Written question asked by Derek Wyatt (Labour) on Monday, 7 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 9 November 2005. It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Tuesday, 29 November 2005 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Bees

Question: (2) what arrangements are being made for the future preservation of bee viruses held at the Rothamsted Research Station.

Answer: Rothamsted Research is sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. It is one of several contractors with whom the Department funds research that supports our bee health policy to control pests and diseases of bees in England. Rothamsted completed a three-year Defra funded project on exotic bee viruses and their interactions under UK conditions in November 2004. While Defra has no current plans to commission further work on bee viruses at the institute, we have made provision for continuing expenditure on research on bee health.I understand that Rothamsted is considering future arrangements for the preservation of its collection of bee viruses and antisera and for access to this collection.

Secondary information