National Bee Unit

The National Bee Unit (NBU) runs Bee Health Programmes in England and Wales. The NBU consists of around 60 field-based Bee Inspectors and staff based in Sand Hutton, North Yorkshire.

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 Beekeeping Unit at Luddington, Warwickshire. The NBU joined the Central Science Laboratory in 1991 and relocated to Sand Hutton, North Yorkshire in 1996, changing its name to the National Bee Unit. 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). 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, a website designed to help monitor and control the spread of serious honey bee pests and diseases.