Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the (1) safety, and (2) effectiveness, of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The vaccines approved for use in the United Kingdom, including the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, have met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Any vaccine that is approved must go through the same clinical trials and safety checks as other licensed medicines. The MHRA follows international standards of safety. So far, millions of people have been given a COVID-19 vaccine and reports of serious side effects, such as allergic reactions, have been very rare. No long-term complications have been reported. Preliminary results showing that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine might reduce the spread of COVID-19 are hugely encouraging.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of current age verification tools in protecting children from seeing adult content online; and what plans they have to ensure that the efficacy of such tools are addressed as part of the forthcoming Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Although the government will not be mandating the use of specific technologies through the legislation, we do expect that the regulatory framework will drive innovation and take-up of age assurance solutions, where some in-scope companies will be required to identify child users and provide them with a higher level of protection. This includes the use of age verification technologies to prevent children from accessing high-risk content such as online pornography.
We are continually assessing the benefits of technical measures while developing online safety policy. We are also working closely with stakeholders across industry to establish the right conditions for the market to deliver robust and effective age assurance solutions ahead of the legislative requirements coming into force. This includes working with regulators and industry to deliver transparency on the efficacy of solutions.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the announcement by the government of the United States that foreign students will not be able to stay in that country if universities have moved classes fully online, what steps they are taking (1) to protect, and (2) to support, British students planning on studying in the United States in the autumn.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
On 14 July, the government of the United States of America confirmed that it will not require international students to leave the country if they are unable to continue their studies in-person because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The government welcomes this decision.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require GP surgeries in England to put in place a call and recall procedure to require them to follow up patients in the shingles vaccination cohort who have not yet availed themselves of the vaccine.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
As outlined in both the NHS Long Term Plan and Investment and Evolution: a five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently undertaking a review of vaccinations and immunisations. The Department would not wish to pre-empt the outcome of this review. Investment and Evolution states that the purpose of the review as being to:
- Ensure the system incentivises achievement of appropriate uptake rates for immunisations in line with national public health uptake rates;
- Reduce the administrative burden on general practices by simplifying the system if possible;
- Clarify what is expected on call/recall for immunisations delivered through the GP contract;
- Address anomalies in the system that directly incentivise some vaccines but not others;
- Look at how we deal with outbreaks and catch-up programmes; and
- Consider whether we extend the list of chargeable travel vaccines.
A copy of Investment and Evolution: a five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for encouraging people who are 60 years old and above who have not been vaccinated against shingles to receive a vaccination; and what steps they are taking to encourage the take-up of that vaccine amongst that cohort.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Shingles Vaccination Programme, implemented in September 2013 is provided by general practices. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommends the shingles vaccine for adults routinely at age 70 years with a phased catch up for those aged 71-79 years. The eligibility criteria change means that patients become eligible for the vaccine from their 70th and 78th birthdays, if not previously vaccinated, and can be offered the vaccine opportunistically all year round.
In support of this change, Public Health England (PHE) has updated the communication materials for both patients and healthcare professionals to better identify those who are eligible and emphasise the benefits to patients from the shingles vaccination. This includes guidance for those individuals who have missed the opportunity to receive the vaccine previously but who remain eligible, up to their 80th birthday.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the bio-economy sector deal will be published.
Answered by Lord Henley
Several sectors have expressed an interest in a Sector Deal. We intend to take forward some further Deals that best meet expectations set out in the White Paper in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage local authorities who have waste contracts to renew in the next three years to introduce mandatory separate food waste collections following the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission's National Infrastructure Assessment 2018, published in July.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK government has committed to work towards no food waste being sent to landfill by 2030 in its Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017. 113 local authorities out of 326 in England currently offer a separate food waste collection service and we encourage all local authorities to consider introducing separate food waste collection when opportunities arise to include these in collection contracts.
In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to working to support an increase in the number of councils with separate food waste collections. We will outline our plans for this in our Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published this autumn. This will include how we will fulfil our commitments to the circular economy package where bio-waste including food waste recycling must be offered for households.
We recognise the energy generation potential of food waste, when collected separately and sent to anaerobic digestion (AD), though we need to be conscious of some of the unintended consequences for air pollution that can arise.
We will consider the recommendations of the 2018 National Infrastructure Assessment in the development of the Resources and Waste Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the figure provided in the National Infrastructure Commission's National Infrastructure Assessment 2018, published in July, that introducing mandatory separate food waste collections in England by 2025 would save (1) up to £400 million in capital costs, and (2) £1.1 billion in operational costs for local authorities in total between 2020 and 2050, including the cost of weekly collections.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK government has committed to work towards no food waste being sent to landfill by 2030 in its Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017. 113 local authorities out of 326 in England currently offer a separate food waste collection service and we encourage all local authorities to consider introducing separate food waste collection when opportunities arise to include these in collection contracts.
In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to working to support an increase in the number of councils with separate food waste collections. We will outline our plans for this in our Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published this autumn. This will include how we will fulfil our commitments to the circular economy package where bio-waste including food waste recycling must be offered for households.
We recognise the energy generation potential of food waste, when collected separately and sent to anaerobic digestion (AD), though we need to be conscious of some of the unintended consequences for air pollution that can arise.
We will consider the recommendations of the 2018 National Infrastructure Assessment in the development of the Resources and Waste Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation of the National Infrastructure Commission that mandatory food waste collections should be introduced in England to support the production of biogas.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK government has committed to work towards no food waste being sent to landfill by 2030 in its Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017. 113 local authorities out of 326 in England currently offer a separate food waste collection service and we encourage all local authorities to consider introducing separate food waste collection when opportunities arise to include these in collection contracts.
In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to working to support an increase in the number of councils with separate food waste collections. We will outline our plans for this in our Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published this autumn. This will include how we will fulfil our commitments to the circular economy package where bio-waste including food waste recycling must be offered for households.
We recognise the energy generation potential of food waste, when collected separately and sent to anaerobic digestion (AD), though we need to be conscious of some of the unintended consequences for air pollution that can arise.
We will consider the recommendations of the 2018 National Infrastructure Assessment in the development of the Resources and Waste Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to establish separate mandatory food waste collections in England by 2025 as recommended by the National Infrastructure Commission in its National Infrastructure Assessment 2018, published in July; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK government has committed to work towards no food waste being sent to landfill by 2030 in its Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017. 113 local authorities out of 326 in England currently offer a separate food waste collection service and we encourage all local authorities to consider introducing separate food waste collection when opportunities arise to include these in collection contracts.
In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to working to support an increase in the number of councils with separate food waste collections. We will outline our plans for this in our Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published this autumn. This will include how we will fulfil our commitments to the circular economy package where bio-waste including food waste recycling must be offered for households.
We recognise the energy generation potential of food waste, when collected separately and sent to anaerobic digestion (AD), though we need to be conscious of some of the unintended consequences for air pollution that can arise.
We will consider the recommendations of the 2018 National Infrastructure Assessment in the development of the Resources and Waste Strategy.