The
National Bee Unit
The National Bee Unit delivers the Bee Health Programmes on
behalf of Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra) and Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) in England
& Wales. Our function is to protect the honeybee, an
essential pollinator of crops and wild plants, from threats
such as serious disease and environmental damage. We do
this using an integrated programme of apiary inspections,
diagnosis, research and development, training and extension
provided by a team of bee scientists and experienced
practical beekeepers. We provide specialist advice and
technical consultancy services on bee health to government
departments, beekeepers and industry.
Click here to download the NBU Brochure.
The aim of the Unit’s programme is to assist industry to
become more self sufficient in dealing with endemic
diseases and pests, allowing government resources to be
deployed more effectively towards dealing with emerging
exotic threats, and the development of necessary
contingencies, that are presented by increasing global
trade coupled with climate change. The Team is responsible
for:
* Strategic planning to combat potential exotic pest and
disease threats and changing status of endemic diseases.
* Laboratory diagnosis of suspect diseases and development
of new diagnostic methods.
* Inspections of honeybee colonies for statutory bee
diseases.
* Research and development to underpin bee health work.
* Formal Import Risk Analysis in support of Import Policy.
* Statutory Honey sample collection for residue analysis on
behalf of Department for Environment Food and Rural
Affairs, Veterinary Medicines Directorate (Defra VMD).
* Closer integration with industry through the CSL Bee
Health Advisory Panel.
* Beekeeper training and extension programmes.
* Consultancy and training on behalf of overseas
governments.
Our regional inspector is Ian Homer. Should you wish to
request an inspection please contact the National Bee Unit
using the details in the contact us pages. There is also a link to their
website in the links page.