Committee to examine Defra's National Pollinator Strategy
6 May 2014
Environmental Audit Committee announces inquiry into Defra’s‘National Pollinator Strategy’ in the light of the Committee’s April 2013 report on Pollinators and Pesticides.
- Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs National Pollinator Strategy
- Environmental Audit Committee Report Pollinators and Pesticides (PDF 2.79 MB)
The Strategy deals with a number of areas covered by our report:
- research on the distribution and health of pollinator species,
- research on the impact of neonicotinoid insecticides,
- the role of private gardeners and agriculture,
- Integrated Pest Management and the use of green CAP measures.
The Committee calls for written submissions by 4 June on these issues and more generally on the depth and direction of the proposed NPS. The Committee would welcome views on the proposed relative roles of particular actors (Government, gardeners, industry, farmers, etc); whether the anticipated research is in the right areas, timely and sufficiently independent; the adequacy of the ‘priority actions’ identified; and the effectiveness of the envisaged Integrated Pest Management model.
Submitting written evidence
As part of a scheme to encourage paperless working and maximise efficiency, the Committee is piloting a new web portal for online submission of written evidence. Written submissions for this inquiry should therefore be sent online.
The personal information you supply will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of attributing the evidence you submit and contacting you as necessary in connection with its processing. The Clerk of the House of Commons is the data controller for the purposes of the Act. We may also ask you to comment on the process of submitting evidence via the web portal so that we can look to make improvements. If you have any queries or concerns about the collection and use of this information or do not wish your details to be used for the purpose of collecting feedback, please email the Committee providing your full name, address, and if relevant your organisation.
The Committee invites written submissions on these issues by midday on Wednesday 4 June 2014.
Each submission should:
- be no more than 3,000 words in length
- be in Word format with as little use logos as possible
- have numbered paragraphs
- include a declaration of interests.
Please note that:
- Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within a proposed memorandum, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.
- Memoranda submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.
- Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.
- Select Committees are unable to investigate individual cases.