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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will publish the advice it received from (a) the Health and Safety Executive, (b) the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides and (c) his Department's Chief Scientific Adviser prior to making the decision to issue an emergency authorisation to use products containing neonicotinoids to treat sugar beet seed in 2021.

The process for considering emergency authorisation for a pesticide is derived from the legislation and includes consideration of potential risks to people and to the environment. This process was followed for an application to use the neonicotinoid seed treatment Cruiser SB on sugar beet in 2021. The Secretary of State decided that the criteria for an emergency application have been met and that the application should be granted to protect the 2021 crop from significant yield losses. His decision was informed by assessments and advice from the Health and Safety Executive, the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) and Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser.

The ECP publishes the minutes of its discussions, and its advice on the Cruiser SB application is contained in the minutes from the 24 November 2020 meeting https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/946083/ecp-201124-fullminutes.pdf. Other advice on pesticide authorisations is not normally published.