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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the use of neonicotinoid pesticides when granted emergency authorisation on the bee population in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Emergency authorisation was granted in 2015 for the use of two neonicotinoids on up to around 32,000 hectares of oilseed rape crop in high-risk situations in England and used by the applicant in Eastern counties. The expert assessment of the application concluded that this would not pose an unacceptable risk to bees. No authorisations were granted for use in Northern Ireland.