asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will seek to ban the spraying of crops with chemicals which are highly toxic to bees, especially in view of the availability of alternatives with low toxicity.

No. Relative toxicity to bees is among the many considerations which are taken into account by my right hon. Friend's expert advisory committee before crop protection products are cleared for use under the Pesticides Safety Precautions Scheme. We are concerned to avoid loss of bees, and I would refer to the measures in my hon. Friend's replies to the hon. Member for Oswestry (Mr. Biffen) on 11th June 1975 and to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Ross) on 24th July 1975.—[Vol. 893, c. 189 and Vol. 896, c. 272.]