Non-native Species

(asked on 11th February 2020) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will fund a public awareness campaign on invasive non-native species in 2020.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 24th February 2020

Increasing levels of public awareness is critical to tackling invasive species. Extra resources will be considered as part of departmental business planning and future Government spending reviews, including Spending Review 2020.

The Great Britain Non-native Species Secretariat (GBNNSS), on behalf of Defra, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, is currently reviewing the Be Plant Wise campaign. We will be revising the messaging and extending it to cover terrestrial as well as aquatic plants. The GBNNSS is in discussion with some of the English water companies about extending the very successful partnership work on the Check Clean Dry campaign with them for a further five years beyond 2020 and expanding the campaign to the near Continent.

We launched the first Invasive Species Week in 2015, to bring together a wide range of organisations to raise awareness of invasive non-native species, to highlight work going on to tackle them and to inspire people to get involved and help prevent their spread. Over 320 organisations were involved in last year’s Invasive Species Week with 93 events held across the country. Invasive Species Week 2020 will take place from 18-22 May and I would encourage all hon. Members to look for ways to get involved in their constituencies.

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