PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Bees: Pesticides (16 June 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to help protect the bee population; and whether she plans to allow the use of pesticides known to be harmful to bees.

Asked by:
Wes Streeting (Labour)

In November 2014, Defra published the National Pollinator Strategy which forms a framework for collective action to help manage and raise awareness of the pressures facing bees and other pollinators. The Strategy seeks to address key gaps in our understanding about the status of pollinators, identifies specific policy and evidence actions for government and others, and also identifies actions that everyone can take to help expand food, shelter and nest sites. To raise public awareness, a ‘Call to Action’, ‘Bees’ Needs: Food and a Home’ was launched in July 2014. This is a simple message to all land managers on the essential needs of pollinators and how to fulfil them. Defra will publish a ‘one year on’ progress report on the Strategy in autumn 2015.

As set out in the Strategy, our work over the next five years to develop the evidence base will allow us to identify pollinator trends with greater certainty, so that we can assess progress with our outcomes and identify where further action should be taken. This evidence base will include consideration of the impact of pesticides.

Answered by:
George Eustice (Conservative)
22 June 2015