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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many young trees were imported into the United Kingdom for the 2014–15 planting season; how this compares with the previous year; and what assessment they have made of the impact of such imports on the health of trees in the United Kingdom.

The data provided relates to forest reproductive material, the generic name for the seeds, cones, cuttings and planting stock used in forest establishment. It does not cover imports for non-forest reproductive purposes, which are monitored through the statutory notification schemes administered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

The data is only available in financial years and relates to imports from the EU and elsewhere. In summary, import of bareroot and container forestry plants for 2014/15 was 2,088,890 (this figure is for controlled and voluntary species). This represents a significant decrease on 2013/14.

According to the Forest Nursery Trade, the decrease in figures is due to an increase in demand for home grown material in Great Britain.

We assess the impacts of tree and plant pests and diseases using the Plant Health Risk Register, which is publicly available on the Fera website.

Where necessary, we introduce additional plant health requirements in response to threats associated with movements from other Member States.