Thank you for contacting me about bees.

I entirely agree with you that bees and other pollinators are an essential part of our environment and play a crucial role in food production. Since 2014, efforts by Government, beekeepers, conservation groups, farmers and researchers have been brought together under the National Pollinator Strategy which you can read here. This is a ten-year plan to improve understanding and awareness of the status and role of pollinators, create and enhance habitats and safeguard bee health.

The Government continues to support the restrictions on neonicotinoids to protect pollinators, and emergency authorisations for pesticides are only granted in exceptional circumstances where diseases or pests cannot be controlled by any other reasonable means. The authorisation in this case is strictly limited to the sugar beet crop and available for a maximum of 120 days. Ten EU countries have also issued emergency authorisations since 2018.