Mentions:
1: Theresa Villiers (Con - Chipping Barnet) From the pollinators that enable us grow crops and the marine life that provides our most popular national - Speech Link
2: Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) such as bees and butterflies. - Speech Link
3: Sarah Dyke (LD - Somerton and Frome) England was once a country brimming with wildlife, from bees and butterflies to birds and beavers, but - Speech Link
4: Jim Shannon (DUP - Strangford) been involved in a project for black bees. - Speech Link
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 he has made of the potential impact of permitted pesticides on pollinator populations in England.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s first priority with regard to pesticides is to ensure that they will not harm people or pose unacceptable risks to the environment.
Defra funds research projects examining the impacts of pesticide use on honeybees and the environment. As part of the National Honey Monitoring Scheme, we fund the analysis of honey samples aimed at assessing levels of pesticides in honey across England, Wales, and Scotland. This provides an estimated level of honeybee exposure to pesticides across different land uses.
In addition, Defra contributes funding to the Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (POMS) which tracks changes in pollinator numbers, including the abundance of bees, hoverflies, and other flower-visiting insects across the UK.
Pollinators are a priority for this government, and we are taking action alongside many partners to implement the National Pollinator Strategy’s provisions. The National Pollinator Strategy Action Plan was published in May 2022 and sets out more specifically how we will continue to act to fulfil the vision, aims and objectives of the Strategy, over the period 2021-2024.
Mentions:
1: Sarah Champion (Lab - Rotherham) Among the world’s worst-hit groups are pollinators such as bees and butterflies, falling by 18% on average - Speech Link
2: Jim Shannon (DUP - Strangford) On bees and pollinating, just again for the hon. - Speech Link
3: Sarah Champion (Lab - Rotherham) It also seems appropriate to mention the farmers who, without those pollinators, are really suffering - Speech Link
4: Rebecca Pow (Con - Taunton Deane) Around 75% of all food crops are dependent in some way on pollinators—we have heard pollinators mentioned - Speech Link
5: Rebecca Pow (Con - Taunton Deane) We have integrated pest management to help our pollinators and a raft of other measures that farmers - Speech Link
May. 08 2024
Source Page: Fusion energy facilities: new National Policy Statement and proposals on sitingFound: Fusion energy facilities: new National Policy Statement and proposals on siting
Mentions:
1: Rebecca Pow (Con - Taunton Deane) Hedgerows are brilliant for our pollinators as habitats, and provide food for them from the flowers within - Speech Link
2: Emma Hardy (Lab - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) As we have heard, they serve as habitats for a huge array of wildlife, including bats, birds and bees - Speech Link
3: Rebecca Pow (Con - Taunton Deane) That was heavily debated and assessed, and that is the reason for it. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Fairlie, Jim (SNP - Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) enhance habitats for our pollinators. - Speech Link
2: Simpson, Graham (Con - Central Scotland) They provide a lifeline for wild bees and offer multiple other benefits, including storing vast amounts - Speech Link
3: Fairlie, Jim (SNP - Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) to help pollinators. - Speech Link
4: Allan, Alasdair (SNP - Na h-Eileanan an Iar) What steps is the Scottish Government taking to deal with the threat that is posed to Scotland’s bees - Speech Link
5: Fairlie, Jim (SNP - Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) The Scottish Government is clearly seeking to protect pollinators through all the pollinator strategies - Speech Link
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the spread of Asian hornets on the welfare of (1) honey bees, and (2) other insect populations, in England; and what action they are taking to prevent the further spread of this invasive species.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government recognises the essential role played by honey bees and wild pollinators in our environment, acknowledging their contribution to crop pollination. Additionally, pollinators play a vital role in supporting the natural ecosystem.
Asian hornets prey on honey bees and other pollinators so pose a significant threat to these insects. To date rapid action has been taken in the UK to find and destroy Asian hornet nests.
In 2023 a total of 72 nests were located and destroyed, the majority of these were located in the South-East (62). The National Bee Unit (NBU), part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency, rapidly located and destroyed the nests so we would expect any impacts on honey bee colonies and other pollinators to be small and localised.
From the analysis of nests found in 2023, a number of areas were identified where there is a low risk that Asian hornet queens may have overwintered. To address this, the NBU is carrying out spring trapping and working collaboratively with stakeholders to monitor traps at locations across Kent, East Sussex, Devon and North Yorkshire.
The Government remains committed to taking swift and effective contingency action against Asian hornet in 2024 thereby continuing to minimise the impacts on honey bees and other pollinators.
Apr. 03 2024
Source Page: Pest-Specific Contingency Plan for Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax)Found: in this document) is a highly aggressive non-native predator of pollinating insects, including honey bees
Apr. 03 2024
Source Page: Bee Health Improvement Partnership: annual report 2022 to 2023Found: to help maintain the health and wellbeing of honey bees .
Apr. 03 2024
Source Page: Pest-Specific Contingency Plan for Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax)Found: significant harm to our population of bees and other pollinators. 2.