Baroness Byford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-06-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of the three-day interval between the notification and arrival of forest reproductive material in preventing damage to, or infection of, existing forestry.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forest Reproductive Material (Great Britain) Regulations 2002 regulate the marketing of forest reproductive material (FRM). There is no notification period for the introduction of FRM so no such assessment has been carried out.
The Plant and Tree Notification System requirements relates to the movement of certain tree species from other EU member states and extends to oak, plane, sweet chestnut, pine, elm, prunus and ash trees (although no movements of ash trees are permitted at present, due to ash dieback restrictions).
The scheme is intended to help the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate build intelligence about particular trades, particularly those where there is a risk of introducing harmful organisms, and to help arrange targeted inspections of such trees. The information is also valuable in the event of an outbreak, to facilitate tracing of trees which may be implicated, and to help inform the development of Defra policy. The scheme is not restricted to trees intended for forestry purposes.
Notification of importation of plants and trees should be before or within 5 days of the arrival of the consignment, detailing the planned destination in England or Wales.
