National Bee Unit

National Bee Unit and BeeBase
Established	1950s
Faculty	FERA
Staff	70+
Location	Sand Hutton
Website	BeeBase

The National Bee Unit (NBU) is responsible for the delivery of the Bee Health Programmes in England and Wales. Using BeeBase, a website designed to help monitor and control the spread of serious honey bee pests and diseases, the NBU consists of a team of 60-plus field-based Bee Inspectors and staff based in Sand Hutton in North Yorkshire. BeeBase provides up-to-date information for beekeepers to keep their honey bees healthy and productive.

History

In the 1950s, Bee Health was the responsibility of the National Agricultural Advisory Service (NAAS), with units in Harpenden and Trawsgoed. These merged in 1979 to form the National Bee Unit at Luddington, Warwickshire. The NBU moved to the Central Science Laboratory at Sand Hutton, North Yorkshire in 1991. In 2009 the Central Science Laboratory merged with other UK Government agencies to form The Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), which was established to support and develop a sustainable food chain and a healthy natural environment.

Function

The unit functions on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (as part of The Food and Environment Research Agency and the Welsh Assembly Government. Using BeeBase it monitors and controls the spread of honey bee pests and diseases. A programme of research and development underpins the National Bee Unit's work and feeds back through advice to the beekeeping industry and the policy divisions in England and Wales.

It runs BeeBase, the Bee Health database.

Role

The role of the National Bee Unit is to protect the honey bee, an essential pollinator of crops and wild plants, and to support the beekeeping industry through:

• controlling serious endemic pests and diseases to minimise the economic and environmental impact.
• advising beekeepers on the recognition and control of pests to make the industry more self-sufficient.
• minimising the risk of importation of exotic pests and diseases and managing the risks should an incursion take place.

See also

• Veterinary Medicines Directorate
• Beekeeping in the United Kingdom

References

External links

• National Bee Unit
• Bee Health at the Food and Environment Research Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs