Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what impact assessment he has undertaken on the introduction of the ban on neonicotinoids.

Restrictions prohibiting the outdoor use of three neonicotinoids were put in place from late 2018. The Government supported these restrictions because, based on the scientific evidence, we were not prepared to put our pollinator populations at risk. The evidence on the toxicity of these chemicals to bees and their persistence in the environment means that the clear advice of scientific advisers is that these restrictions are justified.

The Government recognises that the loss of neonicotinoids has made it harder for farmers to control certain pests in emerging crops. Some growers of crops including oilseed rape and sugar beet aphids have faced significant yield losses because of these difficulties.

The Government considered these impacts in deciding its approach, but did not carry out a formal impact assessment. This was because neither the benefits nor the costs of restrictions on neonicotinoids are amenable to precise quantification.