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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of existing regulations to protect bee (a) nests and (b) hibernation sites.

There is a wide range of legislative powers in place to protect pollinators. Current legislation includes provision to regulate the use of pesticides; provide protection for honey bee health; protect our best wildlife sites and most threatened species; provide incentives for habitat creation through our new environmental land management schemes and a legal requirement for public bodies to take account of biodiversity in carrying out their functions.

There has been no recent assessment of the adequacy of existing regulations to protect bee nests and hibernation sites, however there is limited evidence to suggest that bee nests or hibernation sites are being intentionally destroyed and therefore we would not look to protect them under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Given bees and other pollinators can be found in, and utilise a range of habitats, protecting such a generalist habitat from destruction or disturbance could have the unintended consequence of making it a criminal offence to tend gardens and maintain land for other purposes.

Pollinators are a priority for this government, and we are taking action alongside many partners to implement the National Pollinator Strategy’s provisions and deliver the National Pollinator Strategy Action Plan which was published in May 2022.

One of the five simple actions to protect pollinators in the National Pollinator Strategy urges all people to avoid disturbing or destroying nesting or hibernating insects, in places like grass margins, bare soil, hedgerows, trees, dead wood or walls.