Guidance: Azerbaijan: migrant health guide

Advice and guidance on the health needs of migrant patients from Azerbaijan for healthcare practitioners.



GC contributes to research prioritisation in food hypersensitivity

News story

Government Chemist contributes to Food Standards Agency food hypersensitivity research horizon scanning exercise

Bread with gluten free label

The Food Standards Agency, FSA, food hypersensitivity research prioritisation exercise paper has been published.

The Government Chemist was pleased to contribute to the horizon scanning exercise which took place earlier this year, and in which Michael Walker, former Head of the office of the Government Chemist was an invited stakeholder.

Food hypersensitivity (FHS), including food allergy, coeliac disease and food intolerance, is a major public health issue. The FSA sought to identify research priorities in the area of FHS by a UK-wide public consultation to identify unanswered research questions followed by a series of stakeholder workshops. This resulted in 10 priority uncertainties in evidence, from which 16 research questions were developed. These were summarised under the following five themes:

  1. Communication of allergens both within the food supply chain and then to the end-consumer (ensuring trust in allergen communication)

  2. The impact of socioeconomic factors on consumers with FHS

  3. Drivers of severe reactions

  4. Mechanism(s) underlying loss of tolerance in FHS

  5. The risks posed by novel allergens/processing.

Allergen research needs that were identified included improving the reliability of analytical tests, although this was deemed outside of FSA scope.

The Government Chemist has worked hard to call attention to and address deficiencies in allergen analysis and is grateful to FSA for past support in this area. The Government Chemist will continue to seek support to take forward this vital aspect to help people with food allergies and businesses supplying safe food.

For more information about the work that the Government Chemist does please contact:

Published 26 August 2021



Failure to move Thames houseboat lands owner in court

House boat owner given criminal conviction and £5,000 costs after failing to remove boat from public moorings following warnings



Failure to move Thames houseboat lands owner in court

The owner of a large unpowered boat used as a houseboat, who failed to comply with directions to move the barge from Environment Agency owned public moorings on the non-tidal River Thames. He has been warned about the consequences of breaking the law in the future.

The Environment Agency prosecuted Stephen Crowe after his boat named Hope IV was moored to Environment Agency owned riverbanks in Surrey. The boat was moored for periods far longer than the maximum 24 hours allowed on that part of the Thames.

A court heard how it had become necessary for the Environment Agency to begin issuing formal enforcement notices in May and June of 2019. The notices directing Crowe to move his vessel from an Environment Agency short-stay mooring site on the riverbank at Walton-on Thames in Surrey.

His failure to then regularly move the large 85-foot unpowered boat led to a further formal enforcement notice being issued in July 2019. The notice directing Crowe to move from another nearby Environment Agency short-stay mooring at Desborough Island in Surrey. The Environment Agency began legal proceedings after a Harbour Master Notice of Directions was not complied with.

Colin Chiverton, environment manager for the River Thames at the Environment Agency, said:

The Environment Agency owns limited sections of riverbank across 144 miles of the non-tidal Thames. The majority of our customers do comply with our mooring conditions, but this is an important enforcement outcome for all river users and local communities.

We provide and maintain some limited purpose built short-stay public moorings, to encourage pleasure boating on the river and to enable safe mooring at designated locations. Our public moorings are valuable and available for all boat owners to use but subject to conditions of use. This is to ensure fair access for all pleasure boat owners.

Crowe was given countless chances to comply with our mooring conditions and formal directions to move his boat but failed to. We strongly advise all boat owners whether buying or bringing a boat on to the River, to give serious consideration to the size and type of vessel. Also how they are going to comply with landowner mooring requirements before committing to owning and keeping a boat on the River.

Similar to the keeping of a private or commercially owned vehicle on the public highway, to avoid enforcement action boat owners are responsible for ensuring the mooring of their boats. This is whether powered or unpowered, do not cause an obstruction to the public right of navigation or interfere with the rights of riparian landowners. The Environment Agency manages and maintains more than 600 miles of inland waterways across England, keeping them open and safe for thousands of river-lovers.

At Staines magistrates’ court on 23 July, Stephen Crowe, now of London Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, pleaded guilty to an offence contrary to Section 84 Thames Conservancy Act 1932 (not complying with the directions of a Harbour Master). He told the court he had sold the boat in June 2021 and was given a Conditional Discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £5,000 towards the Environment Agency’s costs, and a victim surcharge of £22.



Environment Agency weeds out waste villains

Swift action by Environment Agency officers has led to the closure and clearance of an illegal waste site at Parnell Street, Houghton-le-Spring.