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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the implications of the relevant advice from the Expert Committee on Pesticides for her decision to provide temporary emergency authorisation to the pesticide Cruiser SB containing neonicotinoid thiamethoxam.

The decision to grant an emergency authorisation for the use of Cruiser SB on the 2023 sugarbeet crop has not been taken lightly. In making this decision, I considered the evidence and the advice provided by the Health and Safety Executive and Expert Committee on Pesticides, as well as Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser and economists.

This emergency authorisation allows a single use of a neonicotinoid on a single crop under very strict conditions to mitigate risks to pollinators and other insects, as well as mammals and birds.