Bread and Flour Regulations 1998

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Rooker]

To ask His Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Merron on 11 September (HL Deb col 1562), whether it remains their intention to lay regulations before Parliament to amend the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 in 2024.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, I am delighted to be able to say that, a month ago, this Government laid the legislation to introduce the mandatory fortification of non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid. We are the first European country to do so, providing pregnant women with protection for their unborn babies from neural tube defects and the devastating impact on families. I pay great tribute to my noble friend and many others in this House who have championed this momentous intervention over a number of years.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Will she formally thank the Opposition, who spent six years saying no and five years organising the consultations that have led to this decision—just a few minutes ago, I was looking at four Ministers who had answered Questions on this? I do not want to be too negative but, in the department’s extensive press release on the day it published the regulations, why was there not a single reference, even in footnotes, to the Medical Research Council’s work of 1991, which over 80 countries have already followed? Has the Secretary of State picked up the phone to talk to Nicholas Wald, the research scientist who led that work in 1991, which has been followed by so many countries and now, belatedly but welcomely, by his own country, the United Kingdom?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am glad my noble friend welcomes the announcement that I am making today. With respect to any phone calls made by the Secretary of State, I will gladly find out; I certainly cannot comment at this Dispatch Box. I thank previous Ministers and officials who, over the years, have contributed to where we are. In respect of the delay, all I can say is that I am very glad to be the Minister announcing it today.