Brexit: Aerospace Industry

Debate between Baroness Hayman and Lord Prior of Brampton

Monday 6th February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I can confirm that safety is absolutely paramount. How that is achieved between the workings of the CAA and the EASA will have to be resolved over the next two years.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, another European agency of crucial importance to safety, which the Minister will know about from his previous role, is the EMA—the medicines evaluation agency currently located in London. It is important not only for the NHS but for the pharmaceutical industry. When the Minister is looking at future co-operation and arrangements, will he ensure that that agency and our relationships with it are also safeguarded?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, the relationship between the MHRA and the EMA, similar to that between the CAA and the EASA, is absolutely critical. The MHRA, from my memory, does 40% of the work of the EMA—so the relationship between those two organisations will indeed be very important.

Health: Neural Tube Defects

Debate between Baroness Hayman and Lord Prior of Brampton

Monday 21st March 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, speakers in this House have by and large very much supported the views of the noble Lord, Lord Rooker—I entirely accept that. But I do not think that the case has been made outside this House perhaps as strongly as it has in other areas. If we are going to change the way we produce white bread in this country, a much stronger and broader case has to be made.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

But, my Lords, it is not just in this House, is it? It is in the Scottish Government, who I understand are now laying out plans to introduce fortification. They are supported by the Administrations in Northern Ireland and in Wales. Why is England taking this isolationist view when across the world it has not been taken? Is it correct that Sir Nicholas Wald, the leading scientific expert in this field, was granted an audience with the Minister for Health in Scotland, but not in England?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I cannot answer the latter question, but I will try to find out and write to the noble Baroness. She is right that Scotland is considering this and looking at the practical issues around implementation. She is right that other countries in the world—I think 50—have done this, but many others have not, including all European Union countries.

Health: Red Cell Folate

Debate between Baroness Hayman and Lord Prior of Brampton

Tuesday 19th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, the danger of overmedication with folic acid is small, I accept that. It is not non-existent but it is small. Just so that the House knows the numbers, the number of babies aborted because of neural tube defects is about 400 a year; the number who are born with neural tube defects, alive or not alive, is about 60 a year. It is a very serious issue and one that the Government are taking extremely seriously, but we have to weigh that against the other issues of medicating the entire population.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, some of us have long memories that go back to 1991, when the MRC study into this issue had to be stopped early because the results were so overwhelmingly in favour of folic supplementation. The lead researcher on that study was Sir Nicholas Wald. More than 80 countries have taken very seriously those results and have taken on board fortification of white flour. In 2015 Sir Nicholas published a paper about the lost opportunity in the UK. Is it not a matter of profound regret, verging on shame, that in this country, where the initial research was done, we are now being told that there will be a decision “in due course”? If I remember correctly, the last time the Minister spoke about this, he said that it would be very early in the new year.

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I think we are still quite early in the new year. I do not go back to 1991 but the noble Baroness is right: for many years now there has been a large body of scientific opinion in favour of increasing the uptake of folic acid. There is no dispute about that—I do not think there is much science to dispute. The issue is one of balancing the scientific and medical arguments with issues around choice and whether or not it is right to medicate the entire population for the benefit of a fairly small part of it.

Pregnancy: Neural Tube Defects

Debate between Baroness Hayman and Lord Prior of Brampton

Monday 21st December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. When you know you are pregnant, it is too late to start taking folic acid, and that is the fundamental reason why the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, is pushing for fortifying flour with folic acid. However, she is absolutely right that education is fundamental to this as well.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that the best tribute that he could pay to the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, and his campaign would be to make an early and positive decision on the fortification of white flour in this country? How long are the Government going to go on not taking any notice of either the scientific evidence or the evidence in practice from 78 other countries? I remember the definitive trial proving the benefit of folic acid in pregnancy in 1991. We have seen that advice alone does not work. When will the Government take action?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, as I said in my response to the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, this matter is being actively considered by the Minister for Public Health, and she expects to come to a decision very early in the new year.