To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any (1) health benefits, and (2) health hazards, of eating unpasteurised cheddar cheese, and its by-product whey butter.
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any (1) health benefits, and (2) health hazards, of eating unpasteurised cheddar cheese, and its by-product whey butter.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA), has policy responsibility for food safety, including Raw Drinking Milk (RDM). A Risk Assessment was conducted on RDM by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food in 2018 and considered by the FSA Board that year. The conclusion was that the risk from RDM is not so unacceptable as to justify removing the right of adult consumers to choose to drink it. However, to protect public health and balance consumer choice and business growth, improvements to the controls applied by Food Business Operators were required and have now been implemented.
There has been no assessment made of the health benefits or hazards of consuming unpasteurised cheddar cheese or whey butter, and no assessment made of the health benefits of consuming untreated raw cow’s milk.
From rural hamlets to coastal communities, it is a properly functioning market that ensures fair prices for motorists, but for that market to function customers need transparent data to find the best price. On that basis, when we saw fuel prices rising last summer we asked the Competition and Markets...
From rural hamlets to coastal communities, it is a properly functioning market that ensures fair prices for motorists, but for that market to function customers need transparent data to find the best price. On that basis, when we saw fuel prices rising last summer we asked the Competition and Markets...
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of stress caused by tuberculosis testing on the rate of abortion in cows.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of stress caused by tuberculosis testing on the rate of abortion in cows.
Bovine TB is one of the most significant and costly animal health problems facing our cattle keepers, it has a devasting impact on affected rural businesses. Routine and targeted bTB testing of cattle herds, using effective and validated tests, is a key part of our bTB eradication strategy.
No specific assessment of the potential impact of stress caused by tuberculosis testing on the rate of abortion in cows has been commissioned by Defra.
My Lords, I offer Green support to the comments from both opposition Front Benches on support for the Ukrainians.
I will pick up the questions from the noble Lord, Lord Purvis of Tweed, and the noble Baroness, Lady Fall, on nuclear weapons. It was rather covered over by the weekend’s events,...
My Lords, I offer Green support to the comments from both opposition Front Benches on support for the Ukrainians.
I will pick up the questions from the noble Lord, Lord Purvis of Tweed, and the noble Baroness, Lady Fall, on nuclear weapons. It was rather covered over by the weekend’s events,...
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill 2021-22 was introduced in the House of Commons on 8 June 2021 as aGovernment Bill. It would have made provisions about the welfare of certain kept animals that are in, imported into, or exported from Great Britain (see below). Second Reading took place on Monday 25 October 2021. Committee stage took place between 9 and 18 November 2021. The Bill was carried over to the 2022-23 parliamentary session and was awaiting a date for Report stage.
On 25 May 2023, the Mark Spencer, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, announced that the Bill would not continue any further. Instead, the government would taking forward measures in the Kept Animals Bill individually as single-issue bills during the remainder of the current Parliament. The Secretary of State referred to concerns about “scope-creep” for the Bill, including that the Labour Party would attempt to widen the scope of the Bill. The statement also set out the areas the government would be taking forward:
After the announcement, Sky news reported on 26 May 2023 that government ministers had expressed concerns that the Labour Party had intended to try to widen the scope of bill to include hunting.
The Bill aimed to address commitments made in the Conservative Party 2019 Manifesto and government’s 2021 Action Plan for Animal Welfare. The five overarching provisions in the Bill related to:
The provisions related to primates would have prevent keeping these animals as pets. Where primates were kept in captivity, the Bill would have introduced new licensing requirements to ensure that their welfare needs were met.
Under the Bill, the police would have had new powers to provide greater protection to livestock from dangerous and out of control dogs. Additional species, such as llamas, ostriches and game birds, would have also been given protection.
The Bill also included proposals to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening, although the measures would not have covered poultry.
In addition, the Bill would have restricted the number of pets (dogs, cats and ferrets) that are imported on a non-commercial basis. It would have also restricted the import of animals that were pregnant, under a certain age, or which had undergone mutilations such as ear and tail cropping.
The Bill would have amended the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 with the aim of improving zoo regulations and increasing that conservation focus of zoos.
The Bill also included powers for the Secretary of State to amend, or revoke retained direct EU legislation related to animal welfare.
Animal welfare is a devolved matter. The measures in the Bill would have varied in their territorial extent within Great Britain, however, none of the measures would have applied to Northern Ireland.
During Committee stage, there were several government amendments to the Bill and no successful opposition amendments. Government amendments included the addition of a new offence of taking a pet without lawful authority, aimed at tackling pet theft, and extending the proposals on the keeping of primates to Wales.
There were concerns about the Bill being dropped from a wide range of animal welfare organisations, including the RSPCA, the Dog’s Trust, the Humane Society International (UK) and the British Veterinary Association.
The government has made announcements on several issues since withdrawing the Bill:
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill 2021-22 was introduced in the House of Commons on 8 June 2021 as aGovernment Bill. It would have made provisions about the welfare of certain kept animals that are in, imported into, or exported from Great Britain (see below). Second Reading took place on Monday...
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide financial support for parents of children who cannot use Healthy Start vouchers due to their children's dietary requirements.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide financial support for parents of children who cannot use Healthy Start vouchers due to their children's dietary requirements.
Healthy Start can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried and tinned pulses, plain cow’s milk and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries are also eligible for free Healthy Start Vitamins.
My Lords, I speak in support of the Bill on behalf of the Government and thank noble Lords on all sides for the quality of this debate. I pay tribute to my noble friend Lady Fookes and my honourable friend Henry Smith in the other place for their progress with...
My Lords, I speak in support of the Bill on behalf of the Government and thank noble Lords on all sides for the quality of this debate. I pay tribute to my noble friend Lady Fookes and my honourable friend Henry Smith in the other place for their progress with...
It is standard practice for long leaseholders in blocks of flats to pay a service charge to cover the cost of maintaining the building and its common areas. Long leaseholders have statutory rights in terms of information about service charges and an ability to challenge the reasonableness of the charges, and/or whether the service provided is of a reasonable standard, at a First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) or the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales.
Freeholders of houses who are required to contribute to the maintenance of the estate’s communal areas and facilities, do not have equivalent rights. This practice has been referred to as 'fleecehold'.
The Government has committed to giving freeholders equivalent rights to challenge service charges, and a right to apply to the First-tier Tribunal to appoint a new manager for the provision of services covered by estate rentcharges.
There is also an intention to regulate managing agents to "protect leaseholders and freeholders alike."
The Government intends to introduce legislation "when Parliamentary time allows".
There is some suggestion in the sector that the proposed reforms will not go far enough. For example, Helen Goodman introduced the Freehold Properties (Management Charges and Shared Facilities) Bill 2017-19 on 14 November 2018 under the Ten Minute Rule procedure. The Bill’s purpose was the:
…regulation of fees charged by management companies to freeholders of residential properties; to make provision for self-management of shared facilities by such freeholders; to require management companies to ensure shared facilities are of an adequate standard; and for connected purposes.
The paper focuses on England but section 8 covers proposals in Wales. Scotland has a factoring system while the issue does not appear to have arisen in Northern Ireland.
It is standard practice for long leaseholders in blocks of flats to pay a service charge to cover the cost of maintaining the building and its common areas. Long leaseholders have statutory rights in terms of information about service charges and an ability to challenge the reasonableness of the charges, and/or...
When the hon. Member listens to my speech, I think she will understand the compassion with which I speak. She will also understand that we are in a difficult position: we are legislators, and where there is something that needs to be addressed, as there is in these two petitions,...
When the hon. Member listens to my speech, I think she will understand the compassion with which I speak. She will also understand that we are in a difficult position: we are legislators, and where there is something that needs to be addressed, as there is in these two petitions,...
I am sorry that I cannot emulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis) by speaking without notes, but I will do my best to ad lib a little. I thank him for securing this important debate. I love his words that SMEs drive the whole...
I am sorry that I cannot emulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis) by speaking without notes, but I will do my best to ad lib a little. I thank him for securing this important debate. I love his words that SMEs drive the whole...
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Isle of Wight island designation status and landscape protection.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Latham.
Islands have a unique place in the identity of the British Isles. We are a collection of islands, and some are bigger than others....
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Isle of Wight island designation status and landscape protection.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Latham.
Islands have a unique place in the identity of the British Isles. We are a collection of islands, and some are bigger than others....
It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Latham. It is always a pleasure to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely), as he speaks with such adoration, pride and passion but, most importantly, a deep understanding and knowledge of his...
It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Latham. It is always a pleasure to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely), as he speaks with such adoration, pride and passion but, most importantly, a deep understanding and knowledge of his...
I would like to start by taking the House back to 2012, when the right hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) was Housing Minister and appeared on Channel 4 to speak about leasehold, and said that only a “tiny, tiny, tiny” number of landlords caused problems. Since then, the...
I would like to start by taking the House back to 2012, when the right hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) was Housing Minister and appeared on Channel 4 to speak about leasehold, and said that only a “tiny, tiny, tiny” number of landlords caused problems. Since then, the...
We had a similar debate yesterday about poverty, the cost of living and disabled people. It was a heartfelt debate because everyone brought examples from their constituents. I congratulate the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Andrew Western) on bringing forward today’s debate. It is always
a pleasure to add...
We had a similar debate yesterday about poverty, the cost of living and disabled people. It was a heartfelt debate because everyone brought examples from their constituents. I congratulate the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Andrew Western) on bringing forward today’s debate. It is always
a pleasure to add...
If I can just complete the thought, the total cost of living support that the Government have provided is worth more than £94 billion across 2022-23 and 2023-24. That is, on average, more than £3,300 per UK household. It is one of the most generous support packages for the cost...
If I can just complete the thought, the total cost of living support that the Government have provided is worth more than £94 billion across 2022-23 and 2023-24. That is, on average, more than £3,300 per UK household. It is one of the most generous support packages for the cost...
I am going to look at access to nature in relation to protection of the natural world—and, indeed, access to it—through the prism of my constituency, which means that I will be very parochial, but I am also going to pitch a series of arguments to the Minister, as I...
I am going to look at access to nature in relation to protection of the natural world—and, indeed, access to it—through the prism of my constituency, which means that I will be very parochial, but I am also going to pitch a series of arguments to the Minister, as I...
I listened to the citations and I will go away and inform myself about them, but one can find a million citations in support of any argument, however spurious.
Let us get to the heart of food inflation. After reading the report from Unite the union earlier today, I went and...
I listened to the citations and I will go away and inform myself about them, but one can find a million citations in support of any argument, however spurious.
Let us get to the heart of food inflation. After reading the report from Unite the union earlier today, I went and...
That is the most awful fact and the most worrying thing that has been said today. Many of us in this Chamber will have direct knowledge of that from casework and constituents we have had to deal with.
As I said, disabled people tend to spend more on essential goods and...
That is the most awful fact and the most worrying thing that has been said today. Many of us in this Chamber will have direct knowledge of that from casework and constituents we have had to deal with.
As I said, disabled people tend to spend more on essential goods and...
The UK and Australia signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in December 2021. This followed an ‘Agreement in Principle’ in June 2021, where most of the deal had been agreed.
This is the first ‘new’ UK trade deal signed since Brexit; the UK’s other trade agreements have largely rolled-over previous EU deals.
The agreement is due to come into effect at midnight on 31 May 2023.
The agreement contains 32 chapters covering a wide range of issues.
It will remove most tariffs on trade between the UK and Australia when it comes into force. The UK market for some agricultural goods will be opened to Australia more gradually.
Other provisions cover trade in services, digital trade, public procurement and intellectual property. UK citizens aged under 35 will be able to travel and work in Australia more easily. There are provisions covering technical barriers to trade, and sanitary & phytosanitary (SPS) measures relating to food safety and animal and plant health. There are chapters on small business, the environment, and animal welfare and antimicrobial resistance.
Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions, which allow foreign investors to take legal action against governments, are not in the agreement.
The Government’s Impact Assessment estimates that the long-run effect of the agreement will be to increase UK GDP by 0.08% or £2.3 billion a year by 2035. Twenty economic sectors are estimated to see an increase in output because of the agreement. It is estimated to have an adverse effect on three sectors, however: agriculture, forestry and fishing; semi-processed foods; and manufacture of other transport equipment (although the effect on this last sector is extremely small). The Impact Assessment notes all these estimates are subject to considerable uncertainty.
The small economic effect of the agreement is unsurprising as Australia accounts for a small proportion of UK trade. The UK exported £9.8 billion of goods and services to Australia in 2021 (1.6% of all UK exports) and imported £4.6 billion from Australia (0.7% of all UK imports). In addition, barriers to trade with Australia are already relatively low for many products.
The Government described the agreement as “historic” and said it sets “new global standards in digital and services and [in] creating new work and travel opportunities for Brits and Aussies.” The Government has also said the agreement is “expected to unlock £10.4 billion of additional trade, boosting our economy and increasing wages across the UK.”
The Government has listed ten key benefits of the agreement. These include:
The main issue raised by the agreement is its impact on UK agriculture. The Government’s Impact Assessment estimated there would be a negative impact on the agri-food sector. Australia is a large, competitive exporter of agricultural goods. The UK farming sector is concerned the agreement gives greater market access to Australian producers who may be able to undercut the UK industry. The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said “there is little in this deal to benefit British farmers.”
The Government said these concerns are misplaced for several reasons:
The farming industry has responded to the Government’s arguments, saying:
The issue of environmental, animal welfare and food safety standards has also been raised. It is important to distinguish between two aspects of standards: those which products must meet before they can be imported into the UK and wider questions of differences in animal welfare and environmental practices permitted in Australia and the UK.
On the former, the Government’s report under section 42 of the Agriculture Act concluded the FTA did not require changes to the UK’s import rules or changes to statutory protections in the areas of human, animal or plant life or health, animal welfare or the environment.
In addition, this report said the UK and devolved governments’ right to regulate was not constrained by the agreement. This view was informed by advice from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland and by the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) – the independent advisory body created to examine the impact of trade agreements on UK statutory protections relating to trade in agricultural products.
Some, however, have expressed wider concerns about standards. Farming, environmental and animal welfare groups are concerned that some Australian products are produced to lower animal welfare and environmental standards than in the UK. The NFU said it sees “almost nothing in the deal that will prevent an increase in imports of food produced well below the production standards required of UK farmers”.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee’s report on the agreement concluded it was unlikely that food produced to lower animal welfare standards would be imported into the UK. The TAC found “in most cases, the concerns [about standards ] were a little bit exaggerated for one reason or another”. The TAC did find, however, there was likely to be an increase in imports of products from Australia produced using pesticides that would not be permitted in the UK.
Calls to link increased access to the UK market to adherence to “core standards” on the environment and animal welfare have not been taken up by the Government.
The agreement includes a chapter on the environment, setting out the UK and Australia’s shared commitment to mutually supportive trade and environment policies. The chapter ensures that neither country can fail to domestically enforce environmental laws to gain an unfair competitive advantage.
The FTA refers to the Paris Agreement but has been criticised for the lack of an explicit reference to limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5ºC.
The increase in trade arising from the agreement is likely to affect the environment. The Government estimates that overall greenhouse gas emissions associated with UK-based production are likely to be largely unchanged. However, the estimates indicate there would be an increase in emissions associated with the transport of goods traded with Australia.
Under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol, trading arrangements for the movement of goods differ between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The interaction between the Protocol and the FTA is highly complex.
In short, the position appears to be that exports from Northern Ireland to Australia will benefit from the FTA in the same way as exports from the rest of the UK. For goods entering Northern Ireland, tariffs may not be reduced or eliminated in the same way as in the rest of the UK, depending on the circumstances. This analysis is based on the Protocol as it currently stands. The Government wants to see changes to the Protocol and is bringing forward legislation to amend its operation.
The Northern Ireland Executive commented that the agreement brought opportunities for some sectors but was concerned about the impact on agriculture and the adequacy of the safeguards. The Executive also pointed out that the Government’s Impact Assessment showed a negative effect on Northern Ireland under some assumptions. The Scottish and Welsh Governments both highlighted risks to the agriculture sector, while acknowledging benefits in some areas from the deal.
Three select Committees have published reports on the agreement:
The ITC and IAC reports called for the FTA to be debated in Parliament.
On 29 June 2022, the ITC published an interim report, UK trade negotiations: Scrutiny of Agreement with Australia. This criticised the Government’s approach to parliamentary scrutiny of the FTA.
The Government formally laid the agreement before Parliament under the Constitutional Reform and Governance (CRAG) Act 2010 on 15 June 2022. This Act provides for a minimum of 21 sitting days, which expired on 20 July, before the UK can ratify the agreement. The ITC called on the Government to extend the CRAG period to allow further time for scrutiny but the Government refused to do so.
While there is no requirement for a vote or debate on the agreement, the Government said it would seek to accommodate a request for a debate from the relevant select committees, subject to parliamentary time.
Parliamentary committees in both the Commons and Lords recommended that there should be a debate on the agreement. A debate on a “take note” motion was held in the Lords on 11 July 2022. Despite the International Trade Committee’s request for a debate, no such debate was scheduled in the Commons before the expiry of the CRAG period on 20 July 2022. There was, however, an Urgent Question in the Commons on scrutiny of the agreement on 19 July 2022.
A debate on the FTAs with Australia and New Zealand took place in the House of Commons on 14 November 2022. This was after the expiry of the CRAG period for the agreement with Australia. It was also a general debate rather than a debate on a substantive motion.
The UK and Australia signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in December 2021. This followed an ‘Agreement in Principle’ in June 2021, where most of the deal had been agreed.
This is the first ‘new’ UK trade deal signed since Brexit; the UK’s other trade agreements have largely...
Showing results 161 - 180 of 3,208 in 3.16 seconds.