To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy to appoint an expert in beekeeping and honey bee health to the funding committee for the Living with Environmental Change programme. (281188)

[holding answer 19 June 2009]: DEFRA and other funders are currently considering whether an independent expert should be invited to join the panel considering research proposals submitted to the Insect Pollinator Initiative being developed under the Living with Environmental Change programme.