Bee Health Improvement Partnership (BHIP) Annual Report 2024

Conclusion and forward look

During the second full year of Scotland’s current 10-year Honey Bee Health Strategy, the BHIP has successfully carried out several of its key actions while making significant progress on others. These efforts have been aimed at addressing a range of important issues and achieving the desired outcomes for honey bee health in Scotland.

Turning towards 2025, key priorities for the BHIP include:

Education

• The BHIP agreed that its education priorities should focus on EFB and Yellow-legged hornet. A suite of education approaches is being developed to enable beekeepers across Scotland to access information and advice on how to tackle these and other bee-health-related issues.

Pests and Diseases

• With the ongoing effects of climate change expanding the ranges of various pests and heightening the risk of pest incursions, the Scottish Government will develop Contingency Plans setting out the procedures to respond to a suspected or confirmed incursion of Small Hive Beetle and Tropilaelaps in Scotland.
• The BHIP is particularly keen that the threats to honey bees from non-native species and diseases arising from imports be understood and mitigated and this requires close working with Defra.
• A short-life working group will be set up to develop an official stance on responsibility for swarm control which will then be communicated to the wider beekeeping community.

Research and development

• The BHIP will continue to commission and gather evidence throughout 2025 to inform the long-term EFB management approach and direction of the EFB Control Plan for 2026.
• If you would like to keep up to date with the progress of the work of the BHIP, its implementation plan is updated following every meeting and can be accessed here.