Tag: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they are giving to consumers about the health risks of eating processed meat.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Public Health England’s advice is that, on average, people should be eating no more than 70 grammes of red and processed meat a day. People who eat a lot of these meats are at higher risk of bowel cancer than those who eat small amounts. Therefore, people who eat more than 90 grammes of red or processed meat a day are advised to cut down.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place with the Welsh Government about the benefits of the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and in particular about a duty on all public bodies to carry out sustainable development being adopted across the UK.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

None.

The Government is strengthening environmental protection by developing a 25 year framework for a healthy, diverse and resilient natural environment. We are also supporting the delivery of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in the UK and will continue to take a leading role in championing the SDGs internationally.

We recognise the inter-dependent nature of our economy, environment and communities. Government Departments will continue to consider and seek to improve the impact on all three areas when developing their policies in line with HMT’s Green Book Guidance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many meetings of the National Flood Resilience Review have taken place, and when that review is expected to report.

Lord Bridges of Headley

To protect the integrity of the policy making process, we do not comment on specific frequency or timings of ministerial meetings. The Review is set to be published this summer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they will use to decide whether the National Food Crime Unit should have direct enforcement powers.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The review of the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) will consider the following issues:

– Current and likely future reactive demand from food crime;

– Current and likely future proactive opportunities to disrupt and prevent food crime;

– Gaps between reactive/proactive demand and current response;

– The current and future role of local authorities, the police service, other government departments/agencies and the wider food crime response landscape, including the international response and cross border collaboration post European Union exit;

– Value for money of current and potential responses; and

– The current form and function of the NFCU, and whether this meets current and future demand.

In the first Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment, the NFCU highlighted the limitations of current intelligence and reporting, and the difficulties in estimating the scale and impact of food crime. The review will therefore take these limitations into account when considering the current and future demands and opportunities, and make reasonable judgements where evidence is incomplete or lacking.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage builders of new homes to give potential purchasers details of the flood risk affecting those properties at an early stage.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

DEFRA and the Environment Agency provide readily available information on flood risk that any prospective house buyer can access and the Law Society have agreed that flood risk will form part of solicitors’ searches before final purchase. The Law Society have a good practice note (attached) on how this can be carried out, which can be found online at:

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/advice/practice-notes/flood-risk/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what independent research is being carried out on the availability and affordability of flood insurance for small businesses in flood affected areas.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

We have recently published a report, carried out on our behalf by Ipsos MORI that considers the availability of flood insurance for small businesses in areas of high flood risk.

The study found that uptake of insurance in small and medium sized businesses is high, with 95% of businesses having commercial insurance cover and only 2.5% reporting any difficulties in accessing insurance.

The report is available on-line on the science and research section of Defra’s website, under the heading “Affordability and Availability of Flood Insurance – FD2688”.

We continue to keep this important issue under review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they are making in implementing their manifesto commitment to plant 11 million trees, and how such progress will be monitored and reported.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Between the beginning of April and the end of December 2015, around 495,000 trees were planted in newly created woodlands across the country, assisted by funding from the Rural Development Programme in England.

Further planting figures for January to March 2016 are due to be published on 26 April.

The area of woodland planted is published as one of Forestry Commission England’s headline indicators and is updated four times a year. Tree numbers are monitored through Countryside Stewardship administrative records and made available to the Programme Monitoring Committee of the Rural Development Programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 4 April (HL7139), whether they have published their vision and business case for improved recycling, and if so, what action they are now taking to follow it up with a plan to deliver simplified and consistent recycling collection systems.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The framework for greater consistency in household recycling in England, devised by Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and an Advisory Group was published on 13 September. The framework, along with the supporting evidence and case studies, is available on WRAP’s website.

There are various work streams continuing under the framework WRAP is also working with a number of councils that would like to explore the business case and introduce service changes in line with the consistency framework.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the badgers culled in the pilots undertaken in 2013 and 2014 had tuberculosis.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Badgers culled under licence in Somerset and Gloucestershire in 2013 and 2014 were not routinely tested for tuberculosis (TB), since this research had already been carried out under the Random Badger Cull Trial (RBCT). However, testing of badgers between 1998 and 2005 via the Randomised Badger Culling Trial and Road Traffic Accident surveys provided evidence of the typical prevalence of TB in badgers in areas of high incidence of TB in cattle. TB was found in around one third of all badgers in these areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training is provided to staff in the UK Border Agency to help them deal with abuses of the Pet Travel Scheme by those involved in illegal puppy smuggling for commercial purposes.

Lord Bates

Core skills training provided to Border Force officers includes awareness training on controls on the movement of live animals into the UK. Specific guidance is also available to officers on the application of the Pet Travel Scheme. Border Force is also developing its targeting capability across all border related risks, including bio-security risks.

Border Force is working closely with the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), the lead government department with responsibility for imports of live animals, to ensure the effective enforcement of legislation governing the import of animals.