ASH DIEBACK DISEASE
Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of how many and what proportion of ash trees are likely to die from ash dieback disease.
Dan Rogerson, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for water, forestry, rural affairs and resource management: Defra and the Forestry Commission do not record or make estimates of numbers of individual tree deaths. Chalara has infected many species of ash worldwide, with differing levels of intensity. Trees cannot recover once infected, although larger ash trees can survive infection for a considerable period of time.
Epidemiological modelling on the basis of current evidence suggests that the pathogen is likely to continue to spread in Great Britain, although there is likely to be noticeable regional variation, with areas in the south east, east and south west most affected. These predictions will need to be updated as additional information from ongoing research becomes available.