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860: The health of honeybees in England

This paper summarises part of a report of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, “The Health of Livestock & Honeybees in England”.

Year of Publication2009

Beekeepers are reporting an increasing frequency of losses. There are four notifiable bee diseases and pests in England and Wales and cold, wet weather may also be a factor in colony death. Defra has given little priority to bee health. It has announced an extra £2.5 million for research but this will be diluted by the inclusion of other pollinator insects. Regular inspections of colonies identify nearly 80% of cases of notifiable disease but the effectiveness of inspections is hampered because around half of the beekeepers in England have not joined the voluntary register.

This item is categorised as follows

• Subject Collection > Livestock & dairy > Minority species as livestock

Additional keywords/tags

bees diseases pest