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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has held with the devolved Administrations on improving the clarity of the regulatory framework that applies to the import of colonies and packages of bees to Great Britain via (a) Northern Ireland or (b) other routes since the end of the transition period.

Since only queen honey bees can be imported into Great Britain, packages or colonies arriving here would be returned to the country of export. Guidance on the new rules for importing bees was published and known importers were contacted prior to the end of the transition period.

Movements of queens, packages and colonies from Northern Ireland to Great Britain remain permitted. There is, and will remain, unfettered access for Northern Ireland goods including honey bees to the rest of the UK market.

We are aware of concerns raised by some beekeepers and we continue to listen to beekeepers and their associations as part of our monitoring of the new trading arrangements. We have continued to update guidance in response to questions raised.

Regular discussions take place between Defra and colleagues in the devolved Administrations working in this policy area. We are keeping the situation under review to ensure that there are suitable trading arrangements for the UK beekeeping sector.