The GB Invasive Non-native Species Strategy emphasises the importance of preventing invasive non-native species from establishing in GB and rapidly responding to them if they do. To support this, England, Scotland and Wales are committed to developing contingency plans and clear governance to facilitate rapid and effective action.

About contingency plans

Generic contingency plans have been produced for each country, describing how government and operational partners will respond to an outbreak of any invasive non-native species. These are separated into six broad groups reflecting differences in the species and agencies involved: terrestrial vertebrates, terrestrial invertebrates, terrestrial plants, freshwater animals, freshwater plants and marine.

Plans have been drafted for each country and approved by the GB Non-native Species Programme Board, following the responsibilities set out by the rapid response working group and in consultation with relevant organisations. They are dynamic and will be updated as necessary, for example following lessons learned from real or simulated outbreaks. It is the intention that, over time, the plans will include species specific annexes providing more detail on how to respond to high priority species; however, these are currently in development.

Contact us with comments on the plans. Comments will be periodically reviewed and used to update the plans.

England

The following generic contingency plans are currently available:

• Terrestrial vertebrates [PDF version, HTML version]
• Terrestrial plants [PDF version, HTML version]
• Freshwater animals PDF version, HTML version]
• Freshwater plants [PDF version, HTML version]
• Marine [PDF version, HTML version]

Note that a plan for terrestrial invertebrates is still in development and is not yet available.