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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the bee disease foulbrood.

The Healthy Bee Plan sets out the Government’s approach to tackling our highest risks to bee health, which includes foulbrood. It is published at http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?sectionid=41.

The National Bee Unit has an extensive risk-based surveillance programme in place to check for bee pests and diseases, including American and European foulbrood. The programme targets apiaries that are at a higher risk of disease. Both American foulbrood and European foulbrood are notifiable. Where a case of European foulbrood is identified, the colony is destroyed or treated. For American foulbrood, the colony is destroyed and the hive boxes are sterilised. After treatment, beekeepers are not allowed to move bees from their apiary until a Bee Inspector has visited and confirmed the apiary is free of foulbrood.

The Government is working with beekeeping associations to deliver guidance, advice and training on American foulbrood and European foulbrood prevention measures (such as biosecurity and barrier management), good husbandry and disease recognition. We are also working with professional bee farmers to establish an accreditation scheme which allows beekeepers with the appropriate training and practices to take greater responsibility for identification and control of foulbrood in their hives.

One of the projects funded under the Insect Pollinators Initiative developed modelling systems for managing bee disease by studying the epidemiology of European foulbrood. The final report for this project was recently submitted. Defra has previously funded research on European foulbrood, including the shook swarm method for managing European foulbrood. Final reports are available for these projects.