Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her (a) Indian and (b) Pakistani counterparts on (i) human rights in Kashmir and (ii) the use of the death penalty.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 31 March 2025 to Question 39395.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the yellow legged Asian hornet on UK (a) pollinators and (b) food security; and what the role is of the National Bee Unit in helping to tackle the potential impacts of that hornet.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Over £500 million a year is contributed by bees and other pollinating insects to UK agriculture, through improvements to crop quality and quantity. If Asian hornet (also known as Yellow Legged Hornet) were to become established in the UK, this could have a major impact on pollinators. With respect to food security the impact would be greatest on crops which are dependent on insects for pollination such as apples, strawberries, field beans and oilseed rape. Since 2016 the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU) have responded to incursions of Yellow Legged Hornet (YLH) into Great Britain. The NBU has developed a fine-tuned and effective response which allows them to find and destroy nests to prevent YLH establishing.