Written question asked by Bradley Thomas (Conservative) on Friday, 13 June 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 17 June 2025. It was answered by Mary Creagh (Labour) on Wednesday, 18 June 2025 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Beekeeping

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote beekeeping.

Answer: In 2024 the annual Hive Count exercise produced a figure of 252, 647 honey bee colonies in the UK which indicates that there continues to be interest in keeping bees. There are over 52,700 beekeepers in England, Wales and Scotland registered on BeeBase, the voluntary register managed by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU). Defra encourages all beekeepers to have good husbandry skills, including recognition of pests and disease and husbandry practices which can minimise the risk of introducing and spreading disease within an apiary.

Secondary information