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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the position taken by the European Parliament that products containing glyphosate should be banned where alternative weed killers exist, and for use in public parks and playgrounds.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Government recognises the importance of effective pesticides and believes that they should be authorised where the scientific evidence shows they do not pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment.

The European Food Safety Authority concluded that glyphosate met these standards and UK experts agree. We therefore consider that glyphosate should be approved. If this happens, all authorised products which contain glyphosate will be individually re-assessed at a Member State level to ensure that they also meet safety standards.

The scientific assessment carried out so far does not suggest that blanket restrictions to prevent certain uses across the EU are justified. The Government therefore does not favour the inclusion of such restrictions in any future approval of glyphosate. It should be for Member States to consider whether restrictions are needed for particular glyphosate products in particular circumstances. This would form part of the normal product re-assessment process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve the measurement of diesel emissions from cars in the light of evidence that nitrogen oxide emissions in real time road trials are up to 12 times higher than in laboratory tests.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The UK Government has been at the forefront of action at European level to introduce Real Driving Emissions (RDE) testing for new cars. The RDE test will be conducted on public roads and will require manufacturers to ensure new diesel (and petrol) cars control nitrogen oxide emissions to below 2.1 times the laboratory test limit from 2017. From 2020 the requirement will be tightened so they must be at or below the laboratory limit (with a margin for measurement uncertainty).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to legislate to make restaurants and food outlets display their hygiene ratings.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. The FSA has been monitoring the impact of mandatory display of ratings at food outlets in Wales and will look closely at the evidence from this. It is anticipated that proposals will be presented to the Government by the end of the year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in their application to the EU Solidarity Fund for flood relief, and when they anticipate the first payments from that fund will be made.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Government submitted an initial UK application to the European Union Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February. We are in the process of refining our cost estimates and figures, and I will update Parliament once the application is finalised.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to strengthen the labelling of milk products to show country of origin.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

In 2011, Defra facilitated a set of industry principles on country of origin labelling. These principles ensure that the vast majority of milk and dairy products sold at retail in Britain are clearly labelled with their country of origin. We are continuing to work with the food industry to explore what more can be done to increase origin labelling, as well as in the EU to push for EU-wide mandatory origin labelling for milk and dairy products.