www.timesonline.co.uk posted:

The plight of honeybees was part of an investigation into whether the handling of animal disease control budgets by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs represented value for money.

About 30 per cent of colonies were lost to disease during the 2007-08 winter and the endemic varroa parasite now affects 95 per cent of hives. There are an estimated 274,000 colonies compared with 400,000 in 1960.