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Financial Services and Markets Bill
Baroness Gould of Potternewton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will publish further clauses of the draft Financial Services and Markets Bill.[HL2000]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Four additional parts of the draft Bill have today been made available to the Joint Committee on Financial Services and Markets. These relate to official listing, collective investment schemes, disclosure of information and insolvency. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
Clinical Terminology Evaluation
Lord Borrie asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will publish the report of the independent evaluation of Clinical Terms Version 3 (the Read Codes).[HL1950]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Hayman): The evaluation of Clinical Terms Version 3 (the Read Codes) is being carried out in three stages. The first stage has now been completed and copies of the report have been placed in the Library.
The second stage of the evaluation is currently under way and will produce a methodology for long-term evaluation of the clinical terminology in live use in the National Health Service. This methodology will then be used in stage three of the evaluation, which will involve continuous evaluation of the effective use of clinical terminologies in the NHS.
As a result of recommendations made in the report, the NHS Executive intends to mandate the use of a coded clinical terminology (currently Clinical Terms Version 3) and has entered into an agreement with the College of American Pathologists to create a new international standard which combines CAP's SNOMED tm with the Clinical Terms Version 3 (Read Codes).
Human Cloning
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will provide an opportunity to debate the proposals currently before them on whether human cloning should be permitted; whether this can be before they publish their own response; and if not, why not.[HL1834]
Baroness Hayman: Last December the Government received the joint Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority/Human Genetics Advisory Commission Report Cloning Issues in Reproduction, Science and Medicine. There are no proposals in the report to permit human cloning. It does, however, ask the Government to consider extending the purposes for which embryos may be used in research to include developing methods of treatment for mitochondrial diseases and therapy for diseased or damaged tissue and organs, using cloning techniques.
The report also recommends, among other things, that the current safeguards be recognised as wholly adequate to forbid human reproductive cloning in the United Kingdom, but goes on to suggest that the Government might wish to consider the possibility of introducing legislation that would explicitly ban human cloning.
The issues raised in the report require serious consideration and the Government will respond in due course. In the meantime, we understand that a debate in the House on the use of embryos in cloning procedures is to take place on Wednesday 28 April.
Refugees' Dependants
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will put in place arrangements for the payment of emergency benefits to the spouse and children of refugees, pending the confirmation of their status by the Immigration and Nationality Department.[HL1658]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham): We have no plans to make specific arrangements for such cases. Our aim is to prevent fraud and error getting into the system rather than detecting it after benefit has been put into payment. This can involve asking the customer to provide documentation to establish their or their dependants immigration status and confirm their identity.
Genetically Modified Crop Trials
The Earl of Haddington asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Whitty (HL 1299), whether the precautions taken to prevent the escape of transportation of pollen by any means from genetically modified crop trial areas are sufficient, and what are the mesh sizes of netting used to enclose such crops.[HL1766]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty): Precautions taken must be judged as being sufficient by government experts and the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment before any approval is given. Netting is not used to reduce pollen flow in field trials.
E.coli 0157
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether E.coli 0157 is endemic in any animals from which products are used for human consumption in the United Kingdom.[HL1792]
The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue): E.coli 0157 is believed to be present at a low level of prevalence in cattle and sheep. Surveys have started which aim to establish the level of prevalence of E.coli 0157 in cattle, sheep and pigs presented for slaughter at abattoirs.
Contamination in Agricultural Produce
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the most appropriate strategy for reducing contamination episodes in primary agricultural produce and its derivatives would be to prevent infection of production animals rather than to rely upon secondary technical measures such as pasteurisation to render innocuous contamination which should not occur.[HL1790]
Lord Donoughue: Both strategies are important. It is therefore one of the ministry's aims to reduce the level of infection of foodborne pathogens at all stages of the food chain, including in farm animals. At present, the necessary knowledge is not available to enable programmes to be introduced for the reduction of many such organisms. The Government are undertaking research with a view to improving knowledge in this area.
Tuberculosis
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What research has been conducted into the reasons why some animals and humans appear to demonstrate natural resistance to tuberculosis.[HL1853]
Lord Donoughue: Research has been undertaken into the nature of the immune response in humans to infection with tuberculosis. It is not known why some individuals with apparently normal immunity go on to develop tuberculosis disease while others do not.
The nature of immune response to M.bovis in badgers and cattle has been studied in order to help develop vaccine or diagnostic tests. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is financing genetic studies in badgers, but as yet there is no evidence that some animals are more resistant than others to tuberculosis.
Infective Toxoplasmosis Organisms
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- On how many occasions samples of raw goats' milk or cheese made from raw goats' milk have been found to contain infective toxoplasmosis organisms.[HL1793]
Lord Donoughue: The Government do not undertake routine surveillance or collect information on the presence of Toxoplasma gondii in raw goats' milk and cheese made from raw goats' milk.
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
Lord Thurlow asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether it remains their policy that vitamin and mineral supplements should remain on general retail
- sale under food law provided that they are safe; and whether they will indicate what steps they are taking to ensure that the proposed European directive on vitamin and mineral supplements is consistent with this policy.[HL1859]
Lord Donoughue: As I made clear in the reply that I gave to the noble Earl, Lord Baldwin of Bewdley, on 18 November 1998 (Hansard, col. 1269), whether a product is subject to food or medicine legislation is a matter of law not policy. Those products which fall within the legal definition of food must comply with the law relating to food. Among other things, this effectively requires that products are safe.
As regards the situation in Europe, the EC Commission is considering the possibility of harmonising the controls on vitamin and mineral supplements but is not yet committed to legislating in this area. In responding to a discussion paper issued by the Commission in June 1997, the UK made it clear that any new controls on vitamin and mineral supplements sold under food law should be based on safety considerations.
Food Standards Agency
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What representations were received from the Co-operative Movement during the public consultation on the draft Bill for a Food Standards Agency, on the proposal for an annual levy of £90 on all food outlets.[HL1795]
Lord Donoughue: We received a number of responses to our consultation from the Co-operative Movement which commented on the levy proposals. These suggested that alternative methods of funding the agency be found or, failing that, that the levy should be graduated rather than be a flat rate.
We are now reviewing these responses, along with all the others received during the consultation, and will consider carefully all the comments made before deciding how to proceed.
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