Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble n 15 May (HL3775), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, why they have adopted the EU's legislation on the use of growth hormones in food production; and what caused the change in policy held by previous governments on that legislation within the Council of European Agricultural Ministers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
As a Member State, the UK fulfilled its obligations of EU membership and implemented EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into domestic law. UK policy was always to implement EU law as required.
Although the UK expressed some concerns with the robustness of the scientific evidence underpinning the EU ban at the time, it has always been fully implemented in the UK and this will continue, now we have left the EU.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role played, if any, by the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the spread of COVID-19. [T]
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department has made no assessment of the role played, if any, by the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the spread of COVID-19.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 5 March (HL1872), why they have adopted the EU's legislation on the use of growth hormones in food production; and what caused the change in policy held by previous governments on that legislation within the Council of European Agricultural Ministers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
As a Member State, the UK transposed EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into domestic law ‘Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015', with similar legislation for Wales and Northern Ireland.
The law reflects UK Government policy on the use of growth hormones in food production and remains in force now we have left the EU.
The UK is committed to maintaining our current high food safety and animal welfare standards and these protections will continue now we have left the EU.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether beef from hormone-implanted cattle can be identified if there are higher levels of such hormones present in bull beef than beef from hormone-implanted steers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There are prototype analytical methods that give a good indication of whether a substance is naturally occurring. However, these need further refinement before they can be considered suitably robust and reliable for regulatory use.
Furthermore, the UK has transposed EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into national law ‘Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015', with similar legislation for Wales and Northern Ireland. This legislation prohibits the use of artificial growth hormones in both domestic production and imported products as well as provides for the monitoring of residues of substances. This protection will continue now we have left the EU.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether new evidence has appeared since the European Economic Community imposed a ban on sales of hormone-implanted beef in 1989 about the safety of such beef; and if so, (1) whether that evidence has changed the UK's view that the practice of hormone implantation is safe, and (2) what is the nature of that evidence.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
No new evidence in relation to the use of hormones as growth promotors has been reviewed by the UK Government’s independent Veterinary Products Committee since 2007.
The UK has transposed EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into national law ‘Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015', with similar legislation for Wales and Northern Ireland. This legislation prohibits the use of artificial growth hormones in both domestic production and imported products as well as provides for the monitoring of residues of substances. This protection will continue now we have left the EU.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Duncan of Springbank on 14 January (HL222), why the Public Weather Service Customer Group's targets each year for the accuracy of forecasts do not include rainfall.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Met Office measures the accuracy of its rainfall forecasts by comparing forecast rainfall accumulation against rainfall estimates from radar and actual rainfall measurements from gauges. The Met Office reports on the accuracy of rainfall forecasts to the Public Weather Service Customer Group (PWSCG). Since 2017, the PWSCG has included verification of the forecast weather symbol as part of this formal forecast accuracy target. This measures how accurate the forecast was in terms of whether it was sunny, cloudy or raining. Since its introduction, this metric has shown that the accuracy of the forecast weather symbol has improved at all forecast time scales.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will list (1) the involvement of overseas companies in UK-based fishing companies, and (2) the percentage of overseas involvement in all the quotas and total allowable catch allocations applied to the UK under the Common Fisheries Policy.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK’s quota is currently allocated on the basis of Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) units which are attached to UK vessel licences. These can only be allocated to vessels registered and licensed in the UK.
A decision by a British fisher to sell a licence to, or buy a licence from, another fisher or company is a commercial one, and one for fishers alone to make.
An economic link condition was introduced to UK licences in 1999 to make sure a genuine economic benefit is accrued to the UK from the fishing of UK quota. The Government is considering reform of the economic link condition after the transition period as part of the development of our future fisheries management arrangements.
The FQA Register is a list of fishing vessel licences, the FQA units linked to them and the owners. The FQA Register can be found online at: www.fqaregister.service.gov.uk
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the levels of defence spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (1) currently spent by members of NATO, and (2) spent by each member of NATO at the time of the 2014 Wales NATO summit.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Please see the table below for levels of defence spending by % of GDP currently spent by members of NATO, and spent by each member of NATO at the time of the 2014 Wales NATO summit.
This information is according to the NATO press release (COMMUNIQUE PR/CP(2019)123) ‘Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2013-2019)’ published on 29 November 2019.
https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2019_11/20191129_pr-2019-123-en.pdf
Defence expenditures as per cent of GDP - Based on 2015 prices and exchange rates
Nation | Defence expenditure as a % of GDP 2014 | Defence expenditure as a % of GDP 2019e (current) |
Albania | 1.35 | 1.26 |
Belgium | 0.98 | 0.93 |
Bulgaria* | 1.32 | 3.25 |
Canada | 1.01 | 1.31 |
Croatia | 1.84 | 1.68 |
Czech Republic | 0.95 | 1.19 |
Denmark | 1.15 | 1.32 |
Estonia | 1.93 | 2.14 |
France | 1.82 | 1.84 |
Germany | 1.18 | 1.38 |
Greece | 2.21 | 2.28 |
Hungary | 0.86 | 1.21 |
Italy | 1.14 | 1.22 |
Latvia | 0.94 | 2.01 |
Lithuania | 0.88 | 2.03 |
Luxembourg | 0.38 | 0.56 |
Montenegro | 1.50 | 1.66 |
Netherlands | 1.15 | 1.36 |
Norway | 1.55 | 1.80 |
Poland | 1.85 | 2.00 |
Portugal | 1.31 | 1.52 |
Romania | 1.35 | 2.04 |
Slovak Republic | 0.99 | 1.74 |
Slovenia | 0.97 | 1.04 |
Spain | 0.92 | 0.92 |
Turkey | 1.45 | 1.89 |
United Kingdom | 2.16 | 2.14 |
United States | 3.73 | 3.42 |
* Defence Expenditure does not include pensions.
e - Figures for 2019 are estimates
According to NATO’s latest spending figures, the UK’s Defence spending has increased year-on-year since 2017.
When looking at Defence spending, it is not appropriate to compare ‘like for like’ because the nature of Defence spending changes over time.
Defence spending is about assessing the threats we face and ensuring that we have the capabilities necessary to deal with them.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they monitor the accuracy of weather forecasts issued by the Meteorological Office; and whether the accuracy of forecasts has (1) increased, (2) decreased, or (3) remained the same during the last five years.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The core task of the Met Office is to deliver the Public Weather Service (PWS). The PWS Customer Group (PWSCG), which has an independent chair responsible to the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, monitors the delivery of the PWS against agreed performance indicators and targets, including the accuracy of public facing forecasts.
Over the last 5 years, the PWSCG has set targets each year for the accuracy of forecasts for maximum and minimum temperature, 3 hourly temperature, wind speed and wind direction at days 1, 3, and 5 ahead. During this period the accuracy of all these forecasts has increased.
In addition, the Met Office has a performance indicator that compares the accuracy of its global forecast model against other global modelling centres to demonstrate that it is maintaining its position in global forecast accuracy. Over the last 5 years the Met Office has maintained its position as the leading national meteorological service.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that traces of Novichok nerve agents were discovered in the London accommodation used by the two Russian suspects in the attacks in Salisbury in March 2018.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
On 5th September 2018, the former Prime Minister updated the House of Commons on the investigation into the two suspects involved in the Salisbury attack. The Prime Minister confirmed that traces of Novichok were found at the City Stay Hotel in Bow Road, east London, where the suspects stayed. This statement was repeated in the House of Lords on the same day by the Leader of the House of Lords. This can be found in Hansard Vol 792, col.1799 http://bit.ly/2ycrsCk.
The Chief Medical Officer made it clear in her statement on the 5th September 2018 that the room was only allowed back into use after experts deemed it to be safe.