Folic Acid Fortification

Lord Balfe Excerpts

Tuesday 25th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for that question; as I am rapidly learning, this is a complicated area. For the benefit of noble Lords who were not present yesterday, the tobacco arrangements are part of the Windsor agreement, so we passed primary legislation to allow us to make those changes. On the items before us, which involve secondary legislation, my understanding—if I am wrong, I will make a correction in writing—is that the co-operation of each of the devolved authorities is needed. That is why we are not able to proceed in Northern Ireland without its involvement. The plan is that we will go forward with GB-only measures if we have to. For obvious reasons, we would prefer not to do that; we want Northern Ireland to benefit from these changes as well but, as I have learned, it is a complex area.

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, when I became president of the British Dietetic Association—the dieticians’ trade union—this was one of its priorities. When I stood down five years later it was still a priority. My noble friend Lord Rooker has pursued this relentlessly, but what we are overlooking, I am afraid, is that every year more and more babies are born with this defect. Some 80 countries have managed it; what has impeded us for such a long time? I echo my noble friend Lord Cormack’s question: will “early” next year really be early?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As I have said, there are complications. The MHRA, for instance, has raised concerns about the side-effects of certain folic acid levels in respect of anti-epilepsy drugs. We are going through various medical areas and checking that we do not have unintended consequences, and these are some of the issues that have been taking time to deal with. I am not trying to give excuses, but to allow noble Lords to understand some of the complexities involved. As I have mentioned, the plan is very much to lay legislation in early 2024. We then have to give notice periods to the EU and the World Trade Organization, so, in order to achieve complete transparency for noble Lords, I am afraid there will be a two-year implementation timeframe from then. But rest assured that I will be pushing hard on this.