UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP)
The UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) provides independent, impartial advice to the government on the science relating to pesticides.
The UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) provides independent, impartial advice to the government on the science relating to pesticides.
The committee’s Secretariat is provided by the Health and Safety Executive.
Code of practice and terms of reference
Our includes the terms of reference set by ministers.
ECP Business management group
The Business Management Group (BMG) consists of a small number of ECP members and other government representatives. It reviews and organises the casework being submitted to the committee, ensuring appropriate expertise is brought to bear and that advice is provided within the relevant timelines.
Committee members
The committee consists of 21 experts within the field.
- Mr James Clarke – Chair
- Professor Michael Eddleston – Deputy Chair
- Professor James Coulson
- Dr James Garratt
- Mr Martin Glynn
- Dr Caroline Harris
- Dr Charles Hazlerigg
- Dr Ioanna Katsiadaki
- Dr Ruth Mann
- Dr Martin Rose
- Dr Anna Rowbotham
- Dr Cheryl Scudamore
- Professor David Spurgeon
- Mr Patrick Stephenson
- Professor Mick Whelan
- Professor Matthew Wright
Biopesticide Cloud members
- Professor Tariq Butt
- Dr Irene Cano Cejas
- Dr Dave Chandler
- Dr Roma Gwynn
- Dr Maureen Wakefield
Full details, including biographies, are in our document.
Meetings
Meetings are generally closed to the public due to the commercially sensitive nature of the information discussed. The committee aims to hold an open meeting each year.
We usually publish agendas a few days before each meeting. We normally publish the full minutes after they have been agreed at the following meeting.
Meeting dates:
- 28 January 2025
- 25 March 2025
- 13 May 2025
- 22 July 2025
- 9 September 2025
- 25 November 2025
Minutes and papers
Earlier meeting notes are available on the National Archives
Advice to ministers
ECP advice resulting from matters considered at committee meetings is annexed to the ECP’s minutes. The advice notes below from 2020 were not published at the time due to the need for urgent consideration outside of the programme of meetings. To ensure transparency, these have now been published.
In the future, the advice provided outside of the regular programme of meetings will be published as an annex with the following meetings minutes.
Earlier ECP advice to ministers is available on the National Archives.
Annual report
We publish an annual report summarising the work of the committee.
Background
The ECP is a successor body to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP). That committee was abolished in March 2015, with the coming into force of The Public Bodies (Abolition of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides) Order 2015.
All Committee papers from before October 2015 – together with content from the ACP – are available on the National Archives.
Media enquiries
Send all media enquiries for the committee (including individual members) to the Defra Press Office or email them to the ECP Secretariat at ECP.CRD@hse.gov.uk