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PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Flour Fortification: Folic Acid - 7 May 2019 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

Debate Detail

SNP
Stuart C. McDonald
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
14. What his policy is on the mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid.
  15:12:52
Seema Kennedy
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We have announced our intention to consult on the mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid. We are fully committed to this and we will be launching the consultation as soon as possible.
  15:13:13
Stuart C. McDonald
I am grateful to the Minister for that answer, but the Government said in January that the consultation would happen soon. As it was originally announced in October, people are becoming frustrated. Can she say that this will happen before the summer? Can she confirm that it will be about how we go about mandatory fortification, rather than about whether we should do it?
  15:13:29
Seema Kennedy
I share the hon. Gentleman’s frustration, and I know that Members have been waiting for this. I am reassured by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State that this will happen. I am going to be making it happen before the summer, and I will return to the House to update it.
Lab
  15:13:49
Judith Cummins
Bradford South
23. The Healthy Start scheme, which provides food vouchers and coupons for free vitamins, reaches only about a third of children living in poverty. It is also woefully out of date; it is worth only £3.10 and it has not been updated since 2009. What are the Government doing to improve both the scale and impact of this important scheme?
Seema Kennedy
I thank the hon. Lady for her question. The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price), says that she is looking into it and that we will report back.

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