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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the population trends of (a) winged insects and (b) non-winged insects in the UK during the last 30 years.

Defra published its annual update of the UK and England Biodiversity Indicators on 3 August. This provides detailed statistical assessments of the status and trends of a range of wildlife populations including butterflies and other pollinating insects.

The indicators of butterfly abundance in the UK show significant declines since 1976: by 74% for species most closely associated with flower-rich habitats and 57% for species of the wider countryside, although since 2011 the indicators have been broadly stable. Since 1980, the indicator of insect pollinator distribution in Great Britain which covers almost 400 species of bees and hoverflies, has declined by 13% although similarly, this indicator shows no overall change since 2011.

We do not hold information specifically on non-winged insects, although some flightless insects and other invertebrates are included in our priority species indicators. Data and atlases showing the distribution of a range of invertebrates are available from the Biological Record Centre website or the National Biodiversity Network Atlas.

• England Biodiversity Indicators: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/england-biodiversity-indicators

• UK biodiversity indicators: http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-4229

• Biological Record Centre website: www.brc.ac.uk/atlases

• National Biodiversity Network Atlas: https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0001387317