Prime Minister must include Environment Bill in Queen’s Speech

CIEH has called on the Prime Minister to use his majority to focus on the key issues impacting on environmental health and reintroduce the Environment Bill in the Queen’s Speech.

The Conservative Party manifesto pledged to bring back the Environment Bill originally introduced to the House of Commons prior to the election and CIEH want to see this included in this week’s Queen Speech.

At the start of the election campaign, CIEH called on all PPCs to acknowledge the vital role of Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) and to pledge to support the policy recommendations in CIEH’s Manifesto for Environmental Health.

CIEH’s manifesto contains seven key recommendations for government to improve our health and our environment:

• Commit to maintain and improve food safety and standards as the UK leaves the EU
• Create a new Minister for Food to oversee the National Food Strategy
• Make the display of Food Hygiene Ratings by food businesses in England mandatory
• Establish new transparent and independent environmental regulators for all UK nations
• Commit to legally-binding air quality targets in line with World Health Organisation guidelines
• Introduce a mandatory national registration scheme for landlords and agents in England
• Make energy efficiency a priority for housing across all UK nations

Anne Godfrey, CIEH Chief Executive, said:

“We have congratulated the Prime Minister on his election victory and emphasised the need to focus his efforts on the key issues vital to environmental health.

He must categorically rule out lowering the UK’s food and environmental standards as we leave the EU as well as using every lever of government to tackle our country’s air pollution crisis.

There are certainly improvements to be made to the Environment Bill, such as ensuring the Office of Environmental Protection is truly independent and including legally-binding air quality targets in line with World Health Organisation guidelines. However, the Bill is a solid basis for progress on a number of areas and we believe it must return to parliament as soon as possible.”