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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of pesticide use in (a) urban and (b) public spaces on (i) public health and (ii) biodiversity.

The Government’s first priority with regard to pesticides is to ensure that they will not harm people or animal health or pose unacceptable effects to the environment.

Pesticides are subject to strict regulation in Great Britain (GB), and a pesticide is only approved in GB on the basis that it will not cause harm to human or animal health, and that there are no unacceptable effects to the environment. A pesticide may only be placed on the market in GB if the product has been authorised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), GB’s pesticide regulator. This only happens following a thorough scientific risk assessment that concludes all safety standards are met.