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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2015 to Question 3044, what the Government's policy is on renewal of the current ban on neonicotinoid pesticides after December 2015.

Decisions on the approval of pesticide active substances are made at European level. The restrictions currently in place for neonicotinoids are not time-limited. They will remain in place until and unless a decision is made to change them and do not, therefore, need to be renewed at the end of this year. The Commission has begun a review of the science relating to the restrictions. The Government will contribute fully to this review and will base its view on future regulation of neonicotinoids on all the available scientific evidence.