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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department (a) has submitted and (b) plans to submit data to the European Food Safety Authority's investigation into the consequences of the European Commission's restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is not investigating the consequences of the European Commission restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids. The European Commission has undertaken to carry out a review of the scientific evidence on the effects of neonicotinoids on bees. This review has now started. EFSA has accepted a mandate from the Commission and has invited any party to submit relevant data by 30 September 2015. Companies have also provided further studies and are carrying out a large-scale field trial.

Once the data have been collected, EFSA will produce an assessment of the risks to bees from the use of neonicotinoids as seed treatments and granules. The Commission will then decide whether to propose changes to the current restrictions on neonicotinoids. The UK will contribute to this process and will be guided by the evidence. Completed Defra-funded research is already published and is therefore available to the review.