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 address the loss of habitat for bees and wasps.

In November 2014 we launched our National Pollinator Strategy for England, setting out comprehensive measures to support pollinators. This ten-year plan identifies actions for government and other partners, as well as a “Bees’ Needs” campaign (www.beesneeds.org.uk) that explains what the public can do to provide food, shelter and nest sites.

We published in November last year an implementation plan for the Strategy which sets out progress and future action. This includes the £900 million Defra has made available for the new Countryside Stewardship scheme, launched in July 2015. The dedicated Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package in the new scheme contains options to improve habitats for pollinators.

England’s network of protected areas also provides benefits for many bee and wasp species. This network includes local and national sites protected under domestic legislation and international sites protected under European and International law. Rare and declining bees and wasps are listed under Section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (2006). There have been a number of successful recovery actions, such as the re-introduction of the short-haired bumblebee in south east England.