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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards fulfilling their promise to improve the current monitoring system for pesticides beyond measuring the weight of chemicals.

The Government is developing a Pesticide Load Indicator which takes account of both the chemical properties of pesticides used and the weight applied. Additionally, further research is being conducted to improve the long-term monitoring of the environmental effects of pesticides, including work on honey and soil monitoring. Much of this research will be published later this year.

We are also working with the Health and Safety Executive to make improvements to the availability of data from the Pesticide Usage Survey.