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 risk of private sector forestry operators bringing foreign plant pathogens to the UK via imported trees.

From January 2021, trees entering Great Britain from the EU have been subject to third country import requirements and controls on the highest risk products have been applied. This includes requirements to pre-notify, the need for a phytosanitary certificate to accompany regulated consignments and physical inspections on imports once they have arrived in Great Britain. It was already the case that imported trees from non-EU countries were subject to import controls and risk-based checks at the border. All forestry operators and businesses supplying such operators, including those from the private sector, must comply with these requirements when importing trees or other regulated material.

Plant health risks are continually identified, assessed, and managed by the UK Plant Health Risk Group which includes key experts from within Defra, the Forestry Commission, and across the Devolved Administrations. This analysis, and the underpinning biological and economic data and evidence, is captured by the UK's publicly available Plant Health Risk Register, including how the pest has been or could be introduced into the UK. Over 1200 pests are currently recorded on the Risk Register, and the numbers are increasing. Through this screening process, we are able to identify significant threats and to prioritise our actions and resources accordingly, making evidence-based decisions on whether to regulate the pest and the control measures necessary to protect our crops, trees, gardens and countryside. It is through this mechanism that a number of tree genera are already prohibited from being imported from non-EU sources, with stringent requirements in place for other genera, which must be met before they can be imported.