Who does what?
The Scottish Government's Plant Health Service is made up of three parts:
- Rural Directorate: Plants, Horticulture and Potatoes Branch deals with policy issues, considering what controls should be in place, liaising and negotiating with other UK administrations and international organisations about changes to legislation and agreements.
- Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate (RPID) (Area Offices and Horticulture and Marketing Unit): carry out inspection, monitoring and surveillance work to ensure compliance with the controls in force.
- SASA (Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture): A Division of RPID, provides diagnostic services to support the work of inspectors and scientific advice to support the development of plant health legislation and standards.
The role of the forestry commission
The control of pests of forest trees and wood is the responsibility of the Forestry Commission. Information on their activities is available on the Forestry Commission website.
Our involvement with other bodies
Many of the controls in place to prevent the introduction and spread of plant pests are based on EU legislation, which is transposed by the Scottish Government into national legislation. We also work closely with Defra's Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Government to ensure consistent and robust controls across the UK.