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Local Flora: Patenting

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether it is the case that companies are not obliged to ask the appropriate government for permission to investigate local flora with a view to patenting them and are not obliged to seek a patent in the country of origin; and, if so, what guarantees

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there are that the country of origin is aware that local flora may be patented and that any benefit is returned to the country of origin.[HL3595]

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognises that countries have sovereign rights over their genetic resources and the authority to determine access to them, including through national legislation. The CBD also requires that access to genetic resources should be subject to the prior informed consent of the providing country (unless that country determines otherwise) and that where granted, access should be on mutually agreed terms. Such terms should cover the sharing of benefits arising from the commercial and other use of those genetic resources.

Companies investigating local flora with a view to patenting must therefore, subject to the national law of the country concerned, seek the prior informed consent of that country and conclude mutually agreed terms.

Most contracting parties have experienced difficulties in the implementation of the access and benefit-sharing arrangements of the CBD. A draft set of guidelines (known as the Bonn Guidelines) on access and benefit-sharing are to be put to the Conference of the Parties of the CBD being held in The Hague on 7 to 19 April 2002. If adopted, they will provide significant help to governments and other stakeholders in the implementation of these arrangements.

Bottles and Cans: Deposits

Baroness Sharp of Guildford asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether local authorities have the power to pass a by-law requiring all shops and sales outlets in their jurisdiction to take deposits on all sales of bottles and cans containing alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.[HL3089]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty): Although by-laws are local laws that are usually made by local authorities, they cannot come into effect until they are confirmed by a Secretary of State. One of the criteria for confirmation of by-laws is that they directly address a specific local problem and do not attempt to deal with essentially national issues. We would therefore have to consider carefully any proposals that are put to us for by-laws requiring deposits on sales of drink containers.

National Air Traffic Services

Lord Campbell of Croy asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the technology and equipment now used by National Air Traffic Services will obviate failures such as that which required the grounding of aircraft in England on the morning of 10 April.[HL3776]

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The Minister of State, Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (Lord Falconer of Thoroton): This is an operational matter for NATS. I understand the position to be as follows.

There have been two occasions recently, on 27 March and 10 April, when aircraft movements in UK airspace have been disrupted by unplanned computer stoppages. Both events occurred at West Drayton as a result of a software problem associated with an unusual set of circumstances connected with flight data.

NATS is conducting a full inquiry into the incidents to establish whether further adjustments are required to ensure the long-term robustness of the system.

Notwithstanding the incident on 27 March, the Flight Data Processing System at West Drayton achieved 99.96 per cent availability in the year ended 31 March.

Small Business Rate Relief: Funding

Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether government proposals to give up to 50 per cent rate relief to certain small businesses imply that the funding for this relief will come earmarked from the Treasury rather than from industry itself or from local authorities.[HL3797]

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: As stated in the White Paper Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Services (11 December 2001) the relief will be funded by a small supplement on the rate bills of those not receiving the relief.

Airport Passenger Services

Lord Fearn asked Her Majesty's Government:

What steps are being taken to improve facilities, especially for families with children, for welcoming visitors to English airports.[HL3814]

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: Twenty-one United Kingdom airports, 16 of them in England, and 10 United Kingdom airlines have so far signed up to the Voluntary Commitments on Air Passenger Rights which were launched at a Council of Europe ceremony in Strasbourg on 14 February. These contain non-legally binding commitments to deliver defined standards of service to air travellers and will assist in ensuring that visitors to English airports experience a consistently high standard of service.

The Airport Passenger Service Commitment covers 11 areas, with signatories agreeing to provide assistance to persons with reduced mobility; display passenger information on legal rights; provide assistance during periods of significant delays or disruption; improve airport access and ground transportation; provide appropriate infrastructure for check-in, baggage and security; regularly maintain equipment; ensure that sufficient trolleys are available; provide clear way-finding and staffed information

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desks; keep all public areas clean at all times; ensure that customer comment and complaint procedures are clear and effectively managed; and produce regular consumer reports on levels of passenger satisfaction.

The Airline Passenger Service Commitment covers 14 areas and a number of these concern passenger service in airports, with signatory airlines agreeing to notify passengers of known delays, cancellations and diversions; assist passengers facing delays; deliver baggage as quickly as possible; provide assistance to passengers with reduced mobility and passengers with special needs; take measures to speed up check-in; reduce the number of passengers who are involuntarily denied boarding; and be responsive to passengers' complaints.

Road Congestion

Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:

What are the current values that they use for calculating the costs of road congestion for cars and lorries for traffic speeds of less than 10 miles per hour and at 20, 30, 40 and 50 miles per hour.[HL3883]

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: In estimating the benefits of specific measures to reduce road congestion, my department uses values of time savings which are listed in Table 2/1 of the Transport Economics Note, published by the former DETR in March 2001, a copy of which I am placing in the Libraries of the House.

Medical Records

The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why it is deemed impossible for a false "diagnosis" of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy to be expunged from the records of parents and children who have come to the attention of doctors and social services departments when the officials and medical practitioners concerned acknowledge the error.[HL3732]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The content of health records is the responsibility of the individual health professionals who create those records, subject to the requirements of regulatory bodies and law that records be adequate for purpose. Only the courts have the power to require health professionals to delete information from records. In the absence of such a direction from the courts, both the General Medical Council and the Medical Defence Union advise health professionals not to delete information for medical and legal reasons. Although the department has not published guidance on this issue, we accept the view of the General Medical Council as being authoritative.

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A health record is essentially a record of clinical opinion at a point in time in the face of the evidence available. While subsequent evidence or conflicting clinical opinion may lead to the conclusion that the original opinion is incorrect, it remains the only record of a health professional's thoughts and actions. Clearly it is in the interests of society generally, and of health professionals individually, for there to be a complete and true record of the opinions that underpin clinical interventions of all kinds. A claim for negligence or a complaint could be made many years after an episode of care has concluded and the medical record is key evidence in determining whether a health professional has performed acceptably.

Local authorities are responsible for any decisions they make concerning the retention of records. Such decisions must be in accordance with the terms of their registration with the Commissioner for Data Protection.

Smallpox Vaccine

Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the stockpile of smallpox vaccine which they have purchased from PowderJect Pharmaceuticals is derived from cell lines from aborted foetuses.[HL3806]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The stockpile of smallpox vaccine which is to be purchased from PowderJect Pharmaceuticals is not derived from cell lines from aborted foetuses. The cell lines used to produce this vaccine are chick embryo fibroblasts derived from specific pathogen-free hen eggs.

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