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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in the number of butterflies.

The Government’s indicators of the abundance of UK butterflies show that since 1976, populations of habitat specialists have declined significantly, though species of the wider countryside show no significant change. Since 2014, both trends show no significant change. We are keeping these trends under review as encouraging but not yet definitive signs of progress.

Butterflies are important pollinators. We are taking action alongside many partners to implement the National Pollinator Strategy’s provisions as recovering the numbers of declining pollinator species is a priority for this government. In England, we have set a legally binding target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and action towards this target includes specific action which will help butterflies. We are restoring and creating habitat for wild and managed pollinators to thrive; addressing pressures including by supporting Integrated Pest Management (IPM); raising awareness across society so that people can take action themselves; and supporting monitoring and research.

To strengthen our pollinator evidence base we work closely with leading academics and have introduced a national pollinator monitoring scheme across the whole of the UK, with trend estimates published annually as official statistics. Trends in the abundance of butterflies are also reported in the England and UK biodiversity indicators, based on data collated through the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS).