23/01/2018 Lords Questions

My lords, the Government welcomes

the advice of the scientific

advisory committee on nutrition. I'm

aware of the noble lord's owned a

long-standing interest in the

subject. This is a complex issue and

one in which Ministers are

considering carefully. Government

will set up this position into

court.

Thus a Minister he said this

is not a campaign for fortification,

but attempting to cut by half the

numbers of pregnancies affected by

neural defects which lead to

substantial terminations and bursa

affected by lifelong serious

disability. If our preventative is

world-class, how come the UK has

twice the rate of such pregnancies

than the United States of America?

Finally, can I ask that the

Government has yet replied to the

letter from the Scottish Government

and the Wells government with the

support of the Department of Health

in Northern Ireland and the UK chief

medical officers of December last,

supporting the advice and decided to

give Ivory committee and asking for

urgent action to?

Well, my lords, as

I said earlier on from this is a

complex issue. And apart from the

essay seeing's viewer they said that

they recommend fortification. We

also have to remember there needs to

be as it pointed out, they can only

agree to that if the restrictions on

voluntary dietary fortification and

voluntary attrition of fully casted

and other products such as breakfast

cereals, which actively pushed the

fact that they put the phone cast in

their products. Because it is

important to show there is no

increase in their products. Because

it is important to show there is no

increasing numbers of people with

intakes above the recommended

amount. On the answer to visit Syria

state reply on December 20, and he

said I fully understand your desire

to proceed with mandatory

fortification of folic acid. I

therefore asked my vicious repair

advice that I will consider in the

new year.

With the Minister agree

the reason why the US has such a low

incidence of spina bifida is because

they do add a fully casted to the

food. That is the reason. And they

have not come to any harm it yet.

And they have been doing it for many

years.

My noble friend is right that

they do but they had it not only to

white flour, they added to quite a

lot of other products as well. And

it is voluntary from state to state.

I would just like to add that there

has been an important study done in

the Republic of Ireland which I will

try and tell you about Beverly C do

not all shout too long. But they

were going to put flour -- public

acid in a white flour, when in fact

they discovered from blood samples

that show that the evidence of high

intake of folic acid in Ireland were

mainly due to existing practise of

voluntary fortification. And the FSA

eyes, anticipated the folic acid

food fortification would continue to

increase due to health claims being

authorised by food. These are to

prompt more food businesses to

fortify their products so they can

make the claimant.

What the complexity is about this

issue, the scientific evidence is

quite clear, a supplementation by

folate acid reduces the incidence of

defects, and it does so because of

the interaction between the gene and

the environment. It's a week

iteration of a gene that causes the

defects. And folate acid

supplementation and I use that word,

supplementation, reduces that risk

by suppressing the gene interaction,

the science is quite clear. That's

why so many countries, hundreds of

countries in the world have used

supplementation of folic acid and

that's why we might explain why we

have a different incident in

different populations of the new of

defects because of the interaction

of the gene environment.

I don't

disagree with anything the Noble

Lord says. But, but, but, but, that

is why the secretary of state has

said that he is looking at this very

carefully and will come back in the

new year. I know, I know. It is the

new year, I'm aware of that. But

also I must point out that it's not

just about fortification because we

must remember that there are quite a

lot of people who don't eat white

flour, particularly amongst the

ethnic community. And also, it is

important, if we do it, there has to

be public consultation to make sure

that businesses are willing to do

the voluntary intake of folic acid.

My lord, my lords, more than 80

countries around the world follow

this procedure, of fortifying fine

white flour with folic acid, there

is no scientific or medical evidence

from anywhere in the world to

contradict the conclusions that it

is wholly beneficial the pregnant

woman and there is no point in the

government saying pregnant woman can

make a decision when they know they

are pregnant because that's too late

for the effect to work. Is it that

the Minister talk to the Noble

Baroness, personally when I say

that, I think she might have a

different view to her colleagues,

but is it the case that the Minister

is really challenging this

overwhelming burden of medical and

scientific evidence or is it just

noonish?

No, it's not noonish

obstinacy, and the reasons I said

that the secretary of state is

mindful, but this again, and at the

officials to draw up a plan is for

the reason that we are listening to

what everybody says. So, you just

need to wait and see what the

secretary of state comes out with.

My lords I wonder if the Minister

can sell the House when was the last

campaign that the government to

remind woman to take folic acid

before they became pregnant and how

many women were targeted and that

the government foresee any future

efforts to increase this number

targeted and if not, what response

abilities of the government have

towards those babies were born with

defects?

Well, I think as was

mentioned earlier, 50% of all

pregnancies are unplanned, so health

education messages are provided in a

range of settings targeted to women

of child-bearing age. There is a

healthy programme where they are

offered to free pregnant woman on

low incomes who receive certain

benefits, NHS choices website

provides information on healthy

lifestyle advice during pregnancy,

including the importance of folic

acid segmentation and the NHS life

information service. Early in

pregnancy midwife will provide a

woman with information about

nutrition and diet including

government such as Hole eight acid

and vitamin D. As well as lifestyle

advice.

I beg leave to ask the

question standing in mind name on

the order paper.

The government is

working with a wide range of

partners to understand better, the

drivers of these crimes and what

more can be done to prevent them.

This sits alongside the review that

the government has announced into

the guidance and practise

surrounding police pursuits and

response driving. In that context, I

can confirm there is no national ban

on police pursuing suspects who are

not wearing helmets.

Am grateful to

the Noble Baroness for her reply but

if the Minister aware that in the

last two years, approximately 30,000

mopeds and motorcycles and scooters

have been stolen in and around

London alone and that many of these

have been used to perpetrate crimes.

Does the Minister have the

statistics of two wheeled enabled

crime and what can be done to

increase arrests and prosecutions of

the perpetrators, many of whom are

aged between 12 and 20?

I think the

Noble Lord for that question. My

lords we cannot be sure of the

actual number of lost or stolen

bicycles in and across London to

commit these crimes but Dimitar

Berbatov police service did report a

sharp increase in motorcycle related

offences in the year through June

2000 17. Recently however, they have

reported a fall in these crimes but

it's too early to say whether this

is the start of a sustained

downtrend or did is it a seasonal

fall. I understand the various

partners in the Home Office had a

meeting together and will continue

to work with partners on producing

an action plan in terms of what

action you're taking and we are

working with the national police

chief counsel for vehicle crime and

taking that part of a high-level

action plans to understand better

the drivers for these crimes.

Does

the Noble Lady and Minister agree

with me that quite often, crime is

driven by fashion and by trends and

I give an example, decades ago, the

acid attacks recently, many other

types usually gun related crimes as

robbery carries a maximum sentence

of life imprisonment, is it not

really the job was the perpetrators

are arrested, particularly the

ringleaders, for the judiciary to

exact exam three sentences as an

example to others.

I think the Noble

Lord is right, these things can

become an of themselves a fashion, a

trend of types of crime and in terms

of the judiciary and what options

are open to them, clearly presidents

can be set by the types of crimes

that are committed in terms of

future sentences that are committed

out.

The Mr Burton police are having

some success by police officers on

standard bikes and dealing with this

type of crime. But it's having to be

cut because of budget cuts to the

extent that some cardinals are being

de-arrested, I understand the

government would insist, Dimitar

Berbatov police say they have

suffered cuts since 2010 with

another £400 million in cuts in the

pipeline. So who is right about

police funding, the government and

the Commissioner of the metropolis.

, police forces across the country

requested increases in funding as I

outlined yesterday that is what they

have got to with the potential with

some of the technologies available

to them to release 11,000 police

officers to do whatever jobs that

the individual forces fields are

appropriate. If police forces, I

know this is a particular programme

in London, and if police forces feel

that the investment that they should

make them they should be free to be

able to do that.

My lords, is it not

there but disturbing that the police

have let to be know that there are

quite a number of crimes that are

not investigated? And we have an

assurance that this crime will

always be and that we no longer have

information shipped out to us that

burglary and other things can be

conducted with impunity because the

police unable to pursue the

criminals?

Will one of the myths

that was being put about what the

police are not pursuing drivers of

cycles that are not wearing helmets

in fact, that is not the case at all

as we know on police pursuing people

without helmets, certainly police is

an operational matter for the

police, what indeed they prioritise

at a local level.

In light of that

answer, perhaps the Noble Lady would

explain why the young people

concerned are taking off their

helmets, but more particularly, she

does, the increase funding. Why is

it then that the Home Office refuses

to make pay the fuel -- full amount

to much more than police for its

national and international functions

even though it's a breed the sum of

money which is viewed? Isn't that

reducing the ability of the major

than police to do with crime such as

this?

The question as to why people

are taking off their helmets, I

assume people are taking off helmets

in order to not be pursued but

that's why I made the point that in

fact police are absolutely at

liberty in pursuit of fighting crime

to chase people who are not wearing

a helmet. In terms of the full

compensation, if the Noble Lord is

amenable I would like to ask them on

that point.

If they are reluctant to

chase suspects on scooters without

helmets on with the suspect falling

off to endure death, and I assured

the House that intelligence

surveillance investigative

measures... SWAT my lords, in terms

of police saying they want to chase

people who are not wearing helmets,

my lords the police do in every

perceived case where there are

various risks in terms of chasing

people, there may be an incident

where the police are unwilling to

chase somebody not wearing a helmet

because of the safety to perhaps

other people and in terms of all the

options on the police are following

the round table that was had last

summer, the police, the Home Office

or are drying up an action plan to

look at the various ways in which we

can tackle this issue because it's

not a single agency issue and indeed

the police, sorry the Home Office

will also be drying up a review

which is due to report shortly.

I

beg leave to answer the question

standing on the order paper.

My

lords we note the way in which power

is shared and used in countries can

provide a major boost or cut

straight to the provision of

essential public services and

inclusive growth. The UK is working

to support more inclusive societies

with accountable institutions and

peaceful political processes that

are better able to meet the needs of

their citizens and sustained

development over the longer term.

Does the Minister acknowledged that

in the last two years, humanitarian

assistance has doubled, the

commitment to private sector

development is due to increased or

medically, more development spending

will grow good apartments and the

value of the pound has fallen by

20%? In the circumstances, can the

government give an assurance that

they will maintain their commitment

to sub-Saharan Africa and in

particular to sustainable services

especially in health, education

equality, social security and the

government because these are

absolutely essential to delivering

the sustainability -- sustainable

development goals ending poverty.

We

can give that assurance if you look

over the past two years we have seen

the amount steadily increasing in

Zaha -- sub-Saharan Africa and those

areas, the total now is in the

region of £1.1 billion. It's a very

important part of it because as the

Noble Lord knows from his time as

chair of the international

development committee, it is

absolutely essential to get that

government rights so that economic

growth can occur and the countries

can eventually stand on their own

two feet.

The central importance of

good governance to conflict

prevention and conflict resolution,

will the government ensure that in

the forthcoming security review, the

objectives of the sustainable goals

and security goal 16 was that they

did so much to include that that

would be reflected in that security

review and the waiter interest of

security for the UK and elsewhere

the world?

To say that, in pursuit

of the SDG 16, on and inclusive

society which is extremely important

for the process. One of the things

we Africa and in fact throughout the

world by and large conflict are

man-made and the impact upon the

female population worst.