this framework strongly influenced the EU’s approach, including its risk methodology, when the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation came into force in 2015.

After we leave the EU this long-standing approach to risk analysis and independent scientific scrutiny will continue to ensure that decisions have robust scientific justification. We do not therefore anticipate a need for additional resources for these bodies in fulfilling their remit in the UK.

International co-operation is essential to control the spread of these species. The UK is committed to ongoing co-operation on invasive non-native species with the EU, Member States and other countries after we leave the EU.

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