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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on tackling monopodial bamboo in the London Borough of Havering in each of the last three years.

Defra does not fund the control of monopodial bamboo. The Government stance is that bamboo does not currently pose a significant threat to wildlife or to socio-economic interests nationally. A recent risk assessment of black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) supports this view. Where bamboo is seen to be a problem for landowners, it is their responsibility to manage that problem. Defra strongly recommends that bamboo plants are not planted into the ground and that a physical barrier is used to prevent the uncontrolled spread of bamboo.