PRESS RELEASE
21April 2009

BEES GET VITAL FUNDING FOR RESEARCH
Following a campaign by Malcolm Moss MP the Government has finally agreed to £10m funding

Malcolm Moss MP for North East Cambridgeshire is delighted that the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has at last given in to considerable parliamentary pressure to provide funding of up to £10m which is to be invested to identify the main diseases currently threatening bees and other insect pollinators.

This announcement comes after the worrying news that bee population were in sharp decline due to the emergence of colony collapse disorder in recent years. Over the past two years, the number of bees in Britain has fallen by 15%.

It is worth reminding ourselves of the importance of bees. The world’s food production will falter as a result of reduced bee populations. Honeybees play a vital role in putting food on our tables through the pollination of essential crops, and are worth an estimated £200 million a year to the UK economy.

The funding commitment follows a hard fought campaign by Malcolm Moss MP during which he called for the Government to urgently review the current arrangements for bee research. His Early Day Motion (number 1520) attracted the support of another 134 MP’s.

Malcolm Moss said:

“This announcement is very welcome and much needed. The bee industry is in difficulty due to the sharp decline in bee population and this funding for research should go some way to reversing the decline. I am very pleased that following my campaign, the Government has at last seen sense and committed this money”.

Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has said that this “funding will give some of Britain's world-class researchers the chance to identify the causes of the decline we're seeing in bee numbers, and that will help us to take the right action to help."