Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will place in the Library a summary of his Department's Chief Scientific Adviser's latest analysis of the decline in the bee population.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Changes in our bee and pollinator populations are due to a range of environmental pressures, including intensification of land use and loss of good quality habitat; pests and diseases; invasive species; use of pesticides; and climate change.
In 2013 Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Ian Boyd, commissioned a report on the ‘Status and Value of Pollinators and Pollination Services' to review the current evidence on the impact of environmental pressures on pollinators. A copy of this report will be placed in the House Library. We have just begun a two year project to develop a framework and test methods for monitoring pollinator abundance.
In the autumn we will publish our National Pollinator Strategy, which includes a series of policy actions to safeguard pollinators. In the meanwhile, we will continue to raise public awareness through the launch this July of our call to action, ‘Bees' Needs: Food and a Home'. This is a simple message for all land managers on the essential needs of pollinators and how to fulfil them.
We want to see a thriving bee and pollinator population in the UK, to enhance biodiversity and support our food production.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many meetings he has had with his Department's Chief Scientific Adviser in the last 12 months.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Secretary of State meets his Chief Scientific Adviser at least weekly, sometimes more frequently.