Protecting the nation against natural threats (including plant health) and hazards is one of Defra’s top priorities. Under the Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain strengthening protection against plant pests and diseases inland includes a commitment to develop effective contingency plans and clear governance to help eradicate or minimise the impact when outbreaks occur.

The Defra Generic Contingency Plan describes how the Plant Health Service in England will manage outbreaks of plant pests. In particular, it covers the physical and human resources that are required for an outbreak response and describes the outbreak management process. It is designed primarily for use by staff in Defra, APHA and FC, who are involved in planning for outbreaks of plant pests in England, and for those who are involved in the outbreak response.

Pest specific response plans prepared by Defra and the Forestry Commission describe how the plant health service for England will respond to outbreaks of certain high risk pests where additional measures over and above those set out in the overarching Defra contingency plan for plant health in England are required.

Please see the reporting a pest and disease webpage for the most up-to-date contact details for the UK Plant Health Services.

We are aware that the plant health portal contains hundreds of PDF documents. We are currently reviewing and revising our documents to make them more accessible. If you want a particular document in an accessible format please email plantpestsrisks@defra.gov.uk

Defra have been partnering with the UK Met Office to help give information about predicted pest emergence dates to aid in outbreak responses. The climate-pest risk web tool, developed by the Met Office Hadley Centre in collaboration with Defra’s plant health risk and horizon scanning team, uses up-to-date climate data and models to estimate and map indicators of risk for important plant pests across the UK. A flyer describing the tool is available here, and the tool can be found here (hosted by the Met Office).  

Defra Generic Contingency Plan

Pest specific plant health contingency plans

Pest specific tree health contingency plans