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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to prevent plant and tree diseases being imported into the UK (a) through garden centres and (b) by other routes.

Upholding plant biosecurity is a key priority for Defra and we have taken a number of measures to reduce the risk of introduction of pests and diseases. Last year, we published a Plant Biosecurity Strategy, which addressed the recommendations of the Tree Health and Plant Expert Biosecurity Taskforce which included strengthening biosecurity to reduce risks at the border. We have also introduced a UK Plant Health Risk Register, an important tool to screen new threats and identify priority actions.

In recognition of the increased risks including from trade globalisation, we have played an active role in the negotiation of a new EU plant health regime, to provide strengthened import checks targeted at the highest risk material and tightened internal controls to minimize risks from material moving within the EU.