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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the current wording of the European Union Plant Reproductive Material legislation will enable them to protect home gardeners and allotment holders as well as United Kingdom seed producers' interests and the United Kingdom's diverse seed heritage.

The Government did not think that the European Commission’s original proposals made appropriate provisions to protect the interests of UK gardeners, allotment holders and seed producers, and negotiated accordingly in the Council Working Party. However, these proposals have since been rejected by the European Parliament and we await a Commission redraft.