§ Sir John Gilmourasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether he will list by district council areas those parts of Scotland in which outbreaks of Dutch elm disease has been reported.
(2) whether he can give an estimate of the number of elm trees in Scotland which have been killed by Dutch elm disease.
§ Mr. Hugh D. Brown:Information on the spread of the disease by district council area is not readily available since powers under the Dutch Elm Disease (Local Authorities) Order 1977 are held by the regional authorities. All regions are affected to some degree, although Grampian region has reported only three cases and Highland region one case. Out of an original estimated population of 2–3 million elms in Scotland, up to 10,000 trees are believed to have died and similar numbers are infected by the disease.