Tag: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimates they have made of the costs of road traffic accidents associated with alcohol to (1) the NHS, (2) the emergency services, (3) the police, (4) the justice system, (5) the benefits system, and (6) individual victims.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Department for Transport publishes estimates of the average cost to society of road traffic accidents as part of the Transport Analysis Guidance (called WebTAG). The cost is broken down into six elements. Three of these elements are casualty-related:

• lost output/cost to the economy
• medical and ambulance costs
• human costs

The remaining three are accident-related:

• police costs
• insurance and administration costs
• damage to property

The human cost element is estimated using evidence of individuals’ willingness to pay for a marginal reduction in their risk of suffering a road traffic accident. The other components are estimated using official data sources.

The Department has not made any estimate of the costs of road traffic accidents to the justice system or the benefits system. However, it is likely that these will be small in comparison with human and lost output costs.

The table below gives an estimate of the costs for each of the six WebTAG elements for all reported personal-injury accidents in Great Britain where at least one driver was over the alcohol limit. The figures are based on accidents that occurred in 2014 as this is the most recent year for which final drink drive accident statistics are available. The totals are in 2016 prices.

Total value of prevention of reported accidents when at least one driver is over the alcohol limit, Great Britain, 2014

£million in 2016 prices
Accident severity	Police costs	Insurance and admin	Damage to property	Lost output	Human costs	Medical and ambulance	Total
Fatal	4.4	0.1	2.7	150.6	287.3	0.3	445.4
Serious	2.1	0.2	4.9	25.9	178.0	15.7	226.7
Slight	2.7	0.6	15.0	17.6	84.0	7.5	127.4
							799.5

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the last meeting of the Public Health Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network was held, what actions have been taken since that meeting, and when the next meeting is scheduled to take place.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The last meeting of the Public Health Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network was held on 5 November 2014. A copy of the minutes from the meeting is attached.

Following that meeting, on 6 November 2014, the Department published the results of the independent Campden BRI report on the Responsibility Deal labelling pledge. This showed that by the end of 2013, 79.3% of labels of bottles and cans of alcoholic drinks displayed unit content, the previous Chief Medical Officer’s lower-risk drinking guidelines and a warning about drinking when pregnant. On 19 December 2014 the Department also published the results of the monitoring of the Responsibility Deal pledge to remove 1 billion units of alcohol from the market by the end of 2015. This showed that the target had been exceeded by 0.3 billion units and was met two years ahead of schedule.

There are currently no plans for a further meeting of the Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network. However, the Government remains committed to partnership working.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to amend building regulations to require that extractor fans are not installed in open-plan kitchens with log burners, to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Part J of the building regulations requires that when a combustion appliance is installed, an adequate supply of air is provided for safe combustion. The Government provides statutory guidance on how to meet this requirement and this includes avoiding the installation of solid fuel appliances and extractor fans in the same room. Where this is unavoidable, specialist advice should be sought to ensure safe operation of the appliance whether or not the extractor fan is running.There are no plans to amend these requirements or guidance.