Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions the recent UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition meeting had on (a) ultra-processed foods and (b) future policies to reduce consumption of those foods.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dietary recommendations for the United Kingdom are based on independent advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).
In July 2023, the SACN published a position statement on processed foods and health, summarising a scoping review of the evidence on food processing and health. The SACN concluded that observed associations between ultra-processed foods and health are concerning, but it is unclear whether these foods are inherently unhealthy due to processing or due to their nutritional content. Given the SACN’s concerns, the committee agreed to consider the issue again at its horizon scan in October 2024. At the meeting, the SACN considered a draft update review on this topic which considers more recently published evidence. It also considered the draft update review at its meeting in November 2024. Papers for these meetings are available on the SACN’s webpages. The SACN is planning to publish the update review on processed foods in 2025.
The SACN has only a dietary risk assessment remit. The SACN is not involved in policy development, and therefore has not had discussions on policies to reduce consumption of processed foods.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2024 to Question 13970 on Wales Office: Buildings, how many staff attended the Department's HQ building in that period; and how many staff are assigned to that workplace.
Answered by Nia Griffith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Wales Office)
The average number of staff attending the Department's HQ building in that period for which figures are available is 15. The Office currently has 24 civil servants assigned to its London Office.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Probation Service staff are assigned to work in each office in London; and how many desks are there in each office.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Information on staff numbers at London Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) as at 30 September 2024 can be found in table 16, lines 91-108 (broken down by grade), of the HMPPS workforce statistics bulletin: September 2024 tables at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/673de4672ff787d4e01b0886/hmpps-workforce-statistics-tables-sep-2024.ods.
The methodology used to calculate occupancy at Probation Buildings in London Offices does not take into account individual desk usage over specific time periods.