Defra protects honeybee health through work by APHA’s National Bee Unit on statutory pest and disease control, surveillance, education and working with beekeepers to keep bees healthy.

Under the Defra Environmental Improvement Plan, a new Pollinator Action Plan will be published, setting out key actions to support pollinators in England.

Support for farmers includes the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Landscape Recovery, which fund creation and restoration of habitats in appropriate areas. Our Environmental Improvement Plan target will double farms providing sufficient year-round resources for farm wildlife, including pollinators, by 2030 compared with 2025.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as the regulator for pesticides in Great Britain, has granted an emergency authorisation for a product containing the active substance acetamiprid in line with the requirements set out in relevant legislation. The authorisation is time-limited and subject to strict conditions of use, including appropriate controls and mitigations.

The short term and longer-term risks to bees were carefully assessed by HSE during the process. The short-term impact assessment showed that the level of risk was within acceptable limits. The longer-term impacts on bees were considered, and existing scientific studies reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that the long-term risk to honeybees, their larvae and also bumble bees was low, and any effects on the colony survival and development is likely to be low.

The risks to butterflies (or lepidoptera, which includes moths) were considered as part of the wider assessment of the risks to non-target arthropods/insects. This concluded that risks within treated fields could be managed, with a restriction preventing use after 31^st July. To protect non-target arthropods/insects outside the treated field, additional safeguards were specified, including a 5m buffer zone restriction.

Defra has developed a Pesticide Load Indicator which combines data on quantities used with data on the properties of each pesticide. The indicator illustrates trends in the potential pressure on the environment arising from the use of pesticides. The metrics for bees indicate a very substantial reduction in load in recent years, due in large part to the end of widespread use of three neonicotinoid pesticides which carry risks to bee populations.

The National Honey Monitoring Scheme supports estimates of honeybee exposure to pesticides. Defra also contributes funding for the Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, which tracks changes in numbers across the UK.

Defra will continue to monitor trends in these metrics and other data to ensure that risks from pesticides to bees, including the risks of any pesticides given emergency authorisation, are being kept to acceptable levels.

All consignments of honey bee queens imported into Northern Ireland (NI) must be accompanied by health certificates confirming that the area the bees originated from is free of certain pests and diseases. The health certificate must be issued no more than 24 hours prior to dispatch and the certifying officer must also confirm that a pre-export inspection took place. When the imports arrive in NI they are cleared by NI officials. Great Britain (GB) officials do not have access to the systems used by NI so we do not have figures for how many queen honeybees have been imported into NI. Once the imports have been cleared by NI officials, the bees can be moved to GB without any further controls so information about the number of queen honeybees moved from NI to GB is not collected.

NI officials have shared intelligence that since 2021 they have received increased numbers of queen honey bee imports into NI while the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit has recorded fewer imports of queen honey bees into GB.

All consignments of honey bee queens imported into Northern Ireland (NI) must be accompanied by health certificates confirming that the area the bees originated from is free of certain pests, including small hive beetle, and diseases. The health certificate must be issued no more than 24 hours prior to dispatch and the certifying officer must also confirm that a pre-export inspection took place. Imports into NI are cleared by NI officials.

Apis mellifera also known as the Western honey bee is native to Europe. All consignments of honey bees (Apis mellifera) imported into the UK must be accompanied by health certificates confirming that the area the bees originated from is free of certain pests and diseases. The health certificate must be issued no more than 24 hours prior to dispatch and the certifying officer must also confirm that a pre-export inspection took place.

Developing varroa-tolerant bees through selective breeding is likely to be very difficult as it requires geographic isolation or artificial insemination to preserve the resistance traits being selected for, as well as large numbers of colonies to ensure that the resulting strains maintain good genetic diversity. There is advice for beekeepers about how to manage Varroa and queen rearing on BeeBase, the website managed by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit.

Beekeepers are encouraged to adopt good beekeeping practices and there are also worldwide policies on controlling pests and diseases in honeybees. These actions will help to ensure healthy sustainable populations of honeybees which will support food production by contributing to insect pollination of crops.

There is currently no compulsory registration system for bees and beekeeping in the UK, so it is difficult to provide exact figures for honey bee populations.

Beekeepers are however encouraged to voluntarily register on the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU) BeeBase website where they can record their details.

The figures from BeeBase can be used to provide a useful indication of the number of managed colonies in the UK. An Annual Hive Count is carried out where beekeepers are asked to update their BeeBase records. Information about numbers and location of hives is important for Bee Inspectors in terms of preparing and planning for outbreaks of disease and exotic pests.

Protecting our country from pests and diseases is a key priority and that is why we have stringent monitoring processes in place to detect pests and diseases. Imports of honey bees are only accepted from approved countries and are subject to rules relating to notification and health certification. Imports of honey bee queens must be inspected and certified as free from certain pests and diseases before they can be exported to the UK and they can only come from pest free areas. A risk-based approach applies to checks on imports, including some laboratory testing of packaging and accompanying worker bees, for evidence of bee pests and diseases. As well as the import controls, there is an extensive surveillance programme in place for invasive pests and the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit provide training and guidance on pest recognition to all UK beekeepers.

Protecting our country from pests and diseases is a key priority and that is why we have stringent monitoring processes in place to detect pests and diseases. Imports of honey bee queens must be inspected and certified as free from certain pests and diseases before they can be exported to the UK and they can only come from pest free areas. Honey bee queens from Ukraine must enter the UK via a border control post where they are inspected.

The Department is working with the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU) to prevent Tropilaelaps species, a serious pest of honey bees from entering the UK and harming our bee population. As well as the import controls, there is an extensive surveillance programme in place for invasive pests and the NBU provide training and guidance on pest recognition to all UK beekeepers.

It is confirmed that no request from the Northern Irish Minister of Agriculture for mutual assistance with bee inspecting has been received by APHA’s National Bee Unit.

This Government is committed to restoring and protecting nature. We are 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 by 2042.

For our pollinator species we are considering lessons learned from the recently completed review of our Pollinator Action Plan (PAP), which set out plans to fulfil the vision, aims and objectives of the National Pollinator Strategy over the last three-year period from 2021-24.

Figures from the annual UK Hive Count suggest that honey bee numbers are stable.

Healthy soils that are rich in nutrients and organic matter, abundant pollinators and clean water are essential for sustainable food production. We will provide farmers and land managers with the support they need to help restore nature, which is vital to safeguard our long-term food security, support productivity and build resilience to climate change.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit has 50 trained inspectors which includes the National Bee Inspector and 8 Regional Bee Inspectors. All of these inspectors are trained to inspect and assess the health of bees and the hives in England and Wales.

Defra has not made an assessment of the potential impact of RNA pesticides on the bee population. At present, there are no RNA interference plant protection products (PPPs) authorised for use in GB.

Should anyone wish to market an RNA interference PPP for professional use in GB, they must first submit an application to the independent regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who would complete a thorough risk assessment before making a decision on authorisation. Any application would need to meet the data requirements outlined in GB’s PPP regulations (more information can be found on HSE’s website: Data Requirements Introduction and Index).

All active substances and commercial products must show no unacceptable effects on people or wildlife. This includes an evaluation of the effect on bees; if this is failed, then no authorisation is given.

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.

The National Model Design Code and Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework set out how development can incorporate a range of nature friendly features including bee bricks and swift bricks.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 expects developments to provide net gains for biodiversity, including through incorporating features which support priority or threatened species such as swifts, bats and hedgehogs.

Bee health is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Harm to honeybees can be caused by several different means including pests and diseases, invasive non-native species and poor husbandry practices by beekeepers. Defra supports a range of actions to help tackle harm.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU) deliver the Defra Bee Health Programme which includes management and control of honeybee pests and diseases. The NBU also provide free training and advice to beekeepers, including on pest and disease recognition. Defra works in partnership with beekeeping stakeholders under the Healthy Bees Plan 2030 to improve honeybee health and husbandry.

Yellow-legged hornet (YLH), an invasive non-native species is a threat to pollinating insects including honeybees. There are established populations of these hornets in Europe and since 2016 there have been regular incursions into GB. Defra takes action against confirmed findings of YLH to prevent this species from becoming established.

The Government is committed to ending the use of those neonicotinoid pesticides that are known to carry substantial risks to pollinator populations. The recent Defra policy statement, released on 21 December, sets out plans to take forward that commitment.