§ Lord Monkswellasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the outcome of the EC Health Council meeting on 12 November. [HL3916]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Hayman)My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Public Health attended the meeting of the Health Council on 12 November in Brussels, on behalf of the United Kingdom.
The Council adopted its common position on the Commission's proposal for an injury prevention programme. The Council discussed the development of future public health policy and adopted conclusions which stressed the importance of better prioritisation and co-ordination of public health activities by the Community to complement action taken by the member states. The Commission reported on progress in combating smoking within the Community and announced that it intended to propose measures on the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes and labelling of packets; it also intended to bring forward measures on 144WA counts as unemployed people who are: (a) without a paid job; (b) available to start work within the next two weeks; and (c) have either looked for work in the last four weeks; or are waiting to start a job already obtained. This series is available quarterly for Great Britain from spring 1992, and from winter 1994/95 for the United Kingdom. Before these dates, data are available for each spring back to 1984 when the ILO definition of unemployment was first used in the LFS. The attached table shows seasonally adjusted data for Great Britain and, where available, the United Kingdom.
smuggling, additives, and the prohibition of "light" and "mild" markings on cigarettes. Conclusions which stressed the need for a more focused approach were adopted on the European Union-United States Task Force. The Council agreed to continue to consider TSEs (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies) at each meeting and asked the Commission to provide it with a detailed annual report on the issue. The Council noted a progress report on the draft recommendation on limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields. A response to the Commission's report on the revision of the homoeopathic medicines Directives was also agreed. The Council welcomed the recommendations of the conference held in Copenhagen on 9–10 September 1998 on "The Microbial Threat". It also discussed co-operation between the European Union and the World Health Organisation. The International Therapeutic Solidarity Fund—a French Government initiative to provide anti-retroviral therapies to people with HIV/AIDS in developing countries—was also discussed. A discussion on the outcome of the conference on "Quality in Health Care" held by the Austrian Presidency on 24 July 1998 was held over lunch.