Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environmental Audit Committee's first report of Session 2019 entitled, Invasive Species, if her Department will establish a biosecurity citizens' army to (a) improve public understanding of invasive non-native species and (b) help identify emerging biosecurity threats.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Partnership working is vital to deliver long-term management of invasive non-native species (INNS). The Great Britain INNS Strategy aims to guide a strong partnership approach with non-Governmental organisations, businesses, Government and the general public working together to improve biosecurity and reduce the risk from INNS.
Defra funded 29 Non-native Species Local Action Groups (LAGs) between 2011 and 2015 to support their start-up and give them time to become self-sustaining. Defra continues to provide advice to the LAGs and hosts an annual workshop for LAGs to meet and share progress. Non-native Species LAG coordinators and volunteers work with land owners to control INNS in catchment areas to reduce the risk of reinvasion. LAGs provide a key resource to help manage many species and raise awareness and they have mobilised a large number of volunteers in the fight against INNS. Other stakeholders also play a key role, such as Angling Trust members undertaking clearance of Himalayan balsam on river banks and trapping signal crayfish in their ponds. British Canoeing participates in our strategic approach to floating pennywort control and its members are engaged in organised control work alongside the Environment Agency and the Canal and River Trust.
We will examine the Environmental Audit Committee’s recommendation, and in particular the New Zealand model that it promotes for the mobilisation of large numbers of people. Citizen science is a vital addition to Government surveillance, providing more eyes on the ground and shared responsibility, which improves our overall biosecurity culture. We are assessing the options to facilitate the expansion of current local action into a ‘biosecurity citizens’ army’.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
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 Baroness Prentis of Banbury
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.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of (a) the contribution of the commercial crayfish industry to the UK economy and (b) the cost to the UK economy of signal crayfish damage and control.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We have made no specific assessment of the contribution of the crayfish industry to the UK economy. As part of the development of the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019, we engaged with representatives of the crayfish industry to understand the impact of the Order on their businesses.
The 2010 technical report “The economic cost of invasive non-native species on Great Britain” investigated the cost of signal crayfish to the GB economy in regard to management, riverbank restoration, angling and research. The total cost to GB was found to be £2,689,000 annually (England: £1,538,000; Wales: £576,000; Scotland: £575,000. Northern Ireland has no populations of signal crayfish).
Defra recently published the results of a scoping study documenting the current evidence in relation to the ecosystem service impacts of invasive non-native species (INNS) in the UK. This study[1] sought to determine the feasibility of expanding on the 2010 report by estimating natural capital costs resulting from INNS, alongside the direct economic costs which were the focus of the 2010 report. This found that the costs of control were higher than the reported economic impacts, but these did not include river bank damage or wider ecosystem costs.
[1] Scoping study: ecosystem services and natural capital costs of invasive non-native species in the UK - BE0162 http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&Completed=1&ProjectID=20315