§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what notification procedures are observed in his Department for the outbreak of Varroa Jacobsonni disease in honey bees.
§ Mr. CurryThe Bee Diseases Control Order 1982 requires that beekeepers should notify any incidence, or suspected incidence, of varroasis immediately to the responsible Agriculture Department for further investigation.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he is taking to ensure the continuing prohibition of the importation of honey bees to the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. CurryThe Importation of Bees Order 1980 prohibits imports of honey bees except under licence from countries of high bee health status which are free from varroasis. Commission proposals currently under discussion in Brussels would replace these controls with trading rules which provide among other things for identification and protection of disease-free areas. We will be reviewing our import policy in the light of these rules, including the need to offer continued protection to those areas of the United Kingdom which remain free from varroasis.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps are being taken by his Department to prevent the spread of Varroa Jacobsonni internally within the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CurryWe have declared an infected area which includes Cornwall, Devon, Avon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Greater London, Oxfordshire and Surrey. Movement of bees and hive frames containing comb into or out of that area is 121W prohibited except under licence. Intensive testing to date has shown no evidence of the disease outside the infected area.