Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to protect each of the 26 species of bee that are under threat in the UK.

Dan Rogerson

Conservation of biodiversity is a devolved matter. Action in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is a matter for the devolved administrations.

England’s biodiversity strategy, Biodiversity 2020, takes an integrated, large-scale approach to biodiversity conservation, exemplified by our Nature Improvement Areas initiative. This approach is designed to meet the habitat needs of many species, including threatened species of bee.

The strategy recognises that there will also be a need to take targeted action for the recovery of certain priority species, including certain bee species, whose conservation is not delivered through wider, habitat-based measures. These species are catered for through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme. The recent reintroduction of the short-haired bumblebee in the South East of England is one such example.

Incentives for farmers and other land managers to conserve and enhance important wildlife habitats, including those for bees, are provided under Environmental Stewardship schemes. Following a review, new payments were introduced from 1 January 2013 to improve habitats and food for pollinators, including bees. These payments provide for the addition of wildflowers to buffer strips and field corners, and the provision of legume-rich and herb-rich swards.

For the future, we are currently considering the scope for further enhancements for bees and other pollinators as part of wider environmental delivery through the reformed Common Agricultural Policy. Over £3.1 billion will be available up to 2020 to protect and enhance biodiversity under the New Environmental Land Management Scheme.

Defra is also developing the National Pollinator Strategy for England to reflect the importance of bees and other insect pollinators to agriculture and biodiversity and in recognition that they face many pressures. A public consultation was launched in March 2014 and the final Strategy will be finalised in summer 2014.