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Feakin Family Claims
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether members of the Feakin family are threatening to sue the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and, if so, on what grounds.[HL4019]
Lord Whitty: Members of the Feakin family have made formal claims against the department which are currently the subjects of legal proceedings. It would therefore not be appropriate to comment on the nature or detail of the claims.
Canal Network Grant
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the £24 million granted in 1999 over three years to British Waterways in support of the canal network has been spent; whether the backlog of overdue maintenance and repair to which it was directed has been eliminated; and whether any further grant is envisaged. [HL4025]
Lord Whitty: The £24 million additional grant awarded in 1999 has been spent towards the elimination of the safety maintenance backlog. An extra £18 million has been made available under SR2000 for the years 2002–03 and 2003–04. This enabled targets for eliminating the safety backlog and maintenance arrears to be brought forward to 2004 (from 2006) and 2021 (from 2025). Future funding needs will be considered as part of SR2002.
MAFF v Winslade
Lord Willoughby de Broke asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What evidence was made available to the court in the case of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food v Winslade in May 2001; and whether they consider that the submission of that evidence complied with the Civil Procedures Rules 1998 relating to interim remedy orders. [HL4060]
Lord Whitty: The ministry submitted appropriate witness statements supporting its case. This was in compliance with the Civil Procedure Rules.
NHS Patients Treated Abroad
Baroness Uddin asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Which European and non-European countries have already accepted or are in the process of accepting patients from Britain for medical care. [HL3824]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Under the pilot scheme to send patients overseas for NHS-comissioned elective surgery, France and Germany accepted a total of 181 patients for treatment between 18 January and 12 April 2002. NHS bodies at present have no power to commission treatment outside the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA comprises the European Union countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Between 1 January and 12 April 2002 the Department of Health approved applications under the E112 scheme from patients for approval to travel to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Portual, Spain and Sweden. In the same period the department has also approved the referral of patients to Switzerland on an ex gratia basis.
PowderJect Pharmaceuticals
Earl Russell asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What previous government contracts have been awarded to PowderJect Pharmaceuticals; and what have been the outcomes of those contracts.[HL3885]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The Department of Health has awarded to PowderJect Pharmaceuticals or to its subsidiaries various contracts for the supply of BCG vaccines, Tuberculin PPD solutions and influenza vaccine.
No government department, other than the Department of Health, has reported award of any other previous contracts to the company.
Obesity
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they recognise the problem of obesity, especially among young people; and, if so, what proposals they have to establish a campaign about nutritious food led by the Department of Health.[HL3901]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The Government are committed to tackling the rising trend in childhood obesity and action to encourage children to eat a balanced diet. We have put in place major cross-government programmes of work to improve healthy eating and increase physical activity. This includes the National School Fruit Scheme, where over 80,000 children in 27 areas and over 500 schools now receive a free piece of fruit each school day. Additional funding of £42 million from the New Opportunities Fund will enable the scheme to expand to cover over 1 million children from 2002 to 2004. From 2004 all four to six year-olds will be entitled to a free piece of fruit each school day. This is part of a wider Five-a-day Programme to increase access to, and awareness of, fruit and vegetables.
Secondly, there is work with industry to improve the overall balance of diet, including the reduction of salt, sugar and fat in food.
We already have a National Healthy School Programme, a joint initiative between the Department of Health and Department for Education and Skills, which has as one of its themes healthy eating. Schools are encouraged to provide, promote and monitor healthier food at lunch and break times and in any breakfast clubs. This will be complemented by the Food in Schools Programme which aims to bring together under one umbrella all food-related initiatives in schools and after school clubs to improve health and learning.
Physical activity is also important. We are working across government to ensure that children have opportunities to participate in a wide range of physical and sporting activities. On 11 January 2001 the Prime Minister announced that all children will be entitled to a minimum of two hours a week of high quality physical education and school sport both within and beyond the school curriculum. This was followed by a commitment in the White Paper Schools—achieving success. Significant funding is also being provided to enhance PE and sports facilities in schools, including £541 million from the New Opportunities Fund for a PE and Sports Programme.
BSE and vCJD
The Earl of Caithness asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether there is any unassailable scientific evidence linking BSE in cattle to nvCJD in humans. [HL3909]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Although there is no direct evidence that the BSE prion is infectious to humans, obtaining such evidence could not be justified ethically as this would require humans to be inoculated with BSE. A judgment on the link between BSE and vCJD inevitably depends on an assessment of a range of clinical, pathological, epidemiological and laboratory based evidence. The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee considers that there is now convincing evidence that BSE is the cause of vCJD, although there remains uncertainty about the future number of cases and the mechanism of transmission of BSE to humans.
The association between BSE and variant vCJD has been discussed in a number of published scientific articles. Details of those of particular significance are as follows: 1. Will R. G., Ironside-Zeidler M., Cousens S. N., Estibeiro K., Alperovitch A., Poser S., Pocchiari M., Hofman A., Smith P. G. A new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in the UK. Lancet 1996, 347/9006, P921–925. 2. Bruce M. E., Will R. G., Ironside J. W., McConnell I. D., Suttie A., McCardle L., Chree A., Hope J., Birkett C., Cousens S., Fraser H., Bostock C. J. Transmissions to mice indicate that "new variant" CJD is caused by the BSE agent. Nature, 1997, 389 (6650), P498–501. 3. Collinge J., Sidle K. C. L., Meads J., Ironside J., Hill A. F. Molecular analysis of prion strain variation and the etiology of new variant CJD. Nature, 1996, 383, P685–690. 4. Lasmezas C. I., Deslys J. P., Demaimay R., Adjou K., Lamoury F., Robain O., Ironside J., Hauw J. J., Court L., Dormont D. Experimental transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to macaques. Travaux Scientifiques Des Chercheurs Du Service De Sante Des Armees 0 (18), 1997, P123–124. 5. Will R. New variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. Biomedicine-Pharmacotherapy, 1999, 53, NI, Feb, P9–13. 6. Will R. G., Knight R. S. E., Ward H. J., Ironside J. W. nvCJD; the critique that never was BMJ Letters Nov 2001, 323 (7317) P858–861.
The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, the independent expert group that advises the Government on all aspects of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, regularly reviews relevant published articles. The committee remains of the opinion that experimental results provide convincing evidence that the agent which causes vCJD in humans is the same as that which causes BSE in cattle.
Mixed-sex Wards
Lord Stoddart of Swindon asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 16 April (WA 154), whether they will now answer the Question asked, namely, "why the Department of Health did not acknowledge or reply to a letter concerning mixed-sex wards sent by the Lord Stoddart of Swindon to the Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 12 December 2001 until 11 March 2002; and whether they will give assurance that the response time to letters from Members will be considerably reduced in future".[HL3919]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: I regret that I cannot explain why the noble Lord did not receive an acknowledgement. I apologise to the noble Lord. The department's computer system for tracking and monitoring ministerial correspondence automatically prints out acknowledgement letters for each piece of correspondence registered. The delay in replying was caused by a temporary backlog which has since been cleared.
The department is in the process of reviewing procedures to improve response times in line with the Service First Targets.
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