Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the fourth and final report from their Sugar Reduction Programme.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The fourth progress report, Sugar reduction – industry progress 2015 to 2020: Including the final report for foods included in the programme and the latest data for drinks included in the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and juices and milk based drinks on the sugar reduction programme was published on 1 December. A copy of the report is attached.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to review the proposed new alcohol duty bands, and (2) to increase the top band, so that the reforms will increase the yield to the Exchequer rather than reduce it, as presently forecast.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The next steps of the Alcohol Duty Review announced in the Growth Plan will continue as planned and will take effect from 1 August 2023.
The reforms are intended to improve the current system by making it simpler, more economically rational and less administratively burdensome on businesses.
The Government welcomed further views on aspects of Small Producer’s Relief and Draught Relief in a technical consultation which closed on 18 November 2022, to ensure stakeholders continue to be able to contribute to the reforms. The Government will respond to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to return the level of exports from to UK to countries in the EU to the exports level prior to the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
The EU is a vital export destination for British businesses, with exports to the EU totalling £298 billion in the 12 months to the end of June 2022.
The Government’s refreshed Export Strategy helps businesses at every stage of exporting and our Export Support Service is a single point of access digital enquiry service, assisting business in trading with the EU. In addition, the Department for International Trade has around 300 trade experts across Europe, including a dedicated Trade Commissioner for the continent, and we will have facilitated almost 500 activities and events to support UK exporters between April 2022 and March 2023.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what further steps they will take to encourage the greater use of Stevia in food and drink as a replacement for processed sugar.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
No specific assessment has been made. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is aware that some businesses use artificial or other non-caloric sweeteners, including Stevia, to lower the sugar content of their products. It is an individual business decision to decide if and how the product is used, subject to legislation.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for promoting the use of Stevia as an alternative to processed sugar.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
No specific assessment has been made. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is aware that some businesses use artificial or other non-caloric sweeteners, including Stevia, to lower the sugar content of their products. It is an individual business decision to decide if and how the product is used, subject to legislation.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the legislation to replace the Bread and Flour Regulations will (1) reduce, or (2) ban, sugar added in the making of manufactured bread.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Defra alongside the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Northern Ireland and Wales, Food Standards Scotland, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Scottish and Welsh Governments are currently conducting a review of The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 and The Bread and Flour (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1998 to ensure the regulations are fit for purpose, supporting industry while protecting consumers. To assist the review, Defra convened a technical working group made up of a wide range of relevant stakeholders to help identify and explore issues around the regulations which cover the compositional requirements of bread and flour. We will consult on potential legislative changes to the Bread and Flour Regulations.
The Sugar Reduction Programme (2016-2020) led by Public Health England challenged businesses across all sectors of the food industry to reduce the amount of sugar in foods that contribute most to children's sugar intakes. This does not include bread but does include cake, biscuits and morning goods (e.g. buns, pastries etc).
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of patients who joined the Diabetes Prevention programme between 2018 and 2019 failed to complete the course; and what steps they are taking to improve completion rates.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The information is not collected in the format requested as the NHS Diabetes Prevention programme is of nine months’ duration, where patients may commence support at any point during a calendar year. Completion rates are not collected on a yearly basis. However, data is collected for reference periods to identify cohorts of service users who have completed the programme within a specific time.
Providers of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme are updating session availability to support increased convenience and reduce waiting times. The support available for participants is being amended to encourage continued engagement outside of sessions such as meetings with a health coach and facilitated peer support groups.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of Community Safety Partnerships in England and Wales are using the Cardiff Model (A&E) data to identify serious violence hotspots; whether they have plans to extend the usage of this data; and what is the timetable for that extension.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
This government recognises the benefits of using the Cardiff Model to identify serious violence hotspots. That is why we continue to encourage all Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) to meet the expectation to work with local hospitals to implement the sharing of appropriate health data to tackle serious violence, as detailed in the 2018 Serious Violence Strategy for England and Wales. At this time, data on the percentage of CSPs using this model is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they did not mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS in 2018 with the creation of a National NHS Charity; and why they intend to mark the 75th anniversary in 2023 with the creation of such a charity.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We have no plans to create a national National Health Service charity. There are currently 241 charities in the United Kingdom which collectively raise £1 million a day for the NHS. NHS Charities Together is the national umbrella organisation of which all NHS charities are members.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the timetable for the rollout of social prescribing plans as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Over 1,500 social prescribing link workers are now in place and we are continuing to work towards the target of at least 900,000 people referred to social prescribing by 2023/24. NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently working on plans beyond the NHS Long Term Plan metrics to ensure social prescribing is fully embedded and sustainable in primary care.