Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
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 potential impact of the yellow legged Asian hornet on UK (a) pollinators and (b) food security; and what the role is of the National Bee Unit in helping to tackle the potential impacts of that hornet.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Over £500 million a year is contributed by bees and other pollinating insects to UK agriculture, through improvements to crop quality and quantity. If Asian hornet (also known as Yellow Legged Hornet) were to become established in the UK, this could have a major impact on pollinators. With respect to food security the impact would be greatest on crops which are dependent on insects for pollination such as apples, strawberries, field beans and oilseed rape. Since 2016 the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU) have responded to incursions of Yellow Legged Hornet (YLH) into Great Britain. The NBU has developed a fine-tuned and effective response which allows them to find and destroy nests to prevent YLH establishing.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the £500 million estimate of the value of pollination services to UK agriculture was calculated.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bees and other pollinators play an essential role in our £100 billion food industry. The latest estimated value of insect pollination on UK crops fruit, vegetable and oil seed rape production is around £630 million per year. This estimate is based on increases in yield and market quality. It was produced through field and desk-based research undertaken by the University of Reading and other researchers, who estimated the potential deficits in crop yield and quality without (or with reduced) insect pollination services, and related this to market value.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will consider introducing a national scheme offering small grants to private individuals for the creation of climate-resilient, wildlife-friendly gardens.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the importance of individual action and the contribution that wildlife-friendly gardens can make to nature recovery and climate resilience. Our Land Use Consultation this year asked about approaches to support such outcomes in urban areas. We are considering the responses we received, which will inform the upcoming Land Use Framework.
We also coordinate and work with a range of partners to promote guidance and support for individuals. For example, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s Grow Wild programme inspires and supports individual and community gardening, and Defra’s annual Bees’ Needs Week and Bees’ Needs Champions Awards celebrate action and promote simple actions everyone can take to benefit pollinators. We encourage individuals to participate in and contribute to the preparation of Local Nature Recovery Strategies to help shape nature recovery in their area.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to introduce a public awareness campaign on the impact of domestic pesticide usage on wildlife.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All authorised plant protection products have statutory conditions of use that must be followed by all users, and strict, science-based regulation is supplemented with policies to encourage safe and minimal use. In March this year, the government published the UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP) 2025, which sets out the actions that all four UK governments will take to reduce the potential harm from pesticide use.
Through events such as Bees Needs Week, the government highlights what the public can do to help pollinators – including thinking carefully about whether to use pesticides.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 declining (a) bee and (b) pollinator populations on UK food production and what steps he is taking to promote pollinator-friendly farming practices.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
This Government is committed to halting the decline in species abundance by 2030 and reversing species decline, reducing the risk of species extinction and restoring and creating more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042.
For pollinator species, we are considering lessons learned from a recently completed review of our 2021-24 Pollinator Action Plan, which set out actions to address key risks to insect pollinator populations, including monitoring potential or emerging risks.
Although honeybees face many of the same environmental pressures as wild pollinators, their population is driven largely by the number of beekeepers willing and able to keep bees. Figures from the annual UK Hive Count suggest that honey bee numbers are quite stable.
Healthy soils that are rich in nutrients and organic matter, abundant pollinators, and clean water are essential for sustainable food production. We will support farmers and land managers to help restore nature, which is vital to safeguard our long-term food security, support productivity, and build resilience to climate change.
Asked by: David Taylor (Labour - Hemel Hempstead)
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 harmful pesticides on the number of bees in Hertfordshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of pesticides on Hertfordshire’s bee population.
Defra funds a monitoring programme providing information about the concentrations of different pesticides in honey collected from beehives across England, and the subsequent risk to honeybees.
Defra partly funds the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) which generates systematic data on the abundance of bees and other flower-visiting insects at a national scale. Data from PoMS insect surveys contributes to providing an invaluable resource from which to measure trends in pollinator populations and target conservation efforts.
England biodiversity indicators provide data about the relative abundance of wild bees.
These schemes collect data from around the country and have been designed to ensure regional representation, but do not allow assessment of the impact of pesticides on bee populations locally.
Pesticides are only authorised following a thorough scientific risk assessment that concludes all safety standards are met. This includes an evaluation of the effect on bees.
Use of the neonicotinoid pesticide Cruiser SB is not allowed on sugar beet in England in 2025 as an application for its emergency use was not approved. This decision underlines the Government’s commitment to protecting pollinators and the wider environment.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is clear that we will change existing policies to end the use of neonicotinoid pesticides that threaten bees and other vital pollinators.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of neonicotinoids that have been used since 2020 following an emergency authorisation on wildlife.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Three neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – are not permitted for general use because of the risks they pose to pollinators. However, emergency authorisations were granted by the previous Government for the use of the thiamethoxam-containing pesticide Cruiser SB to treat sugar beet seed in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Environmental monitoring activities were undertaken as a condition of the emergency authorisations for the use of Cruiser SB granted by the previous administration, alongside government-funded monitoring projects. The results of this monitoring work can be found within the HSE’s emergency registration reports, published on GOV.UK.
This year I rejected the application for an emergency authorisation to use Cruiser SB on sugar beet in England. I did not take this decision lightly, considering expert advice from the Health and Safety Executive and Expert Committee on Pesticides, the Defra Chief Scientific Adviser and Defra economists. In making my decision, I recognised that the potential adverse effects to bees and other pollinators could not be excluded if the Cruiser SB authorisation were to be granted.
In December last year we published a policy statement outlining our intention to end the use of these neonicotinoid pesticides for good. We will update the guidance that sets out the approach to decisions on applications for emergency authorisations to take full account of the importance of pollinators. Further, we will identify legislative options to prevent future use of emergency authorisations for products containing clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, which are extremely toxic to pollinators.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the ban on the use of neonicotinoids on agricultural crops on (a) bee and (b) butterfly population trends.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Three neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – have not been authorised for general use since 2018. It has remained possible to consider short-term emergency authorisations for particular uses, and emergency authorisation for use on sugar beet was granted each year from 2021 to 2024.
This Government is committed to restoring and protecting nature, including pollinator species such as bees and butterflies. We have given a commitment to end these emergency authorisations and the next steps towards delivering that commitment were set out in a published policy statement and in a written statement to Parliament made on 6 January.
There is clear and abundant evidence that neonicotinoids are harmful to species other than those they are intended to control, and particularly to insect pollinators such as bees and butterflies. Given the complex range of threats faced by pollinators, it is not possible to quantify the benefit of turning the current restrictions on the three neonicotinoids into a complete ban.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to reintroduce the use of neonicotinoid as a pesticide.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is clear that we will change existing policies to end the use of neonicotinoid pesticides that threaten bees and other vital pollinators.