Viscount Ridley Portrait

Viscount Ridley

Conservative - Former Member for Excepted Hereditary

Became Member: 8th February 2013


Viscount Ridley is not a member of any APPGs
4 Former APPG memberships
Freedom of Speech, Hong Kong, Humanist, Vaping
Science and Technology Committee (Lords)
1st Jul 2019 - 2nd Mar 2021
Artificial Intelligence Committee
29th Jun 2017 - 13th Mar 2018
Science and Technology Committee (Lords)
12th Jun 2014 - 27th Apr 2017


Division Voting information

Viscount Ridley has voted in 496 divisions, and 9 times against the majority of their Party.

23 Feb 2021 - Trade Bill - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 33 Conservative Aye votes vs 188 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 367 Noes - 214
2 Feb 2021 - Trade Bill - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 40 Conservative Aye votes vs 165 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 359 Noes - 188
1 Dec 2020 - Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020 - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 27 Conservative Aye votes vs 178 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 64 Noes - 246
30 Nov 2020 - High Speed Rail (West Midlands–Crewe) Bill - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 9 Conservative Aye votes vs 198 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 57 Noes - 234
4 Nov 2020 - Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 9 Conservative Aye votes vs 165 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 30 Noes - 376
28 Sep 2020 - Coronavirus Act 2020: Temporary Provisions - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 24 Conservative Aye votes vs 166 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 99 Noes - 198
15 Jun 2020 - Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 43 Conservative Aye votes vs 125 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 112 Noes - 388
4 Jul 2016 - Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 9 Conservative Aye votes vs 81 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 57 Noes - 91
6 Dec 2021 - Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill [HL] - View Vote Context
Viscount Ridley voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 14 Conservative Aye votes vs 70 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 25 Noes - 74
View All Viscount Ridley Division Votes

All Debates

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Baroness Verma (Conservative)
(17 debate interactions)
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative)
Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
(15 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Department of Health and Social Care
(39 debate contributions)
Wales Office
(36 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
Environment Act 2021
(3,314 words contributed)
Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022
(2,297 words contributed)
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
(1,444 words contributed)
View All Legislation Debates
View all Viscount Ridley's debates

Lords initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Viscount Ridley, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.


Viscount Ridley has not introduced any legislation before Parliament

Viscount Ridley has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 36 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
4 Other Department Questions
16th Dec 2015
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will continue to honour the commitment of the Coalition Government to publish an Annual Energy Statement, including estimated impacts of energy and climate policies on energy prices and bills, last published in November 2014.

In November, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out her priorities for energy and climate change policy for the coming Parliament. On the same day DECC Ministers published an update which set out recent progress made across the main responsibilities of the Department. The update is available on the DECC website.

4th Feb 2015
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made (1) to the North East Local Enterprise Partnership over its lack of a chief executive since April last year, and (2) to the North East Combined Authority over its failure to establish an inward investment function for the region.

(1) The appointment of a Chief Executive for the North East Local Enterprise Partnership is a matter for the partnership.

2) The North East LEP (NELEP) and North East Combined Authority (NECA) have agreed to establish an “Inward Investment Gateway” to manage all inward investment activity. An Invest North East England Gateway Manager was appointed in July last year to provide a focused resource to work with partners to coordinate, develop and implement this work.

UKTI is providing dedicated resource for 6 months to NELEP and NECA to determine the best options for the Invest North East England delivery model. This will help develop a North East wide inward Investment strategy and implementation plan as well as identify structure, roles, and remit of the NELEP/NECA inward investment team in this important area of the country.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
11th Nov 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why detailed estimates of the impacts of energy and climate policies on the retail prices (pounds per megawatt hour) of gas and electricity are omitted from the 2014 edition of the annual <i>Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills </i>when they have been present in all previous editions.

The layout of the 2014 Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills report1 was reviewed to focus on overall bill impacts following feedback on the length of Annexes and confusion between the prices and bills tables in previous reports.

The price and consumption effects of each policy on domestic consumers, medium-sized businesses, and energy intensive users are converted into £ impacts and set out in a single set of tables in Annex D.

The results of fossil fuel price sensitivity analysis are summarised in Chapter 6.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014

11th Nov 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the impacts in pounds per megawatt hour of each energy and climate change policy on (1) retail gas prices, and (2) retail electricity prices, for (a) domestic consumers, (b) medium-sized businesses, and (c) energy-intensive users in their low, central, and high fossil-fuel price scenarios.

The layout of the 2014 Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills report1 was reviewed to focus on overall bill impacts following feedback on the length of Annexes and confusion between the prices and bills tables in previous reports.

The price and consumption effects of each policy on domestic consumers, medium-sized businesses, and energy intensive users are converted into £ impacts and set out in a single set of tables in Annex D.

The results of fossil fuel price sensitivity analysis are summarised in Chapter 6.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014

15th Jan 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to investigate the late delivery of the Western Link interconnector; and whether negligence in construction or operation of that interconnector may expose consumers to additional costs.

The information requested is a matter for Ofgem. Ofgem will write directly to my noble Friend and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

15th Jan 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to require Ofgem to publish the calculations behind the approved rate of return allowed to the owners of the Western Link interconnector.

The information requested is a matter for Ofgem. Ofgem will write directly to my noble Friend and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

15th Jan 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what annual standing charge on the consumer has been permitted by Ofgem to the owners of the Western Link interconnector between Hunterston and Deeside; and for how many years that charge has been permitted.

The information requested is a matter for Ofgem. Ofgem will write directly to my noble Friend and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

4th Apr 2017
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether increases in the global mean sea level are inconsistent with reasonably expected natural variability; and whether there is any evidence for such inconsistency that is not based on computer simulations of the climate.

Evidence that increases in the global mean sea level are inconsistent with natural variability can be found in the 5th Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5). This states that it is very likely (> 90% probability) that human activities contributed substantially to global average sea level rise since the 1970s.

Instrumental and proxy data reveal that global average sea level began to rise above the long-term natural background rate in the early twentieth century. Our physical understanding of these observations and their attribution to human activity does not require computer simulations: the oceans have absorbed over 90% of the excess energy that has accumulated in the climate system from human greenhouse gas emissions, and the resulting thermal expansion of seawater accounts for 40% of observed sea level rise. Computer simulations of the climate provide further evidence that human influences, and not natural variability alone, explain these changes.

4th Apr 2017
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to publish energy and climate policy price impact tables for the years 2015 and 2016, which were last released in the Annual Energy Statement 2014, covering various types of consumer, and in the low, central and high fossil fuel price scenarios.

In November 2016 the Government published the Consumer-Funded Policies Report, setting out expenditure and outcomes of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s consumer funded energy policies.

The Government recognises the importance of domestic consumers having regular, reliable data on the costs and impacts of Government energy policies and on energy prices and bills and we will be publishing our latest estimates in the near future.

4th Apr 2017
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to address rising electricity prices, in the light of data released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change showing that prices in the rest of the EU15 countries are not rising.

The Government wants to make sure that the cost of energy is affordable, fair and internationally competitive, both for businesses and households.

The recent Committee on Climate Change report on the impact of energy policies on consumers’ energy bills found that energy efficiency policies bring down bills and outweigh the cost of other energy and climate change policies for households.

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper, published in January 2017, announced our intention to commission a review to look at the cost of energy and the opportunities to reduce the cost of achieving our decarbonisation goals in the power and industrial sectors.

The latest BEIS published international energy price comparison statistics show that medium-sized domestic electricity prices including taxes rose in most other EU15 countries in 2016 compared to 2015. The UK electricity price, however, fell over the same period. Prices are expressed in pounds sterling and the relative price increase across the rest of the EU15 is mainly due to pound/euro exchange rate changes.

Over the same period, electricity prices for industrial users increased across most EU15 countries but were broadly unchanged in the UK. As with domestic price comparisons, exchange rate movements will have contributed to increases in electricity prices for other EU countries when expressed in pounds sterling.

4th Apr 2017
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will instruct National Grid to review the system security rules specifying wind turbine Fault Ride Through, in the light of the final report by the Australian Energy Market Operator on the September 2016 blackout in South Australia.

National Grid is responsible for specifying and reviewing the technical requirements for connection to, and use of, the National Electricity Transmission System. Wind turbine Fault Ride Through requirements were introduced by National Grid in June 2005 following consultation.

National Grid and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy continue to engage with the Australian Electricity Market Operator to understand the causes of the South Australia Blackout Event on 28th September 2016 and identify any learning relevant to the GB National Electricity Transmission System.

6th Dec 2016
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to implement the recommendations of the Kelly report <i>Management of the Levy Control Framework: Lessons Learned Report (2015)</i>.

On 25 November, BEIS published a response to the Management of the Levy Control Framework Lessons Learned Report which set out the actions being taken against each of the recommendations raised in the report including progress to date.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
6th Dec 2016
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will resume publication of the estimated impacts of energy and climate policies on energy prices and bills, as part of its commitment to increased transparency, as recommended in the Kelly report <i>Management of the Levy Control Framework: Lessons Learned Report (2015)</i>.

The Department is currently considering this issue, along with the other recommendations and actions arising from the Public Accounts Committee hearing on the Levy Control Framework that took place on 30 November. A response to the Committee will be submitted in due course.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
6th Dec 2016
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, and if so when, the non-executive directors of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will be asked to review implementation of the Kelly report <i>Management of the Levy Control Framework: Lessons Learned Report (2015)</i>.

The Levy Control Framework, including progress against the recommendations in the Kelly report, is considered as part of the normal course of business for the Department’s Audit and Risk Assurance Committee. This committee is chaired by a Non-Executive Member of the Department’s Board.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
8th Feb 2016
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the finding of the report <i>An Unholy Mess</i>, published by the Fair Admissions Campaign and the British Humanist Association last year, that a number of religiously selective schools have sought to require all parents to commit to supporting the particular religious ethos of the school as part of the admission process; and what assessment they have made of the impact of any such practice on the encouragement of applications from a diverse range of religious and non-religious backgrounds.

I refer the Noble Lord to my response to questions HL5900 and HL5901, submitted to Parliament on 18 February 2016.

3rd Feb 2016
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the finding of the report <i>An Unholy Mess</i>, published by the Fair Admissions Campaign and the British Humanist Association last year, that a number of religiously selective schools have asked parents for information about their occupational, marital, and financial status as part of the admissions process, and whether they consider this to be acceptable.

Many of the findings of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and British Humanist Association echo those reported by the Chief Schools Adjudicator in her Annual Report for the 2013/14 school year.

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, are required to comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law.

Where an objection is made to the Schools Adjudicator, if the arrangements are found to be unfair or fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority must make changes to ensure their arrangements are compliant. Where an admission authority fails to implement decisions of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State may direct the admission authority to do so.

We continue to keep the Code under review, and, where we consider any changes are necessary to make the admissions system work more effectively for parents, these will be subject to a full public consultation.

3rd Feb 2016
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the finding of the report <i>An Unholy Mess</i>, published by the Fair Admissions Campaign and the British Humanist Association last year, that a significant number of religiously selective schools have not conducted proper consultations on their admission arrangements, and in many cases have not published any information about their arrangements.

Many of the findings of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and British Humanist Association echo those reported by the Chief Schools Adjudicator in her Annual Report for the 2013/14 school year.

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, are required to comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law.

Where an objection is made to the Schools Adjudicator, if the arrangements are found to be unfair or fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority must make changes to ensure their arrangements are compliant. Where an admission authority fails to implement decisions of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State may direct the admission authority to do so.

We continue to keep the Code under review, and, where we consider any changes are necessary to make the admissions system work more effectively for parents, these will be subject to a full public consultation.

16th Nov 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated proportion of the total certified organic area of the (1) wheat, (2) barley, (3) oats, (4) rye, and (5) triticale, crops produced from non-organic seed in England in each of the past three harvest years.

There is no certified organic farmland that uses wholly non-organic seeds, as use of organic seeds is a requirement for certification. In cases where, due to limited availability, a producer cannot source the required seeds in sufficient quantities, the organic regulation does, however, allow producers to use a mixture of organic and non-organic seeds. The organic legislation recognises that the seed sector is not sufficiently developed to meet the demand for organic seeds with a 100% requirement. In these cases, non-organic seeds must make up the minimum proportion possible and the mixture must be evenly mixed and spread across the land in question.

We do not have data on the area of land in England for which such authorisations have been granted. We can, however, supply figures for the total number of authorisations and quantities involved for the UK as a whole.

Non-organic arable seed used by organic farmers: 2017 to 2019

Crop

2017

2018

2020

Authorisations

Tonnes

Authorisations

Tonnes

Authorisations

Tonnes

Winter Wheat

80

126.3

69

142.9

90

107.0

Spring Wheat

11

32.2

23

98.4

20

59.1

Spring Barley

160

348.3

166

250.3

81

141.1

Winter Barley

39

84.4

26

66.5

34

151.0

Spring Oats

46

129.7

99

230.7

42

65.7

Winter Oats

29

59.5

18

42.3

17

17.6

Winter Rye

40

44.2

65

119.3

34

72.5

Spring Triticale

67

63.6

47

19.8

56

75.8

Winter Triticale

17

22.9

23

14.7

9

9.6

Due to variations in year to year harvest and market conditions affecting availability there is still variation. The long-term trend, however, is that over recent years the number of authorisations needed has on average decreased, due to increasing availability of organic seeds.

16th Nov 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated area of certified organic potatoes treated in England during 2020 with copper hydroxide under the emergency derogation granted by the Chemicals Regulation Directorate.

Emergency authorisation to use a product containing copper hydroxide on organic potatoes was granted for England only following an application from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. The application stated that the total area of organic potatoes grown across the UK was 800 hectares and that treatment of the full area might be required. The Government does not currently have a figure for the area that was actually treated. However, the stewardship programme agreed with AHDB requires that this information is collected and is submitted with any future application for a similar emergency authorisation.

16th Nov 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many emergency derogations to use non-organic antimicrobial products were authorised to certified organic producers of (1) beef cattle, (2) dairy cattle, (3) sheep, (4) goats, and (5) pigs, in England in each of the past three calendar years.

Individual derogations are not offered for the use of non-organic antibiotics for organic livestock. Organic farmers may use non-organic antibiotics when necessary, if they have exhausted the possibilities for treatment using other measures.

This decision is under the responsibility of the veterinarian caring for the livestock. Records are kept and maintained by the producer and are referred to as part of annual and ad hoc inspections carried out by Organic Control Bodies. Therefore, no centralised records exist.

In cases where an animal requires non-organic antibiotics more than three times within 12 months, or more than one course of treatment in total if their productive lifecycle is less than one year, it cannot be sold as organic.

11th Sep 2017
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hen harrier nests in the UK were located in areas where the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had primary control over access in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, and (3) 2017; how many of those nests failed to have any chicks fledge; and what were the known causes of those nest failures.

Wildlife conservation is a devolved matter so this reply relates to England only.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has primary control over access to two known hen harrier breeding sites: the RSPB reserve at Geltsdale and United Utilities landholding in the Bowland Fells.

Between 2015 and 2017, eight nests were located on these sites, six of which failed to fledge young.

Further details including known causes of nest failures are shown in the table below.

Year

Site

Monitored by

Outcome

Nest failure reason

2015

United Utilities

RSPB

1 Chick Fledged

2015

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

2015

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

2015

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

2015

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

2015

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Predation

2015

RSPB Geltsdale

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

2016

RSPB Geltsdale

RSPB

1 Chick Fledged

There were no nests on RSPB monitored land in 2017.

8th Sep 2015
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the 12 hen harrier nesting attempts in England in 2015, how many of (1) the six failed nests, and (2) the six successful nests, were on land in an area where the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had primary control over access to the nests.

The table below sets out monitoring arrangements and outcomes for the 12 hen harrier nesting attempts in England in 2015.

Nest

Landowner

Nest monitored by

Outcome

Notes

1

Private landowner

Local raptor workers

Chicks Fledged

2

Private landowner

Local raptor workers

Chicks Fledged

3

Natural England

Natural England

Chicks Fledged

4

Forestry Commission

Forestry Commission/

RSPB/Natural England

Chicks Fledged

5

Forestry Commission

Forestry Commission/

RSPB/Natural England

Chicks Fledged

6

United Utilities

RSPB

Chicks Fledged

7

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

8

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

9

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

10

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

11

United Utilities

RSPB

Nest failed

Predation

12

RSPB

RSPB

Nest failed

Male disappeared

9th Mar 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government which scientific research they used to inform their decision on whether to maintain the ban on snus.

Oral tobacco products such as snus were banned in the United Kingdom under The Tobacco for Oral Use (Safety) Regulations 1992, which implemented European Union Directive 92/41. This ban has been confirmed in subsequent regulations, most recently by the EU Tobacco Products Directive 14/40, which has been transposed into UK law in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulation 2016 (TRPR). The European Commission set out the evidence underpinning the ban in the Tobacco Products Directive’s impact assessment and in previous Directives. A copy of the impact assessment is attached.

The Department is currently undertaking a post-implementation review of the TRPR and this includes a public consultation that closes on the 19 March 2021. The Department will review the evidence submitted to consider if the regulations have met their objectives or if any future regulatory changes should be considered.

9th Mar 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to request that the Committee on Toxicity undertakes a toxicological evaluation of (1) snus, (2) non-tobacco oral nicotine pouches, and (3) smokeless tobacco products used primarily by South Asian communities in the UK.

The Department is considering whether the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) should undertake an evaluation of non-tobacco oral nicotine pouches in its work programme in the next financial year. Oral tobacco products are banned under Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016 and consequently there are no current plans to ask COT to evaluate such products. COT will not consider smokeless tobacco products because their dangers and harms are well documented in the existing evidence base.

26th Feb 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage they pay of the costs of the World Health Organization's secretariat for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

For the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) Secretariat work programme for January 2020 to December 2021, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland pays 5.9240% of the assessed contribution as a member of the Convention. This amounts to $521,340. The UK ratified the WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, in June 2018, and, as a Member, pays 14.9691% of the assessed contribution. This amounts to $748,411 for January 2020 to December 2021. The WHO FCTC publishes details of assessed contributions online on its website.

In addition, the UK Government contributes funds to the FCTC 2030 project, through official development assistance funding, which is hosted in the WHO FCTC Secretariat. £15 million has been committed to the five-year project to support low and middle income countries improve their tobacco control. The project concludes at the end of March 2021.

26th Feb 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the World Health Organization's decision to welcome the government of India's decision to ban e-cigarettes; and what plans they have to implement a similar ban in the UK.

The World Health Organization recommends countries either ban or regulate e-cigarettes. The Government has no current plans to ban e-cigarettes in the United Kingdom and they continue to be regulated under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. It remains the goal of the Government to maximise the public health opportunities presented by e-cigarettes to reduce smoking, while managing any risks. UK regulated e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking, but they are not risk free. Research shows e-cigarettes are effective in helping some smokers to quit. We continue to keep the evidence base on e-cigarettes under review and the next Public Health England annual review on e-cigarettes will be published this month.

27th Mar 2018
To ask Her Majesty's Government what lessons they have learnt from Norway's success in reducing its smoking rate among young women from 30 per cent to 1 per cent in the last 16 years.

The Government published its Tobacco Control Plan (TCP), Towards a Smokefree Generation: A Tobacco Control Plan for England, in July of 2017. In developing policy proposals for the plan it reviewed evidence on how other leading tobacco control countries have implemented policies to reduce tobacco use.

Smoking rates for women in England are currently at 13.7%, the lowest they have ever been. As outlined in the TCP there is a commitment to reduce smoking among adults from 15.5% to 12% or less by 2022. A copy of the TCP is attached.

23rd Feb 2017
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made towards introducing a standard for chewed tobacco products used by the UK South Asian community since being proposed in the 2006 study cited in the publication Tobacco Control, <i>Levels of toxins in oral tobacco products in the UK</i>.

The Government has not yet developed standards for these tobacco products, however, even with reduced levels of toxins they would not be completely safe. The focus of the Government’s tobacco control efforts has therefore been on preventing initiation of tobacco use and supporting existing users of tobacco products to quit.

21st Feb 2017
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what scientific research forms the basis of the ban on snus as a smoking substitute.

A range of evidence has been considered showing that there is no safe way to consume tobacco.

The ban on snus was introduced by the European Union in 1992 and is currently subject to litigation. As long as the United Kingdom is subject to EU law, current arrangements remain in place. The Government is committed to reviewing the existing legislation by 2020.

21st Feb 2017
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what scientific research forms the basis of the legality of the chewed oral tobacco products which are predominantly used by the British South Asian community.

A range of evidence has been considered showing that there is no safe way to consume tobacco.

The ban on snus was introduced by the European Union in 1992 and is currently subject to litigation. As long as the United Kingdom is subject to EU law, current arrangements remain in place. The Government is committed to reviewing the existing legislation by 2020.

6th Dec 2016
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of men in the UK aged 16 to 29 who (1) smoke cigarettes, and (2) use snus, on a daily basis.

Statistics on daily smoking are not routinely gathered. In 2015, the Office of National Statistics Annual Population Survey 2015 showed that 17.6% of 18-19 year old men, 24% of 20-24 year old men, and 27% of 25-29 year old men were current smokers. No data is collected on snus use.

The Tobacco Control plan will provide a framework and call to action for wide ranging future work to further reduce the prevalence of tobacco use.

6th Dec 2016
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to include scientific evidence about the potential of snus as a smoking substitute in their Tobacco Control Plan.

Statistics on daily smoking are not routinely gathered. In 2015, the Office of National Statistics Annual Population Survey 2015 showed that 17.6% of 18-19 year old men, 24% of 20-24 year old men, and 27% of 25-29 year old men were current smokers. No data is collected on snus use.

The Tobacco Control plan will provide a framework and call to action for wide ranging future work to further reduce the prevalence of tobacco use.

24th Apr 2018
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much UK Overseas Territories Blue Belt programme funding was spent with (1) the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, (2) the Marine Management Organisation, and (3) UK Overseas Territory governments, in the financial years (a) 2016–17, and (b) 2017–18.

During 2016-17 the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) had a total spend of £803,064; the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) had a total spend of £194,548 and £300,000 was spent by Ascension Island Government. During 2017-18 a total of £1,881,000 was spent by CEFAS, £875,000 by the MMO; £300,00 spent by Ascension Island Government; £725,000 by the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration; £39,500 spend by the St Helena Government; £140,000 by Tristan da Cunha Government; and £52,500 spent by the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands.

In both periods, up to £500,000 per year was available to all Territories through the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund (also known as Darwin Plus) for bespoke marine projects.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
6th Jun 2018
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to a laying an order under section 14 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 to give legal recognition to marriages performed by Humanists UK, as recommended in the recent report of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group Any Lawful Impediment?

The Government welcomes the engagement of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist group and we are giving careful consideration to the findings of the group’s inquiry.