Lord Rooker

To ask His Majesty's Government how many contributions to the consultation in respect of Amending the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 which closed on 23 November were received from each of the target audiences listed in the consultation.

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have engaged with the EU on the introduction by the UK of policy changes relating to food fortification with folic acid; and if so, what responses they have received.

To ask His Majesty's Government what engagement they have had with governments of other countries which fortify foods with folic acid in order to reduce the prevalence of neural tube defects.

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the main nutrient deficiencies within the UK population; and whether they have carried out any analysis of any gender difference in that data.

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any trends in the last five years regarding the number of pregnancies terminated due to neural tube defects.

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of lifetime direct medical costs associated with births affected by neural tube defects compared to those unaffected; and why they cited German research in the consultation on Amending the Br...

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of introducing a (1) Birth Defects Prevention Month, and (2) Folic Acid Awareness Week, similar to those in the United States.

To ask His Majesty's Government whether and how they measure the effectiveness of advice given to women of child-bearing age planning a pregnancy according to their (1) socio-economic background, (2) ethnicity, and (3) regional location.

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are aware of any evidence of food manufacturers proposing to lower the level of voluntary folic acid fortification of foods.

To ask His Majesty's Government whether all regions of England are covered by the register of congenital anomaly cases.

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average prevalence of births affected by neural tube defects in countries applying food fortification with folic acid, compared to those who do not.

To ask His Majesty's Government how many pregnancies affected by neural tube defects were second or subsequent pregnancies, in each of the last five years.

To ask His Majesty's Government whether all measures of (1) whole blood folate, and (2) serum folate, in the UK are conducted by mass spectrometry-based methods.

To ask His Majesty's Government how many blood samples connected to neural tube defects have been sent for analysis to the Centre for Disease Control in the United States in each of the last five years.

To ask His Majesty's Government how many births there have been in each of the last five years that were classed as (1) spina bifida, (2) hydrocephalus, and (3) anencephaly, caused by neural tube defects.

To ask His Majesty's Government what Government-sponsored research is currently underway regarding neural tube defect births.

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the prevalence of births affected by neural tube defects in the UK; and what assessment they have made, if any, of how this figure compares with equivalent figures in other OECD member states.

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Kamall on 6 July (HL Deb cols 1001–2) regarding the scientific evidence available regarding folic fortification, whether they will publish the science brief referred to by Lord Kamall referenc...

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have held with governments of other nations which operate a policy of mandatory fortification with folic acid regarding any unintended consequences which have arisen.

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Kamall on 6 July (HL Deb col 1000), whether they will give details of the cases where people “have died because of high levels of folic acid”.