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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of restrictions facing British importers of bees (a) prior to and (b) after 1 January 2021.

Prior to 1 January 2021, queen honey bees could be imported into Great Britain, along with packages and colonies of bees. Now that we are trading with the EU as a third country, queen bees can continue to be imported into Great Britain but not packages or colonies. In 2020, more than 21,000 queens were imported in contrast to just under 1,900 packages and 400 colonies of bees.

Guidance on the new rules for importing bees was published prior to the end of the transition period. We are aware of concerns raised by some beekeepers and we continue to listen to beekeepers and their associations as part of our monitoring of the new trading arrangements.

Regular discussions take place between Defra and colleagues in the Devolved Administrations working in this policy area. We are keeping the situation under review to ensure that there are suitable trading arrangements for the UK beekeeping sector.