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Waste Minimisation
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce a waste minimisation strategy for his Department. [11535]
Mr. Boateng: Waste minimisation is already part of this Department's current energy and environment plans for its buildings, with particular emphasis on paper, a major component of waste.
Facilities for the recycling of paper, cans and laser printer cartridges have been provided in the Department's main buildings for a number of years. Recent initiatives include reducing the amount of paper used and widening the range of recycling facilities to other materials.
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the amount, and proportion, of paper recycled by his Department in each of the last five years. [11537]
Mr. Boateng:
The Department of Health recycled approximately 120,000 kg of waste paper in London for the 1996-97 year.
Paper comes into the Department from many different sources and not all is currently measured. The proportion of paper sent for recycling cannot therefore be calculated.
Data were not collected for previous years.
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on existing targets set to minimise waste within his Department. [11536]
Mr. Boateng:
While recycling facilities have been available for a number of years in the Department's main buildings, volumes of materials sent for recycling have only been recorded since April 1996. Based on very
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limited data, an initial target was set to recycle 134,000 kg of waste paper in London during 1996-97, of which an estimated 120,000 kg was achieved.
Mr. Terry Lewis:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the refurbishment of ministerial offices in his Department; and what is the estimated cost of the works and date of completion.[11869]
Mr. Milburn:
There are no plans to refurbish ministerial offices in the Department, but, as part of a plan to improve working conditions in Richmond house, comfort cooling is being installed throughout the building including three ministerial rooms at a cost of £17,178. The work is likely to be completed by the end of August.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 25 July, Official Report, column 798, (1) if he will list all the areas of work currently being undertaken by his Department under each heading, broken down by ministerial responsibilities; [11961]
(3) if he will make a statement listing for each Minister the (a) current areas of work, (b) three priority issues that will be dealt with over the next six months in each area and (c) relationship between (a) and (b) and his Department's overall responsibilities, giving such statistical data as are available; [11856]
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(4) if he will list for himself and each of his Ministers the issues reflecting his Department's priorities, indicating the timetable by which they will be achieved. [11962]
Mr. Dobson:
Later this year, my Department will be publishing White and Green Papers covering various aspects of health policy which will be intended to promote the health of the public and better meet the needs of patients.
Mr. Stephen Twigg:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list those published papers which were considered by the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment and the Food Advisory Committee prior to their recommending a ban on higher dose vitamin B6 supplements. [11587]
Ms Jowell:
Higher doses of vitamin B6 have not been banned. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's independent food advisory committee recommended, on the basis of advice from the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment--COT--that the level of vitamin B6 in dietary supplements sold under food law should be limited to 10 mg per daily dose. In addition, on the basis of the COT's advice, the Medicines Control Agency's Committee on Safety of Medicines reviewed vitamin B6 medicinal products and recommended that those vitamin B6 preparations sold on the general sales list--that is, those freely available to the public--should be limited to 10 mg, while those above 10 mg but below 50 mg should be available under the supervision of a pharmacist. Those of 50 mg and above should be available under the supervision of a doctor as prescription-only medicines.
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment has considered the toxicity of vitamin B6 on two occasions. On the second occasion the COT considered submissions from industry and nutritional therapy/alternative medicine groups. Lists of the scientific papers considered by the committee have been lodged in the Library. The COT considered the totality of the literature on vitamin B6 toxicity, more than 100 papers, and its conclusions were passed to the Food Advisory Committee.
Mr. Twigg:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of published papers challenging the validity of the conclusions of studies undertaken by K. Dalton and M. J. T. Dalton in relation to vitamin B6 supplementation. [11588]
Ms Jowell:
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment has considered the toxicity of vitamin B6 on two occasions. The COT's statement, which was published on 4 July 1997, was based on an overall assessment of the scientific literature on this topic, which included papers challenging the conclusions of the paper of Dalton K. and Dalton M. J. T. and also submissions from industry and nutritional therapy-alternative medicine groups. The COT considered the totality of the literature on vitamin B6 toxicity, more than 100 papers, and lists of published papers have been placed in the Library.
Mr. Allan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the numbers of women who experience debilitation as a result of pre-menstrual tension; how many such women supplement their diet
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with higher-dose vitamin B6 supplements; and what research his Department has evaluated on (a) adverse reaction and (b) deaths in such women in the last 10 years.[11913]
Ms Jowell:
The Department of Health has no information on either the numbers of women who experience debilitation as a result of pre-menstrual tension or the total number of women supplementing their diet with high-dose vitamin B6 preparations. Figures for prescribed medicines may be obtained, but the number of women using vitamin B6 products without a prescription is unknown.
In the years 1987 to 1996 the United Kingdom yellow card adverse drug reaction reporting scheme administered by the Medicines Control Agency has received a total of 42 reactions associated with products containing only vitamin B6. Of these, for five women the indication for vitamin B6 was pre-menstrual tension, none of whom received more than 100 mg per day. With the exception of one case of congenital malformation, all recovered.
Adverse reaction data from the UK's yellow card adverse drug reaction reporting scheme are provided voluntarily by doctors, dentists and pharmacists and indirectly by pharmaceutical companies. Adverse drug reaction reports relate to suspected adverse reactions associated with medicinal products. We have no information on the use of vitamin B6 as a food supplement. The inclusion of a reaction on the ADR database is not considered evidence that the medicine caused the reaction. Other factors such as the temporal relationship between medicine and reaction, any concomitant medication and the possibility of underlying disease should also be considered.
Mr. Allan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he made of the published views of the gynaecology department of St. Thomas's hospital, London, about the effects of vitamin B6 supplementation prior to announcing his ban on such supplements. [11805]
Ms Jowell:
Higher doses of vitamin B6 have not been banned. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's independent food advisory committee recommended, on the basis of advice from the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, that the level of vitamin B6 in dietary supplements sold under food law should be limited to 10 mg per daily dose. In addition, on the basis of the COT's advice, the Medicines Control Agency's committee on safety of medicines reviewed vitamin B6 medicinal products and recommended that those vitamin B6 preparations sold on the General Sales List--GSL; that is, those freely available to the public--should be limited to 10 mg, while those above 10 mg but below 50 mg should be available under the supervision of a pharmacist. Those of 50 mg and above should be available under the supervision of a doctor--prescription-only medicines.
The COT has considered the toxicity of vitamin B6 on two occasions. Before the second occasion, representatives of industry and nutritional therapy/ alternative medicine groups were asked to submit information giving evidence of the safety of vitamin B6 for consideration. The published views of staff of the gynaecology department of St. Thomas's hospital were assessed by the COT as part of its review of the toxicity of vitamin B6.
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(2) what issues and areas of work to be undertaken are covered by the subjects listed as ministerial responsibilities in his Department; [11960]
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