Mar72017
Railways endeavours to provide free potable water at all Railway Stations. As per extant policy guidelines, water coolers are provided on those Railway Stations which deal with 1000 passengers or more (inward and outward) per day, on the average.
Mar72017
7 Mar 2017
The SNP’s hated named person policy “has run aground and should be scrapped”, the Scottish Conservatives have said.
Education secretary John Swinney told Holyrood today that he would bring forward a new bill for state guardians in the summer, and aimed to have it up and running by 2018.
Following the policy being ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court, he added some changes would be made to the data-sharing provisions.
However, shadow education secretary Liz Smith said the policy should be scrapped and, as it stands, will only be heading straight back to the courtroom.
Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Liz Smith said:
“This is a scheme that has run aground and the fact the delay is now at two years shows exactly that.
“If the SNP had been listening properly it would have recognised months ago that it is completely unworkable and unwanted.
“Every opinion poll on the policy has made clear that the vast majority of parents do not want it, and it’s clear many professionals tasked with delivering it are extremely concerned.
“Rather than muddy the waters even further, John Swinney should scrap this policy once and for all.
“As it stands, the named person policy is heading straight back to court.”
The Scottish Conservatives have repeatedly opposed the named person scheme:
http://www.scottishconservatives.com/named-person/
Mar72017
Justin
Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, responding to the NHS Staff
Survey 2016, said:
“The
latest NHS staff survey demonstrates again the enormous pressures facing the
people working in our health service in the face of Theresa May’s neglect and
lack of interest. The Government’s endless underfunding of the NHS and demands
on staff to do more and more with less is taking its toll and stretching
workers to breaking point.
“The
Government urgently need a plan to give our brilliant NHS staff the support
they need at work. It should be a badge of shame for Theresa May that morale in
the NHS is so low. The Prime Minister ought to be using her first Budget to
help NHS workers so that they feel valued in their work and are able to care
for patients to the best of their abilities without the fear of illness or
harassment. The winter crisis would have been so much worse without the
dedication of NHS staff but this survey is a clear warning that they cannot go
on endlessly without more support.”
Mar72017
The end of last year saw the biggest outbreak of bird flu (avian influenza) in Europe, which was eventually spread to the UK’s shores, wetlands and poultry premises in December by migrating wildfowl. Since then, about 250,000 poultry have died or been culled at 10 infected premises across the UK from Lincolnshire to Lancashire.
GLD lawyers played a central role in providing legal advice to Defra to deal with operational issues. This included dealing with issues arising whenever there was an outbreak detected or poultry culled, creating a 3km protection zone and a wider 10km surveillance zone around the premises. In these zones all movement of poultry and poultry products is banned and the area is effectively quarantined and a “lock down” imposed until the risk of disease spreading disappears.
On 6 December 2016, as the threat of bird flu increased, the Secretary of State for Defra, Andrea Leadsom MP, used her power in specific disease control legislation to declare an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone. This was the first time, since its creation in 2006 that this power has been used. The Prevention Zone Declaration required all poultry in England to be kept separate from wild birds by netting or being housed. Scotland and Wales followed suit as did Northern Ireland 2 weeks later. Around 51% of egg laying hens in England are raised entirely indoors in barns or enriched colony cages so the prevention zone did not affect that part of the poultry sector. However England’s higher welfare free-range sector was affected as poultry were not allowed to range free.
When under such restrictions EU law permits eggs and poultry meat from free-range systems to still be sold as ‘free-range’, for a fixed 12-week grace period which expired on the 28 February. During this period GLD lawyers advised on how the period operated, having regard to poultry husbandry practices, and what should be done once the 12-week grace period came to an end as the status of free-range eggs would be immediately affected. Free-range poultry meat would be affected later.
Richard Vidal who led GLD’s Disease Outbreak team said:
This was a very legally challenging situation as it was the first time a Prevention Zone had been introduced.
We’ve been responsible for explaining how the grace period operated and the imminent need, if the initial prevention zone was extended in time, to ensure labelling of any poultry produce was correct when the grace period expired.
To achieve this it was essential that we were involved with Defra industry meetings, calling on the views of the British Egg Industry Council, British Retail Consortium and the National Farmers’ Union.
The prevention zone has recently been adjusted and extended until 30 April. It has been now adjusted to create two different disease risk areas: all poultry in higher risk areas have to be housed or fully netted to prevent wild birds from having access, whilst those in remaining areas (currently around 75% of England) can be allowed to range free but strict biosecurity measures will need to be put in place by the keepers. This includes such things as the disinfection of vehicle wheels and footwear, restricted access to poultry sheds and pens, and records needing to be kept of anyone having contact with their poultry.
This means that until the latest prevention zone is lifted the labelling of ‘free-range’ from those that still house their birds must not mislead consumers.
Mar72017
The UK has had less rainfall than usual over the winter, and the south and south-east have been particularly dry meaning that the risk of a drought is increased. New maps published by the BGS illustrate that people in the south and south-east of England are especially reliant on groundwater for their water supply and this provides some resilience to drought.