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.

The Plant Health Service has intercepted oak processionary moth on oak trees at 58 sites within the UK Protected Zone (as at 25^th 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.