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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help mitigate the risk from Asian hornets to bees.

Contingency action has been taken against the Yellow-Legged Hornet (YLH) since the first GB incursion in 2016. Contingency action is delivered on the ground by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU). The NBU have located and destroyed 1-4 nests each year since 2016. However, in 2023 72 nests were located and destroyed.

Genetic analysis of hornet samples is carried out to inform the response for the following year. From the analysis of samples from 2023, some areas were identified where there was a risk that hornet queens may have been released, overwintered and created new nests in the spring.

In 2024 the NBU carried out spring trapping at these locations and caught a small number of lone hornets. Results from analyses of these hornets provided evidence that hornets had overwintered. However, this is not considered to be evidence of YLH being established in GB.

From August 2024 the NBU have been responding to credible sightings of YLH and as of 7th October 2024, have located and destroyed 19 YLH nests.

Raising awareness is a key aspect of the response, allowing swift and effective action to be taken to stamp out the threat posed by Asian hornets.