Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban bio-degradable food processing and farm residues from disposal to landfill.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The EU revised Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) requires Member States to apply the waste management hierarchy. Landfill sits at the bottom of the hierarchy and should be the last resort for most waste. Landfill tax is the main driver in diverting waste from landfill in the UK, and is currently £82.60 per tonne for the standard rate and £2.60 per tonne for inert waste. We believe this represents the correct solution to bio-degradable food waste.
The EU Landfill Directive includes targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) going to landfill. In 2013 the amount of BMW going to landfill in the UK reduced to 26% of the 1995 baseline, against a 35% target for 2020.
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to incentivise small-scale on-farm anaerobic digestion systems.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra and DECC officials are working together on a review of the support for renewable energy schemes through both Feed in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive. This includes the support for farm-scale anaerobic digestion. Consultations on the schemes will be published in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made towards the targets for protecting peat set out in the Natural Environment White Paper of 2011 since the publication of the last implementation update report in October 2014.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Defra is currently carrying out a review of progress towards the targets for peat reduction in horticulture set out in the Natural Environment White Paper. Based on sales data from 2014, there has been a 24% reduction in peat sales for horticultural use in the UK since 2011.
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2015 to Question 5351, what mechanisms are in place to assess whether the dietary and other standards set out in the service specifications for pancreatic cancer are being met.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The standards set for pancreatic cancer are reviewed in two ways:
- By local commissioning teams to check compliance against the service review with each provider. This is a formal process and providers not meeting the key requirements are required to produce an action plan. This includes compliance with multi-disciplinary team membership.
- Where Cancer Peer Review applies to a service, providers are assessed and measures that are not met are followed up with the Trust Board.
Some of the areas referred to in the service specification are linked services under the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups and are included so the relationships between different parts of the pathway are clear.
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has received from the Ascension Island Council on the proposed creation of a marine protected area around Ascension.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Ascension Island Council wrote to Minister Duddridge at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in May about the proposed creation of a marine protected area around Ascension. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office are giving consideration to all options for marine management around Ascension Island. Any decision will be based on scientific justification, financial viability, effective enforcement and monitoring. The Government committed in its 2015 manifesto to, “designate a further protected area at Ascension Island, subject to the views of the local community.”
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to commence work on the development of clinical guidance for pancreatic cancer.
Answered by George Freeman
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has advised that it expects to commence work on the development of a clinical guideline on pancreatic cancer in late Autumn 2015. The provisional schedule for development of this guideline will be made available on NICE’s website: www.nice.org.uk in due course.
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that all pancreatic cancer patients have access to dietetic treatment, advice and support; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England has a published a service specification for pancreatic cancer which clearly defines what it expects to be in place for providers to offer evidence-based, safe and effective pancreatic cancer services. This service specification has been developed by specialised clinicians, commissioners, expert patients and public health representatives to describe core and developmental service standards.
The service specification sets out that all patients with upper gastrointestinal disease (including pancreatic cancer) are at risk of dietary problems and should have access to full dietetic inpatient and outpatient services. Dieticians should be available to see patients during regular outpatient clinics and be available for consultation on ward rounds and multidisciplinary team meetings.
The full service specification can be found at:
http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a02-cncr-panc.pdf
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 3 December 2014 to Question 216468, what progress he has made in establishing trials for pancreatic cancer patients using stereotactic ablative radiotherapy.
Answered by George Freeman
Cancer Research UK is funding the SPARC trial, which is led by the University of Oxford. This is a phase I trial of pre-operative, margin intensive, stereotactic body radiation therapy for previously untreated borderline resectable pancreatic cancer. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network is providing research infrastructure for the trial.
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure new treatment options for pancreatic cancer are made available on the NHS at the earliest opportunity; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In commissioning cancer services, NHS England is supported by clinical reference groups (CRGs) which are responsible for developing strategies, pathways and service specifications for each group of cancer type, including a Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic CRG which covers pancreatic cancer. CRGs consider the latest evidence available.
We take the issue of ensuring rapid access to innovative therapies very seriously, which is why we have launched an Accelerated Access Review to make recommendations to Government later in the year on speeding up access for National Health Service patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines, diagnostics and medical technologies.
Asked by: Lord Benyon (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to include aortic stenosis in future cardiovascular strategies.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England has no plans to publish a future cardiovascular disease strategy at this time.
Improvements in detection and management of valve disease will be achieved by encouraging practitioners and providers to follow clinical guidelines and by commissioning means. Surgery and transcatheter aortic valve replacement are commissioned by NHS England through specialised commissioning but investigations, initial diagnosis and medical management are commissioned by clinical commissioning groups.