Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to restrict the use of formaldehyde in domestic articles such as MDF panels that are found to emit formaldehyde fumes that exceed World Health Organization safety limits.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Under the Construction Products Regulation, MDF manufactured in Europe must be labelled to European standards ‘E1’ or ‘E2’. 95% of EU companies comply voluntarily with the ‘E1’ standard, meeting World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
Proposals for a restriction to control formaldehyde releases from articles (which would include wood-based panels) are being considered under the EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regime. The European Chemicals Agency is expected to produce its opinion on the proposal around 20 March 2020, though the subsequent adoption of a legislative decision will be dependent on the outcome of further discussions.
In a no deal exit from the EU, all existing EU restrictions will continue in the UK. A UK REACH system would retain the process for restricting a chemical.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to abide by the guidance and emissions limits set out under the 2015 EU Industrial Emissions Directive, following its implementation date on 20 November, whether or not the UK continues to be a member of the EU.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Yes. The UK is committed to maintaining environmental standards after we leave the EU and will continue to apply the existing successful model of integrated pollution control, using Best Available Techniques to control emission limits. The EU Withdrawal Act 2018 maintains established environmental principles and ensures that existing EU environmental law will continue to have effect in UK law, including the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU).
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to seek a trade agreement along similar lines to the EU–Mercosur trade agreement once the UK has departed the EU; if so, whether they have begun any such discussions with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay; and when they expect any such negotiations to be concluded.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The EU-Mercosur trade agreement reached political conclusion on 28 June 2019. This means that we have yet to receive the final text, which would be needed to assess the impacts of the final negotiated outcome, including which commercial sectors would benefit. This text is unlikely to be available for some time since the EU and Mercosur are still finalising the details of the agreement, which will then need to undergo legal review and official translation.
We welcome the news of political conclusion between the EU and Mercosur on a Free Trade Agreement. As a global champion of trade, the UK has been a strong advocate for these negotiations. The UK has longstanding positive bilateral relationships with individual Mercosur countries and we look forward to deepening our trading ties as we leave the EU. We will be working with our Mercosur partners to develop our future trade relationship in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of the EU–Mercosur trade agreement; and which commercial sectors in the UK are expected to benefit from this agreement.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The EU-Mercosur trade agreement reached political conclusion on 28 June 2019. This means that we have yet to receive the final text, which would be needed to assess the impacts of the final negotiated outcome, including which commercial sectors would benefit. This text is unlikely to be available for some time since the EU and Mercosur are still finalising the details of the agreement, which will then need to undergo legal review and official translation.
We welcome the news of political conclusion between the EU and Mercosur on a Free Trade Agreement. As a global champion of trade, the UK has been a strong advocate for these negotiations. The UK has longstanding positive bilateral relationships with individual Mercosur countries and we look forward to deepening our trading ties as we leave the EU. We will be working with our Mercosur partners to develop our future trade relationship in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish a national dementia strategy for beyond 2020; and if so, when.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We expect to publish a new dementia strategy for England for the period 2020 to 2025 early next year.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards meeting the aims of the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We have committed to implement fully the Government’s Challenge on Dementia 2020 strategy to make this country the best place in the world to live with dementia.
Our recent review of progress tells us we are largely on track to meet our commitments to improve the lives of those living with dementia, their families and carers. The Dementia 2020 Challenge: 2018 Review Phase 1 report is attached.
Examples of progress we have made so far with our delivery partners include more than two thirds of people with dementia receiving a diagnosis, over 2.8 million people becoming Dementia Friends and 365 areas in England committing to being Dementia Friendly Communities. In the £250 million Dementia Discovery Fund we have the largest venture fund in the world aimed at discovering and developing novel pre-clinical therapies for dementia.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to commemorate in 2020 the 80th anniversary of the forming of the Special Operations Executive (SOE); and whether they will introduce a recognised annual date to commemorate the SOE.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
A major event was held in 2015 to mark the 75th anniversary of the foundation of Special Operations Executive. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is not aware of any plans at present for a further commemoration.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support efforts by local authorities and community groups to tackle issues experienced by people with dementia and their carers in rural areas, such as isolation, lack of transport, and lack of broadband.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is committed to implementing the Dementia 2020 Challenge in full. We have supported dementia friendly initiatives and there are now over 2.2 million Dementia Friends and 225 Dementia Friendly communities in England, which cover a range of geographies including rural areas.
Local authorities and community groups in rural areas will be best placed to consider and respond to the needs of their communities, including people with dementia and their carers and taking into account such issues as transport needs and broadband. In 2016/17, English local authorities outside London received £265 million of funding to support socially necessary bus services and the Community Minibus Fund has provided over 300 local charities and community groups across England with over 400 minibuses to use for the benefit of their passengers. Improving broadband is also a high priority for the Government, including in rural areas. £1.7 billion of public money is being invested to support vital improvements in superfast broadband coverage across the UK.
We acknowledge that there is some evidence of increased cost of service delivery in rural sparse areas. This is why we provide specific funding for rural communities through the Rural Services Delivery grant which has provided £145.5 million for rural councils over the last two years.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support work to assist highly vulnerable people with dementia living in rural areas; and what assessment they have made of such work, including that of the Rural Dementia Friendly Task and Finish Group.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Improving the skills and dementia awareness of homecare staff can have a big impact on supporting people with dementia in rural areas; over 100,000 social care workers have received some form of dementia awareness training and this is continuing as part of the national implementation of the Care Certificate. By 2020, we expect social care providers to provide appropriate training on dementia to all other relevant staff.
The Department works closely with Alzheimer’s Society including through their Rural Dementia Friendly Task and Finish Group, and in establishing Dementia Friendly communities. The challenges of supporting people living in rural areas are raised frequently. The issues are kept under review by the sector partners of the Dementia Programme Board.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to make any changes to the size and location of the Royal Marine garrisons in Plymouth.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
As part of the Service's Structural Rebalancing Plan earlier this year, 200 Royal Marines positions will be reassigned to the wider Royal Navy by 2020.
As announced in November 2016, the Ministry of Defence intends to dispose of Royal Marines Stonehouse in 2023 and The Royal Citadel in 2024, and re-provide for Units from them in the Plymouth and Torpoint area. Exact locations are subject to on-going assessment. Parliament and staff within the impacted Units will be informed when a decision on reprovision has been made.