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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to support the use of non-chemical alternatives to neonicotinoids.

Defra and the Devolved Administrations are currently consulting on the revised National Action Plan for Sustainable Use of Pesticides (the NAP). The NAP lays out how we intend to support the uptake of integrated pest management (IPM) to reduce the risks associated with pesticides use, including neonicotinoids.

The NAP supports the development of alternatives to chemical pesticides, as part of the IPM approach. Our proposed plan will increase uptake of non-chemical approaches by improving advice and skills sharing, and by providing financial support through the new Environmental Land Management Scheme.

The Government has recently agreed to allow the use of a neonicotinoid seed treatment on sugar beet in 2021. This is an exceptional measure and we do not see such products as a permanent solution for sugar beet growers. The sugar beet industry has been developing alternative approaches including improved husbandry, plant breeding to develop new varieties and potential new insecticide products. Their forward plan maps out the route to develop each of these areas further so that economic production is possible without neonicotinoid seed treatments.