Speeches

Tom Blenkinsop – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2014-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide funding as part of the National Pollinator Strategy to create a national insect monitoring scheme.

George Eustice

Defra is currently commissioning a two year research project that will develop and test a new national pollinator monitoring scheme. The project will develop the methods, sampling framework and delivery mechanisms for a cost-effective national monitoring scheme, which will assess changes in pollinator populations and their pollination services. Commissioning of this research is at an advanced stage and the project could start as early as this month. Once contracts are in place we will provide details on our science webpages (http://randd.defra.gov.uk/ ).