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Tobacco Industry: Representations
Baroness Gale asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What representations they have received from the tobacco industry on measures to protect non-smokers.[HL1526]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The independent Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health is currently considering a series* of scientific reports submitted from the Tobacco Manufacturers Association entitled "Revisiting the Association between Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Lung Cancer Risk" authored by John S Fry, Barbara Forey and Peter N Lee, published in Indoor Built Environment 2002, Volumes 9-11.
- I The Dose-Response Relationship with Amount and Duration of Smoking by the Husband
- II Adjustment for the Potential Confounding Effects of Fruit, Vegetables, Dietary Fat and Education
- III Adjustment for the Biasing Effect of Misclassification of Smoking Habits
- IV Investigating Heterogeneity between Studies
- V Overall Conclusions
Ministry of Defence: Supplementary Estimates
Lord Campbell-Savours asked Her Majesty's Government:
- To what extent the Supplementary Estimates of the Ministry of Defence departmental expenditure limits will be increased.[HL1947]
Baroness Crawley: Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimates, the Ministry of Defence departmental expenditure limits will be increased by £1,552,201,000 from £24,984,813,000 to £26,537,014,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:
| Resources | Capital | ||||||
| Change | New DEL | Of which: Voted | Non-Voted | Change | New DEL | Of which: Voted | Non-Voted |
| 1,034,825 | 20,177,493 | 19,787,783 | 389,710 | 517,376 | 6,359,521 | 6,283,093 | 76,428 |
The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:
An increase of £500,000,000 as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2002 outcome whereby the MoD was provided with a Sustainability Fund to enhance the department's capability to sustain military operations.
A net reduction of £102,960,000 due to a transfer of £340,000,000 to capital to reflect compliance with the accounting policy change in FRS15, offset by a transfer from capital of £237,040,000 to reflect in-year departmental reallocations.
An addition of £21,233,000 towards the MoD's liability to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.
An increase of £314,000 towards the purchase of two Landing Ship Dock (Auxiliary) vessels, offset by the repayment of an advance in 2001–02 of £1,000,000 towards the purchase of two RoRo ferries. This gives a net decrease of £686,000.
A transfer out of Resource DEL of £120,000 to the Single Intelligence Account relating to electricity charges on a shared site.
A transfer in of Resource DEL of £183,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the OAB Citadel costs.
An increase of £617,175,000 in the Request for Resource for Conflict Prevention to cover the net additional costs of military operations in Kosovo, Bosnia, the Gulf, Afghanistan and contingency planning for possible operations.
The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from:
A net increase of £102,960,000 due to a transfer of £340,000,000 to capital from resource to reflect compliance with the accounting policy change in FRS15, offset by a transfer from capital to resource of £237,040,000 to reflect in-year departmental reallocations.
An increase of £48,909,000 for the purchase of two Landing Ship Dock (Auxiliary) vessels.
A reduction of £43,300,000 being the repayment of an advance in 2001–02 for the purchase of two RoRo ferries.
An increase of £1,600,000 from the Capital Modernisation Fund for the Drug Stopper Project.
A transfer in of Capital DEL of £475,000 from the Department of Health for the Diagnostic Treatment Centre at the Royal Haslar Hospital.
An increase of £406,732,000 in the Request for Resource for Conflict Prevention to cover the net additional costs of military operations in Kosovo, Bosnia, the Gulf, Afghanistan and contingency planning for possible operations.
Lord Tebbit asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker): The soundings exercise document, with attached pro forma, was sent to every MP and MEP in the English regions outside London on 2 December. It was also sent to the regional branches of key stakeholder organisations such as the TUC, the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the Chambers of Commerce and the Local Government Association, as well as the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, for distribution to its members. In addition, a copy was sent to every principal local authority in those regions, and the voluntary regional chambers. A covering letter made it clear that the "information you provide [in response the soundings exercise] will be strengthened if it is clear that you have consulted widely", and we are aware that pro formas have been cascaded down to parish and town council level and beyond.
A press release was issued to alert the public to the soundings exercise, which gave details of how to obtain the pro forma—it is freely available both on the Internet and by written, emailed, faxed or telephone request from the Government's distribution centre.
A list of all organisations in England contacted about this soundings exercise have been placed in the Library of the House.
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Govenment:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty): In 2000 the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC), the independent expert committee established to provide advice to Government on the safety, quality and efficacy of veterinary medicines, set up a sub-group to consider the safety and efficacy requirements for licensing antimicrobials in order to minimise the development of antimicrobial resistance and to provide guidance for industry.
A report from this sub-group was published in January 2003. In that report the sub-group made a number of recommendations, including recommendations on the future regulation of all antimicrobial products, including ionophores. The full report is available on the VPC's website (www.vpc.gov.uk). The Government are considering the recommendations in this report.
I am not aware of any advice that the Government have received specifically relating to the risks of young children exceeding acceptable daily intakes of ionophores.
Dimetridazole and Narasin are no longer authorised for use as zootechnical feed additives for food-producing animals.
In March 2001 the Veterinary Residues Committee (VRC) established a sub-group to look at the risks from residues of medicinal and zootechnical feed additives (including ionophores) in meat and other food products. This sub-group has not yet provided any advice to government on these issues.
Viscount Goschen asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will list, by government department, (a) the number of targets which they have set themselves; and (b) what each department's average success rate is in achieving those targets within the allotted time.[HL1712]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The Government's targets have been set out in successive public service agreement White Papers; Comprehensive Spending Review: Public Service Agreements 1999–2002: (Cm 4181): Spending Review 2000: Public Service Agreements 2001–04 (Cm 4808); and 2002 Spending Review: Public Service Agreements 2003–04 (Cm 5571). Departments have published progress against these targets annually since their inception in departmental reports, and from last year have published progress six monthly. From April, the Government will provide regular web-based reporting of progress against all the new PSA targets.
In what manner they ensure fair distribution of pro formas for responses to the sounding exercise on the level of interest in each region in holding a referendum about establishing an elected regional assembly.[HL1692]
What independent advice they have received on the effects of ionophores in animal food on (a) resistance to antibiotics in humans and (b) the risks of young children exceeding acceptable daily intakes of such substances.[HL1751]
By what mechanism they keep track of targets and pledges made by government departments; and how they monitor progress towards the attainment of these specific goals and; [HL1711]
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