Honey Bee Health

I congratulate the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose) on raising this issue once again. It is important to follow through on achievements and to comment on some of the things that we would like to see happen. The hon. Gentleman he speaks as only a beekeeper can, with knowledge of the organism itself. That is important. This has been one of the most delightful campaigns in which I have been involved since joining the House. It has been an amazing success that started from rock bottom. I remember a Minister once telling us—I will not use the exact language—not to bother, as there was no money in the kitty. Well, £10 million is not bad, and it could be the start of much more funding. The campaign has been successful, and congratulations must go to the British Beekeepers' Association and its past presidents: Tim Lovett, Ivor Davies, David Aston and Norman Carrick, who has been a sterling adviser to the association. Tim Lovett was once a student of mine, and on Friday he will be awarded an honorary fellowship from the new vice-chancellor of the university of East Anglia. I promised that I will re-mark his final papers if they are still in existence on a database somewhere, as I do not think that he got the credit due to him. He has been a real success—it is nice to have a student who makes it, as many have not—but I congratulate all those individuals on what they have done. I also thank the Minister and the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. My right hon. Friend took this issue seriously when he was approached about it, and has been a sterling supporter throughout the campaign, which has been picked by the media and the public. In many walks of life, we talk about public understanding of this, that and the other, and how that interacts with the media, but there can be no better example than the campaign on bees, which has been handled well. Indeed, there was even a march to Downing street of beekeepers with puffers and white suits, which received a lot of media publicity, and people such as Martha Kearney have made programmes and so on. That puffing display in Whitehall happened on the day that President Obama got elected, so we did not do too badly in getting some media interest at that time. We must congratulate the campaigners on their cool, quiet approach. The campaign has been effective, not only in this place but elsewhere. It has involved beekeepers right from the beginning, and I am sure that they are pleased to see their hard work recognised. To achieve recognition that this is not only about different types of honey bee, but about the fact that they pollinate crops and are essential to many industries in this country, was put forward as the big plan. I look forward to other campaigns. I see an old foe of mine, the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr. Vaizey), sitting on the other side of the Chamber. We are going to have a real battle over open access for journals, and about bringing this matter into the public sphere so that people can see what is published and what is not published. I hope that he does not rise to the bait—there will be other occasions when we can enjoy that kind of campaigning.