Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the impact of rises in (a) energy costs and (b) inflation on Halton Haven hospice.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We have no current plans to make a specific assessment.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of labelling honey products with (a) country of origin, (b) percentage of honey from each country and (c) percentage of adulterated honey.
Answered by Mark Spencer
All honey on sale in England, regardless of where it comes from, must comply with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015. The general requirement in regulation 17 of the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 is that honey cannot be sold in England unless the country of origin where the honey has been harvested is indicated on the label.
However, for reasons of practicality special provisions apply to ‘blended’ honeys where honey producers can opt for alternative wording indicating that the honey is a blend from more than one country. The mix of different honeys in blended honeys may change frequently throughout the year, depending on availability, price, and seasonality of the various types of honey. Requiring producers to change their labels for every alteration would place additional burdens and lead to increased prices and packaging waste.
Although the Government has no immediate plans to change the rules on honey labelling, we keep all laws under review as part of our commitment to carry out post implementation reviews. We will consider the need for further labelling measures as part of the next review of the honey regulations which is due by 2025.
Honey should not be adulterated by any means, and the law states that nothing should be added or taken away. Adulterated honey is not permitted for sale under any circumstances.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to take steps to extend food labelling regulations to smaller businesses.
Answered by Mark Spencer
All food sold on the UK market must comply with food labelling rules. Existing food labelling regulations provide the rules businesses must follow, setting out the mandatory labelling requirements for prepacked food, including information necessary to keep consumers safe and prevent misleading practices.
Small businesses providing products locally may be exempt from a small number of non-safety related requirements. This includes the requirement to provide a nutrition declaration on prepacked foods.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning the sale of disposable barbecues.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The public are encouraged to always behave responsibly when using products which have a fire risk.
There are no plans to prohibit the sale of disposable barbeques or sky lanterns at this time, and there are existing powers available that limit the use in certain places.
Current 'Byelaw' legislation allows for local authorities to restrict the use of disposable barbecues in parks and public spaces. These are steps that Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council among others have already taken. The Government encourages all local authorities to use these existing powers to take similar steps if they feel it necessary.
There are also existing powers in legislation which can be used to regulate and prohibit the lighting of fires on access land in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks. The New Forest and Peak District National Park Authorities have already banned the use of disposable barbecues within their boundaries and have successfully collaborated with several retailers to remove disposable barbecues from a great many stores.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2023 to Question 168095, what discussions he had with the Leader of the House on bringing forward legislation on the deployment and operation of self-driving vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Secretary of State is in regular contact with the Leader of the Commons on the Department for Transport’s legislative programme. The government is committed to bringing forward Future of Transport legislation when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the effectiveness of provisions available to the police in respect of dealing with potential false accusations.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government’s policies on crime are designed to deliver better justice for all be that for victims, witnesses or defendants. The police are required to investigate all cases that are referred to them – and all cases should be treated equally in terms of their approach to investigation.
The Government’s policies should not, therefore, have a negative impact on the ability of the police to investigate, or for the courts to deal with, such false accusations.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when support for mortgage interest will be implemented; and what that figure will be.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
An increase to the rate paid through the SMI scheme was triggered on Wednesday 29th March 2023. The rate will increase from 2.09% to 2.65% and will be implemented no later than 10th May 2023.
The rate of SMI payments only changes when the Bank of England’s average mortgage rate differs by 0.5 percentage points or more from the standard interest rate.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has he made of trends in the level of adulterated honey imported into the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government takes any type of food fraud very seriously, including honey adulteration. Defra works closely with enforcement authorities, the Food Standards Agency, and the National Food Crime Unit on investigating any fraud issues raised to ensure honey sold in the UK is not subject to adulteration, meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers.
Honey is a complex natural product and analysis to determine if honey has been adulterated can be challenging. The Government has a programme of research dedicated to verifying honey authenticity which is actively working to provide information and guidance to those carrying out monitoring and enforcement checks on honey, to protect consumers and legitimate businesses. We are working closely with Food Standards Agency to follow-up on recent reports in an EU survey where a small number of exported honey samples were flagged as suspicious for adulteration with added sugars. We will act immediately if we find any wrongdoing as part of our investigation.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the implications for its policies of reports of potential adulteration of honey sold in the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer
All honey on sale in the UK must comply with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015, with equivalent legislation applying across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This legislation sets out detailed specifications for composition, labelling, and quality criteria.
The Government takes any type of food fraud very seriously, including honey adulteration.
We are working closely with Food Standards Agency to follow-up on recent reports in an EU survey where a small number of exported honey samples exported via the UK were flagged as suspicious for adulteration with added sugars. We will act immediately if we find any wrongdoing as part of the investigation. Honey is a complex natural product and analysis to determine if honey has been adulterated can be challenging. The Government has a programme of research dedicated to verifying honey authenticity which is actively working to provide information and guidance to those carrying out monitoring and enforcement checks on honey, to protect consumers and legitimate businesses.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the number of people on standard variable rate mortgages in (a) Weaver Vale constituency and (b) the North West.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
According to UK Finance, c.20% of UK residential mortgages are on a variable rate. This includes standard variable rates, which mortgage borrowers typically revert to when their fixed-rate deal ends.
As set out in the statement published following the Chancellor’s roundtable with the major mortgage lenders, the Financial Conduct Authority and Martin Lewis in December, the majority of borrowers are able to switch to a new fixed-rate deal with their existing lender without undergoing an affordability test, providing they are up to date with payments and not looking to borrow more. The major mortgage lenders also committed to providing well-timed information to help customers plan ahead should their current fixed rate be due to end.