Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that every olive tree imported into the UK is inspected for disease.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
In March 2021, Great Britain (GB) introduced strict controls on the import of olive trees in response to the threat posed by the plant disease Xylella fastidiosa. These measures represent a significant strengthening of requirements.
Imports of olive trees from countries where Xylella has not been officially confirmed as absent are only permitted under stringent conditions, including: i) inspections of the place of production and the surrounding area during the 12 months before export; ii) inspection and testing of the plants annually; iii) pre-export inspections and testing where suspect symptoms are seen; and iv) if the place of production is in an area where Xylella is known to occur they should also be grown in complete physical protection to exclude the insect vector of Xylella.
In all other cases, olive trees destined for export to GB must be grown for at least three years (or throughout their entire life in the case of trees which are younger than three years) in a country known to be free from Xylella. The site of production must be subject to annual official inspection with sampling and testing.
All imports of regulated plants, including olive trees, are subject to GB’s risk-based import checking regime. The highest risk items (those assessed as presenting a significant risk of introducing harmful pests and diseases into GB) are subject to 100% documentary, identity and physical checks. This includes olive trees imported for propagation, growing on or multiplication.
The level of identity and physical checks on other commodities is based on the risk presented by the import of different plants and goods from different origins. Certain plants, including olive trees, imported from the EU for final users, are subject to a lower rate of inspection to reflect the lower level of risk posed.
Levels of inspection are kept under review and can be adjusted to reflect any changes in the risk situation.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the conditions governing the importation of trees and shrubs, in particular those relating to disease control.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The agreement has secured the UK’s full autonomy over our plant health regime. This means we can continue to take a risk based approach, in line with WTO-SPS Agreement principles, to setting our plant health import requirements but these can now be tailored to the specific biosecurity needs of GB.
In practice this means that we can introduce stronger import controls than those set by the EU when this is justified by a pest risk assessment undertaken in-line with relevant international standards.
The agreement also means we can now apply controls to imports from the EU, something which was generally not possible whilst the UK was an EU member state or during the transition period. This means there will now be stronger regulation of plants and plant products imported from EU member states. For example, our current import requirements (which are now stronger than the EU’s) for the pest canker stain of plane will now be applied to imports from the EU in addition to imports from non-EU third countries.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tighten the rules governing importation of trees and shrubs after 31 December.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
From January 2021, trees, shrubs and other plants entering Great Britain from the EU will be subject to third country import requirements. Controls on the highest risk products from the EU will apply immediately following the end of the transition period. 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 is already the case that imports of regulated plants and plant products from non-EU countries are subject to import controls.
The UK intends to ensure that its Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regime remains appropriate to address the risks it faces. The UK plant health services already conduct risk-based checks at the border in relation to imports from non-EU countries. The checks undertaken are determined according to an assessment of the risk presented by the import of different plants and goods from different origins. This risk assessment and risk management approach will apply to SPS goods from the EU from 1 January 2021.
For plants (including trees and shrubs) and plant products, a common import regime will ultimately apply to all third countries, so any changes will apply equally to EU and non-EU countries. Notwithstanding the phasing in of controls, any changes to GB's import requirements from the end of the transition period will apply to all third countries (including the EU).
Defra, with the devolved administrations, actively monitors and reviews plant health risks and the government will respond as needed to ensure UK biosecurity continues to be protected.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the incidence of oak processionary moth in the UK in 2020 to date.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission has an annual programme of surveillance in place. This year, the Commission has enhanced its surveillance programme within the UK Protected Zone as a precaution in response to an increased number of intercepts of Oak Processionary Moth in 2019.
Oak Processionary Moth is established in most of Greater London and in some surrounding counties. In June and July 2020, it was found on a very small number of trees at five sites within the Protected Zone, in the English counties of Sussex, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cheshire. Swift action was undertaken to eradicate recent findings, including surveillance, tracing work and the removal of caterpillars and infested trees.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect the UK from the import of (1) oak processionary moth, (2) emerald ash borer, and (3) Xylella fastidiosa.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government has established UK Preparedness Boards for both Xylella fastidiosa and the emerald ash borer (EAB), chaired by the Chief Plant Health Officer, to monitor and mitigate risks and to ensure a swift and effective response should either enter the UK.
On 21 April, Defra also introduced new national measures to impose more stringent import requirements to protect the UK from these threats.
For Xylella, the import of Coffea and Polygala myrtifolia species is now prohibited, due to a high disease rate in these species, and stronger import requirements have been introduced for other high-risk hosts including olive, almond, Nerium oleander, lavender and rosemary.
For the EAB, there are stronger controls on countries within 100km of confirmed outbreak areas. This includes the removal of an option in EU legislation to remove the bark and sapwood to a depth of 2.5cm for all countries regulated for EAB.
In relation to oak processionary moth (OPM), restrictions on oak tree imports were tightened in 2019, so that imports of all oaks from outside Europe are prohibited and the import of large oaks (which are susceptible to OPM) from Europe is prohibited, unless they originate in a pest-free area or a country where OPM is not known to occur, or have been grown under physical protection throughout their life.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government in how many locations, and on what dates, oak processionary moths have been identified in the UK.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Plant Health Service has intercepted oak processionary moth on oak trees at 58 sites within the UK Protected Zone (as at 25th July 2019). The infested oak trees have all been recently imported from the continent. The intercept sites are in the counties and regions of Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Cambridgeshire, County Durham, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Fife, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Invernesshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Wiltshire and Yorkshire. Swift action is being taken to eradicate recent findings, including surveillance, tracing work and the destruction of caterpillars and infested trees. Emergency measures were introduced in England on 15th July to stop the import of mature oak trees, unless robust conditions are met, to prevent the further introduction of this pest and protect the health of oak in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what instances of the importation of oak processionary moth on oak trees have occurred in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The unprecedented expansion of oak processionary moth (OPM) on the continent has led to intercepts of OPM on oak trees imported from ten nurseries in the Netherlands and one nursery in Germany (as at 19th July 2019). Swift action is being taken by the UK Plant Health Service to eradicate recent findings, including surveillance, tracing work and the destruction of caterpillars and infested trees.
Emergency measures were introduced on 15th July to strengthen the import requirements for oak trees to reduce the risk of spread of this pest and protect the health of oak in the UK.