Caroline Jackson

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Caroline Jackson

Caroline Jackson (born 5 November 1946, Penzance, Cornwall) is a former Conservative MEP who sat as Member of the Parliament's Committee on Environment, Consumer Protection and Public Health since 1984 until 2009.[1] She was Chair of the Committee (1999-2004), Conservative spokesman on the Committee (1984-1999), and continues to be Conservative Party Environment Spokesperson.[2][3]

From 1999 to June 2004 she was chairman of the Parliament's committee on the Environment, Consumer Protection and Public Health.


Affiliations

Record and Controversies

Declaration of Financial Interests

Professional Activities:

  • Chairman, Institute of European Environment Policy, London (non remunerated)

Paid Functions or Activities:

  • Member of the Environmental Advisory Board of Shanks plc. (remunerated)
  • Member of the Advisory Board of SITA UK (since September 2008) (remunerated)

Further Information:

  • I have two assistants working in my Brussels office. The senior receives a salary in the £30-40,000 band and the junior one receives a salary in the £20-30,000 band.
  • I have a secretary working part time in Swindon who receives a salary in the £10-20,000 band. Their salary payments , PAYE etc are handled by a Swindon firm of accountants.
  • I have a service provider contract with my part-time press agent who works out of Okehampton. The sum he receives is in the £10-20,000 band.
  • In 2006-7 I made three consultancy fee payments to my husband (each in the band £0-10,000) for his assistance in writing my pamphlet on waste management, and my report and associated speeches and articles on the waste framework directive on which I am the Parliament's rapporteur. There are and have been no other payments to family members or to private companies.[4]

Background of Conflicts

Between 1984 and 1999, Jackson was responsible for Committee reports on landfill policy, product safety, food additives, better protection for package tourists, and on the use of live animals in experiments. In the mid-nineties, she was also a member of the board of car company Peugeot Talbot (UK) Ltd, and a paid consultant with food giant Mars, the PR company Market Access International, and the Brewers' Society.[5][6] Jackson argued that there was no conflict of interest between these commercial posts and her role as an MEP.


When she became Chair of the Environment Committee Jackson resigned her Peugeot directorship and declared: “Anyone who thinks I take instructions easily should ask my mother.”[7] Her critics though point out that Jackson was still a consultant to Mars (UK) at the same time as being a Member of the Environment Committee, which was dealing with issues such as the level of sugar permitted in sweets and food additives.[8]

Register of Interests

Conflicts of Interest

More recently Jackson acted as Rapporteur on the Environment Committee for the revision of the waste framework directive – her draft report was published in June 2006 and final report in December 2006.[9]


At the same time Jackson was a paid advisor to Shanks, an independent waste company based in the UK and the Netherlands. Jackson is paid £6000 as a member of the company’s environmental advisory board (EAB), a position she still holds.[10][11][12]


The head of the EAB, Professor James Bridges, acknowledges that Jackson’s views, including her “wide knowledge of European legislation”, have “been a benefit to our work”.[13] In the company’s 2005/06 report, Shanks acknowledges that “plans to revise the EC Waste Framework Directive and the revision of the Waste Strategy for England are just two examples testament to the continuing changing face of waste management within Europe.”[14] A year later Professor Bridges wrote: “The EC waste framework directive is also being revised and as the MEP within the European Parliament responsible for the revision of the Directive, EAB member Caroline Jackson was able to keep us updated on progress during the year. This will have far-reaching implications for waste management and the EAB will consider its impacts on Shanks activities in the UK and mainland Europe.”[15]

So there is a complicated situation that the Rapporteur for a report on waste is a consultant to a company that could be impacted by that report.


Moreover, the Chief Executive of Shanks, Michael Averill is also the President of the European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services (FEAD), which represents the European waste management industry. FEAD ran a ‘consultancy group’ that looked at Jackson’s report as well as lobbying Jackson herself three times. So the Rapporteur of a report on the waste framework directive has been lobbied by the industry group headed by the boss of a waste company where she is a consultant.[16]


Jackson maintains that there is no conflict of interest as Shanks has no interest in incinerating waste, which was the main subject of her report. “There is no conflict of interest because Shanks is not really involved in the kind of waste treatment activities that are touched on by the waste framework directive,” she argues.[17] But Shanks does have some incineration interests. On its website it says that it “remediates PCB and pesticide contaminated soil through high temperature incineration at dedicated facilities in the UK and the Netherlands.”[18] In her defence, Jackson also argues: “I have never received any instruction or advice from Shanks.”[19]

Record of Parliamentary Votes

  • Voted against the directive on "establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy" (A5-0027/2000). The directive covers all water management aspects in order to achieve a 'good status' of all waters by 2015.[20]
  • Voted in favour of the directive on "national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants" (A5-0063/2000). The amendment allows setting less ambitious national emission ceilings for sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ammonia (NH3) and volatile organic compounds (VOC), which would result in more damage to human health and the environment.[21]
  • Voted against the directive on "waste electrical and electronic equipment" (A5-0100/2002). The amendment sets higher reuse and recycling rates for IT and telecommunication equipment.[22] Rejected due to lack of absolute majority.
  • Voted in favour of the report on "Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network" (A5-0135/2002). The Trans-European Network of Transport (TEN-T) is a network of so-called 'transport corridors' through Europe. This amendment calls for a full Strategic Environmental Assessment of these transport corridors and calls on the Commission to improve methods for analysing the environmental and economic impact of the TEN-T.[23]
  • Voted against the regulation concerning "traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms and traceability of food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms" (A5-0229/2002). The amendment allows customers the right to choose GM free food.[24]
  • Voted against the report towards a "thematic strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides" (A5-0061/2003). The amendment proposes to ban or severely restrict use of pesticides in areas around sources of drinking water and nature protected zones.[25]
  • Voted against the directive on "environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage" (A5-0145/2003). According to the amendment, polluters have to pay for environmental clean-up, and it supports an EU-wide regime which makes polluters liable for the damage they cause to wildlife, water and land.[26]
  • Voted against the directive on restructuring the "Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity" (A5-0302/2003). The amendment aims at giving tax benefits to environmentally friendly sources of energy, which would make them cheaper and more competitive to conventional (more polluting) sources of energy. It also gives tax benefits to environmentally friendly uses of energy for transport, for instance trains.[27] Rejected due to lack of absolute majority.


Personal Information

Curriculum Vitae

  • MA (1969).
  • D.Phil. (1979).
  • Member of the European Parliament (since 1984).
  • In the European Parliament: Chairwoman of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (1999-2004).

Contact

Address:
Phone:
Email:
Website:
http://www.carolinejackson-mep.org.uk
EU Insigna.png This article is part of the MEPedia project of Spinwatch.



Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ European Parliament, MEP Directory: Caroline Jackson, accessed 19 November 2010.
  2. ↑ Caroline Jackson, About Caroline Jackson, Dr., accessed 11 November 2008.
  3. ↑ European Parliament, MEP Directory: Caroline Jackson, accessed 11 November 2008.
  4. ↑ European Parliament, Declaration of Members' Financial Interests: Caroline Jackson, 23 September 2008, accessed 10 February 2009.
  5. ↑ Doyle, Leonard, “The European Elections: Corporate World Keeps Watch on Fate of its Political Consultants; MEPs’ Interests are less Rigorously Monitored Than at Westminster”, The Independent, 01 June 1994, p8., cited in Rowell, Andy, "Too Close for Comfort?" Spinwatch, July 2008.
  6. ↑ Halloran, Paul and Mark Hollingsworth, "A Bit on the Side: Politicians - Who Pays Them? An Insider's Guide, Simon and Schuster," 1994, cited in Rowell, Andy, "Too Close for Comfort?" Spinwatch, July 2008.
  7. ↑ European Voice, “Conservative with Shades of Green,” Vol. 6 No. 47, 21 December 2000, cited in Rowell, Andy, "Too Close for Comfort?" Spinwatch, July 2008.
  8. ↑ Mclaughlin, Chris, “Pay Spotlight on Tory MEPs,” The Scotsman, 26 October 1994, cited in Rowell, Andy, "Too Close for Comfort?" Spinwatch, July 2008.
  9. ↑ European Parliament, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Draft Report on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Waste, 15 December 2006, accessed 11 November 2008.
  10. ↑ Shanks Group plc, About Shanks, Background, accessed 11 November 2008.
  11. ↑ European Parliament, Declaration of Member’s Financial Interests: Caroline Jackson, 04 March 2008, accessed 11 November 2008.
  12. ↑ Bounds, Andrew, "MEP on waste company payroll," Financial Times, 13 June 2008, accessed 11 November 2008.
  13. ↑ Shanks Group plc, "Safety, Health and Environment Report 2005/2006," accessed 11 November 2008.
  14. ↑ Shanks Group plc, "Safety, Health and Environment Report 2005/2006," accessed 11 November 2008.
  15. ↑ Shanks Group plc, "Safety, Health and Environment Report 2006/2007," accessed 11 November 2008.
  16. ↑ European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services, FEAD Bulletin, 21 June – 10 November, N°15, 2006, accessed 11 November 2008.
  17. ↑ Jackson, Caroline, Response to the Sunday Times, April 2008, cited in Rowell, Andy, "Too Close for Comfort?" Spinwatch, July 2008.
  18. ↑ Shanks Group plc, Remediation, accessed 11 November 2008.
  19. ↑ Bounds, Andrew, "MEP on waste company payroll," Financial Times, 13 June 2008, cited in Rowell, Andy, "Too Close for Comfort?" Spinwatch, July 2008.
  20. ↑ Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.
  21. ↑ Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.
  22. ↑ Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.
  23. ↑ Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.
  24. ↑ Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.
  25. ↑ Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.
  26. ↑ Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.
  27. ↑ Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.
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