Honey bees

Honey bees make an important contribution to sustainable agriculture and the environment. The Government recognises the importance of a strong bee health programme in England to protect these benefits and takes very seriously any biosecurity threat to the sustainability of the apiculture sector.

The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) is responsible for the Government's bee health policy in England and in particular, the implementation of the Healthy Bees Plan. Fera's National Bee Unit (NBU) delivers the bee health programme in England and in Wales (on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government).

The aim of the programme is to control the spread of endemic notifiable diseases of honey bees and to identify and manage the risk associated with new exotic pests and diseases that may be introduced. The programme is important in commercial and environmental terms by protecting honey bees needed for pollination of agricultural and horticultural crops, as well as honey production.

The NBU provides an integrated programme of apiary inspections, diagnostics, research and development and training and advice which are provided by a team of bee scientists and experienced practical beekeepers. The NBU also provides specialist advice and technical consultancy services on bee health to other government departments, beekeepers and industry. For further details of the NBU's functions and activities download the NBU Brochure.

The NBU has a web based database of beekeepers in England and Wales called Beebase, contained within its website www.nationalbeeunit.com. The primary function of Beebase is to facilitate efficient risk based statutory pest and disease control and surveillance programmes. It is also an important and powerful tool for disseminating important information to beekeepers, for example, UK and EU legislation, details of pest and disease recognition and control, interactive maps showing current diseases incidence, current research and scientific publications together with items of topical interest.

There are an estimated to be around 40,000 beekeepers in the UK who maintain over 200,000 colonies of honey bees. Of these around 300 are commercial beekeepers managing around 40,000 colonies whilst the remainder are smaller scale beekeepers.

Study of Beekeeping practices

The study of beekeeping practices that Defra commissioned has now been completed and the final project report posted on the Defra website under the science pages here.

The following were considered as part of the study; motivations for taking up beekeeping; attitudes to husbandry, practices, training and information sources.

The findings showed that beekeepers are hungry for information and draw on a wide range of sources. The majority of new beekeepers that received training before obtaining bees found it very beneficial. The NBU's website BeeBase was recognised as a valuable tool for disseminating information but the profile and use of the site within the beekeeping community could be improved.

Further details can be found in the full report and a summary which will be posted here shortly.