Recycling: Plastic Bottles

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Tuesday 28th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I had better put that in the Library. Of course I wanted only the positive news, but I am afraid that, absolutely, there are local authorities that we want to encourage and need to do better. It is also in their business interests to ensure that they are recycling well and are litter-free places to work in and do business. The whole purpose of the consistency framework is to raise the level of those authorities that are not doing as well as they should.

[Baroness O'Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, is there consistency in the new litter strategy? Certain council areas encourage you to put the bottles in a certain box and others do not. I have lived in the same house for nearly 30 years and we have had six different types of instructions about litter. If there was consistency throughout the country, I am sure it would benefit everybody.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, what my noble friend said is precisely part of the work of this consistency framework, to make it easier for people to recycle and to make better understood what can be recycled. I very much hope that, as we proceed, ever more can be recycled from products.

Milk Production

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

I have considered that point carefully, my Lords. The scope of the Groceries Code Adjudicator is based on a report from the Competition Commission, which found that the most significant problems in the area were experienced by direct suppliers to the UK’s 10 largest supermarkets. As a result, the Competition Commission recommended the creation of the GCA and limited its jurisdiction to the relationships between those 10 largest supermarkets and their direct suppliers. Any change to that would require primary legislation. It is a little premature to take the next step, because there is a mechanism in place for conducting a review and the first one of those is set for 31 March 2016.

[Baroness O'Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, the Question talks about the sustainability of the dairy industry. I am sure my noble friend is aware that the milk cheque is one of the most important ways of keeping agriculture going in this country. The number of dairy farmers has reduced from 30,000 about 15 years ago to 10,000 now. It seems that people are giving up. Can we impress this point on the Treasury, or whoever, and particularly on the retailers? Instead of having five private planes—in the case of one of our leading retailers—could not the retailers consider the future of agriculture in terms of the food supply to them in this country?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, my noble friend, as always, puts her finger on a key part of the problem. I have outlined a number of measures that we are taking. I can also add to that the use of the RDP—the Rural Development Programme—to foster improvement of competitiveness and profitability, for example, by increased emphasis on value-added products, such as cheese and yoghurt. I think that is really important to our market. Once again I have to come back to you on the real importance of our work on exports.

Littering from Vehicles Bill [HL]

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Friday 19th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness O'Cathain]

He is shaking his head.

[Lord Cormack]

If he is shaking his head, by Jove we are going to be plunged into gloom at the end of this debate. I hope that he will show that the Government accept that this is a real problem which my noble friend has underlined and, above all, ensure that it is tackled rather more quickly than the appalling problem of Parliament Square. We saw the centre of the greatest city in the world despoiled and defaced by litter, year after year. Now, thank God, it has gone—and let us hope that when Marlesford, or Marlesford in the government version, passes into law, we shall be on the way to seeing lanes, byways and the streets of our country and county towns as clean as Parliament Square is today. I am delighted to support my noble friend’s Bill.

Genetically Modified Crops

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

I agree with the noble Baroness. I am extremely grateful to her and other noble Lords who have spoken positively today, and I will certainly take her words and the words of other noble Lords back to my right honourable friend.

[Baroness O’Cathain]

My Lords, in all this euphoria about GM crops—and I think it is wonderful that at last we have some positive news—let us not forget that there are areas in the world that are going to be badly affected by this because the plants do not produce seeds on the same basis as current crops. I suggest that in all discussions that go on about this, particularly with the European Union, steps should be taken to ensure that the people who are going to make a lot of money out of these GM crops, such as seed merchants, do something to help those people in other areas in the world who will not be able to do the usual agriculture they have at the moment. We just cannot lose sight of that. I would like him to make sure that that will happen.

[Lord De Mauley]

My noble friend raises an issue that is known as “terminator technology”; that is, the concept that seeds may not reproduce. Terminator technology is a concept rather than something that is being applied in practice. There are no GM crops in existence, to my knowledge, that produce sterile seed and no plans to market such crops.

Water: National Grid

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Wednesday 28th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I cannot possibly comment on the accuracy of the mathematics of the noble Lord, Lord Pearson. He has placed a figure before the House and, of course, is accountable for what he has suggested, but I cannot comment on it.

[Baroness O’Cathain]

Will the noble Lord tell us whether progress has been made on the things that we can change now rather than the things that will take 20, 30 or 40 years? For example, what progress has been made on stopping the leaks, and what proportion of water is actually lost through leakage every year?

Agriculture: Animal Feed

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am sure that the noble Lord was totally in charge, and not just allegedly. As he puts it, we will proceed only if the scientific evidence is right and proper.

[Baroness O'Cathain]

My Lords, it is very important we realise that the public perception is that the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in February 2001, which had such horrific consequences for the economy and everything else, was the result of feeding animals to animals. Although there is a suggestion—or at least the Minister has stated—that that will not happen with cattle, in the minds of the Great British public it does not matter whether it is cattle, pigs or poultry; they would still have this feeling. We must be awfully careful before relaxing the ban.

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, the ban in 2001 that my noble friend refers to was a ban on swill. We had already banned the use of processed animal protein as a result of the BSE problems. I reiterate what I have said in answer to every question: we will proceed with extreme caution and we will base any decisions, as will the European Commission, on the scientific evidence available to us.