Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish a response to its consultation on front-of-pack nutrition labelling.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We are considering the responses to the United Kingdom-wide public consultation on our current front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme including views and evidence on new international examples, specifically the Nutri-score label and Chile’s warning label. We chose to consider the Nutri-score and Chile’s warning label because they differ significantly from the UK’s multiple traffic light scheme and have evidence of the impact on public health in non-UK markets.
The consultation included a technical annex which provides a provisional commentary on the costs and benefits on the suggestions included in the consultation. We will publish a consultation response as soon as possible. If changes to the scheme are required, we will consult again on proposed policy changes and publish a full impact assessment.
Research was commissioned alongside the consultation to test which front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme supports people in Great Britain to identify healthier choices. This research tested the Government-recommended multiple traffic light, Nutri-score, Chile’s warning and Positive Choice Tick labels with a British population. The preliminary study was published 10 March 2021 and is available at the following link:
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/3/900
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what market research his Department has undertaken on consumer responses to (a) multiple traffic light, (b) nutriscore and (c) Chilean warning system front-of-pack nutrition labelling.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We are considering the responses to the United Kingdom-wide public consultation on our current front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme including views and evidence on new international examples, specifically the Nutri-score label and Chile’s warning label. We chose to consider the Nutri-score and Chile’s warning label because they differ significantly from the UK’s multiple traffic light scheme and have evidence of the impact on public health in non-UK markets.
The consultation included a technical annex which provides a provisional commentary on the costs and benefits on the suggestions included in the consultation. We will publish a consultation response as soon as possible. If changes to the scheme are required, we will consult again on proposed policy changes and publish a full impact assessment.
Research was commissioned alongside the consultation to test which front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme supports people in Great Britain to identify healthier choices. This research tested the Government-recommended multiple traffic light, Nutri-score, Chile’s warning and Positive Choice Tick labels with a British population. The preliminary study was published 10 March 2021 and is available at the following link:
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/3/900
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) adopts innovative processes to help UK patients get earlier access to regulatory-approved medicines.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The rapid approval and delivery of clinical trials in the United Kingdom to respond to COVID-19 has made a leading contribution to the international vaccine and therapeutics effort. In March the Government set out its vision for the future of clinical research delivery to create a patient-centred, pro-innovation and digitally-enabled research environment. Implementation plans and strategies setting out how the Government and devolved administrations will begin to deliver the vision during 2021 to 2022 will be published shortly.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) at the start of 2021, to reduce the time to market for innovative medicines. The ILAP combines the MHRA’s independence and high standards of quality, safety and efficacy, with improved efficiency and flexibility. It provides a single integrated platform between the MHRA, partners and the medicine developer, to ensure that patients receive the highest quality medicines and treatments as soon as they become available.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the covid-19 vaccines approval process and whether lessons from that process can be applied to support the development and approval of other innovative medicines and treatments.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The rapid approval and delivery of clinical trials in the United Kingdom to respond to COVID-19 has made a leading contribution to the international vaccine and therapeutics effort. In March the Government set out its vision for the future of clinical research delivery to create a patient-centred, pro-innovation and digitally-enabled research environment. Implementation plans and strategies setting out how the Government and devolved administrations will begin to deliver the vision during 2021 to 2022 will be published shortly.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) at the start of 2021, to reduce the time to market for innovative medicines. The ILAP combines the MHRA’s independence and high standards of quality, safety and efficacy, with improved efficiency and flexibility. It provides a single integrated platform between the MHRA, partners and the medicine developer, to ensure that patients receive the highest quality medicines and treatments as soon as they become available.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department held discussions at the G7 summit on the potential (a) public health risk of and (b) merits of banning fur farming; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill
No such discussions were held.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effects on health of (a) precarious work and (b) the climate crisis.
Answered by Jo Churchill
No such assessment has been made of the effects on health of precarious work.
The National Adaptation Programme has an objective for Public Health England to update the evidence base on the health impacts of climate change, considering a wide range of risks and opportunities of climate change impacts on health as identified by the second Climate Change Risk Assessment.
An update of estimates of direct and indirect climate-related health impacts using the UK Climate Projections’ 18 projections will be included. Findings will be published in a comprehensive report ‘Health Effects of Climate Change in the UK’.