Insect decline: Committee writes to DEFRA to seek clarity as it publishes government response

• Read the Report: Insect decline and UK food security
• Read the Government's response
• Read the letter from Chi Onwurah to the Secretary of State, Steve Reed

The response was sent by the previous government but was not published due to the election. In the response, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), agreed with the committee’s recommendation that long term monitoring of insects was crucial, and committed to building up its Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS). It also agreed with the committee that current species abundance and extinction risk indicators missed many insect groups that are crucial to the UK ecosystem.

Despite this, the government said that broadening these indicators to include insects and invertebrates – a legal requirement set out in the environment improvement plan – was ‘unachievable’ due to a lack of data. Their exclusion means that statutory targets to halt and reverse species extinction, set out in the Environment Improvement Plan, could be met even if entire groups of insects go extinct.

In its response, DEFRA agreed to consider the committee’s recommendation to speed up the regulation of new crop protection technologies, like biopesticides. However, it did not confirm when it would publish the overdue National Action Plan of Sustainable Use of Pesticide.

After receiving this response, the committee’s chair, Chi Onwurah, wrote to the Secretary of State for DEFRA, Steve Reed, to ask for greater clarity on several points. The letter asks how the government will achieve its commitment to expand its current pollinator monitoring and calls for monitoring to extend to all insects and invertebrates that are essential to UK food security.

The letter requests further information about data gaps within DEFRA’s insect species monitoring and asks how the department plans to simplify the regulatory process for novel plant protection products like biopesticides. The chair also asks for details on the ‘National Action Plan for Sustainable Use of Pesticides’, which was expected seven years ago but has yet to be published.

Chair comment

“We’re pleased to see the government’s response to our predecessor committee’s report, and its acknowledgement of key recommendations. However, today I’m writing to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, to ask for more clarity on the government’s work in this area.

“Pollinators undoubtedly play a crucial role in food production, and the committee is pleased that the government agreed to expand its Pollinator Monitoring Scheme. However, while the department acknowledged that there were gaps in its species abundance and risk indicators, it stopped short of agreeing to fix these gaps, citing a lack of data.

“Insects and invertebrates are as crucial as pollinators in supporting natural and agricultural environments, and their numbers need to be monitored. If they're not included in official metrics, statutory targets to halt and reverse species extinction could be met even if all the UK’s bees, wasps, ants and moths go extinct. This is very worrying. I hope that the government will be able to tell us how it will monitor the decline of all these species, and how it will fill its data gaps.

“I also look forward to receiving more information on how the government plans to achieve the UK’s commitment to halve the risk caused by pesticides by 2030 – including through its National Action Plan for Sustainable Use of Pesticides, which is now seven years overdue.”

 Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

Image: Unsplash