Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the biosecurity risks to the UK from tree and plant imports from outside the EU which are transhipped via another EU member state. [170763]

George Eustice, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Natural Environment, Water and Rural Affairs: The Plant Health Directive (2000/29/EC) already prohibits the import of a number of tree and plant species into the EU in response to plant health risks that have been identified. Those species which can be imported must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate to confirm that they meet any relevant import requirements. Such requirements apply whether the trees and plants are imported directly into the UK, or elsewhere in the EU.

In addition, the Government is developing a new plant health risk register in response to the report of the independent Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Expert Taskforce, to enhance our existing process of identifying, assessing and responding to new and revised plant health threats. This will be published shortly.

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