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Written Question
Laboratories: Urban Areas
Wednesday 18th October 2023

Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many biosafety level 4 labs are located in urban areas in the UK.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)

There are 9 facilities located in the UK that contain laboratories operating at Containment Level 4. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as the regulator of workplace health and safety in Great Britain does not specifically record data based on the Office for National Statistic’s definition of ‘urban areas’ but can confirm that most Containment Level 4 facilities are based away from population centres.

HSE is responsible for the regulatory frameworks and oversight of the handling of pathogens and genetically modified organisms and for enforcing biosafety standards in high level containment facilities. The approach to biosafety enforced by HSE is underpinned by formal notification requirements and well-established risk-based regulatory frameworks designed to facilitate the effective and proportionate management of the risks that exist at facilities where work is undertaken with dangerous pathogens.

Written Question
Laboratories
Wednesday 18th October 2023

Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many biosafety level 4 labs are located in the UK.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)

There are 9 facilities located in the UK that contain laboratories operating at Containment Level 4. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as the regulator of workplace health and safety in Great Britain does not specifically record data based on the Office for National Statistic’s definition of ‘urban areas’ but can confirm that most Containment Level 4 facilities are based away from population centres.

HSE is responsible for the regulatory frameworks and oversight of the handling of pathogens and genetically modified organisms and for enforcing biosafety standards in high level containment facilities. The approach to biosafety enforced by HSE is underpinned by formal notification requirements and well-established risk-based regulatory frameworks designed to facilitate the effective and proportionate management of the risks that exist at facilities where work is undertaken with dangerous pathogens.

Written Question
Laboratories: Safety
Wednesday 18th October 2023

Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what oversight protocols are in place for biosafety level 4 labs in the UK.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)

There are 9 facilities located in the UK that contain laboratories operating at Containment Level 4. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as the regulator of workplace health and safety in Great Britain does not specifically record data based on the Office for National Statistic’s definition of ‘urban areas’ but can confirm that most Containment Level 4 facilities are based away from population centres.

HSE is responsible for the regulatory frameworks and oversight of the handling of pathogens and genetically modified organisms and for enforcing biosafety standards in high level containment facilities. The approach to biosafety enforced by HSE is underpinned by formal notification requirements and well-established risk-based regulatory frameworks designed to facilitate the effective and proportionate management of the risks that exist at facilities where work is undertaken with dangerous pathogens.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 18 Mar 2022
British Sign Language Bill

"It is a privilege to be here on a Friday to listen to a fantastic speech from my friend the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Rosie Cooper). This place, as you know Madam Deputy Speaker, can be quite confrontational at times, but at other times we come together to right …..."
Mike Penning - View Speech

View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: British Sign Language Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 18 Mar 2022
British Sign Language Bill

"My hon. Friend has touched on a very good point. This Bill is not the silver bullet; it is a method of getting somewhere. The hard work will start once the other place gets its finger out. I will, if I may, come back to that story in a second.

…..."
Mike Penning - View Speech

View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: British Sign Language Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 18 Mar 2022
British Sign Language Bill

"I concur with my hon. Friend’s congratulations to the RNID. I should have declared an interest, in that I am a patron of the Hertfordshire hearing advisory service, which also does a fantastic job...."
Mike Penning - View Speech

View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: British Sign Language Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 18 Mar 2022
British Sign Language Bill

"My hon. Friend makes an important point that perhaps I did not stress fully enough in my contribution. There are two groups of people in the deaf community: those born profoundly deaf, and those, like my hon. Friend and myself, who have developed hearing loss during the course of our …..."
Mike Penning - View Speech

View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: British Sign Language Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 18 Mar 2022
British Sign Language Bill

"Perhaps I can say something on behalf of the House. It is not just those on the Treasury Bench who are saying to the other House, “Please do not table amendments—they will wreck the Bill”; it is this House that is saying that. We want this Bill on the statute …..."
Mike Penning - View Speech

View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: British Sign Language Bill
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Wed 23 Feb 2022
British Sign Language Bill

"I will not detain the Committee for too long, because what is happening today has been set out brilliantly by the sponsor of the Bill. I want to speak on behalf of my constituents and the deaf community as a whole.

I am enormously jealous of the Minister. When I …..."
Mike Penning - View Speech

View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: British Sign Language Bill
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Wed 23 Feb 2022
British Sign Language Bill

"In the formulation of the board, it is fundamentally important that BSL users and the charities are involved, but there are those outside who say, “No, this is too difficult to do”, so we need some outside influence as well. If we are not careful, it could become slightly too …..."
Mike Penning - View Speech

View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: British Sign Language Bill