CIEH responds to the Queen's Speech
CIEH
| Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
Responding to announcements in the Queens speech, the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Graham Jukes OBE, said:
“The Queen’s speech had a strong focus on stimulating business growth, the economic recovery and implementing cost-saving measures which we anticipated.
“Over the coming weeks we look forward to seeing more detail on several of the bills announced today, including health, housing and enterprise, and working co-operatively with the Government to help them achieve their aims, whilst ensuring the health and wellbeing of everyone in the UK.”
On health
“The Government reiterated their commitment to provide a further £8bn to secure the future of the NHS and in welcoming that pledge to take forward the NHS 5-year plan, we wish to see a greater accent on preventative public health measures that includes local government and the role of Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs).
“EHPs perform essential public health prevention in housing, food safety, occupational health and environmental protection. Their work helps businesses thrive and ensures people are kept out of their doctors’ surgeries and hospitals, which will reduce the direct costs to the NHS.”
On enterprise
“Pruning red tape to reduce the load on small businesses in order to help them grow is admirable but we want to see more detail from the Government. Better regulation is not a burden on business and is a pre-requisite for effective economic growth. Furthermore, the extension of the Primary Authority scheme is welcomed but should not be regarded as a substitute or panacea for effective support to business or consumer protection on the ground.”
On housing
“Extending the right to buy to tenants living in housing associations shows that the Government supports aspiration. However, if we reduce the stock of social housing, where will vulnerable people go to secure a roof over their heads? Inevitably they will end up in the private rented sector and as highlighted in recent reports the increasing number of poor-quality private rented housing is cause for extreme concern. Furthermore, we would like to see the plans for where the receipts go and whether they will be reinvested into building new social housing stock.”
