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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 21 March (HL6420), what steps they are taking to provide financial (1) assistance, or (2) compensation, to those carrying out Statutory Plant Health Notices.

Statutory Plant Health Notices (SPHNs), requiring the felling and/or destruction of infected trees or the containment of susceptible material, are issued to prevent the spread of tree pests and diseases.

It has been the policy of successive governments not to pay compensation for plant health measures, as we believe that resources should be directed at the detection of pests and diseases, risk management and research. Protecting plant health is not an issue for the Government alone. The current arrangements ensure that everyone shares a common understanding of biosecurity and their role and responsibilities.

Individual landowners are responsible for the care and management of trees on their land; however, Government advice and financial support is available. Detailed case-specific advice is available from Forestry Commission Woodland Officers, who can support landowners with undertaking SPHN actions, and the Countryside Stewardship Scheme provides financial support for those affected by certain tree diseases. This includes support for the removal of Phytophthora ramorum infected trees and rhododendron, and grants for restocking following clearance because of this and other diseases (e.g. ash dieback and sweet chestnut blight).

In 2021, we launched a series of pilot grant schemes for land managers, which test and refine different ways to slow the spread of tree pests and diseases and build the resilience of our treescape in the North West, the South East (including London) and the West Midlands. The Forestry Commission will support the felling and restocking of trees as well as providing maintenance payments for restock sites. Land managers are eligible if they have:

• Ash with ash dieback
• Larch with Phytophthora ramorum
• Spruce growing in the high-risk spruce bark beetle area
• Sweet chestnut with either Sweet Chestnut Blight or Phytophthora ramorum
• Oak infested with Oak Processionary Moth

In 2023 we introduced the tree health advice package for all SPHN holders[1], which aims to build land managers knowledge and awareness of tree health issues and woodland management, through providing funding for forestry/land agent advice and consultation to assist in creating a biosecurity management plan, and funding for biosecurity training and a personal biosecurity kit.

[1] Statutory Plant Health Notice (SPHN) advice package - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)