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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in controlling the spread of (a) Japanese knotweed and (b) other non-native plant species.

Listing species on Schedule 9 is just one measure, adopted in line with the GB Invasive Non-Native Species Strategy, used to tackle the establishment and spread of invasive non-native plants. The GB Strategy is currently in the process of being reviewed. However, without the restrictions provided by section 14(2) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it would be legal to plant, or cause to grow in the wild, those species listed on the Schedule, including Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam.