Caroline Jackson

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

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


Background

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.[3][4] 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.”[5] 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.[6]


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.[7]

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.[8][9][10]

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”.[11] 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.”[12] 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.”[13]

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.[14]

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.[15] 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.”[16] In her defence, Jackson also argues: “I have never received any instruction or advice from Shanks.”[17]


Resources


Notes and References

  1. ↑ Caroline Jackson, Dr. website, accessed 11 November 2008.
  2. ↑ European Parliament website - MEP Directory: Caroline Jackson, accessed 11 November 2008.
  3. ↑ Leonard Doyle, “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 Too Close for Comfort? by Andy Rowell, Spinwatch, July 2008.
  4. ↑ Paul Halloran and Mark Hollingsworth, A Bit on the Side: Politicians - Who Pays Them? An Insider's Guide, Simon and Schuster, 1994, cited in Too Close for Comfort? by Andy Rowell, Spinwatch, July 2008.
  5. ↑ European Voice, “Conservative with Shades of Green,” Vol. 6 No. 47, 21 December 2000, cited in Too Close for Comfort? by Andy Rowell, Spinwatch, July 2008.
  6. ↑ Chris Mclaughlin, “Pay Spotlight on Tory MEPs,” The Scotsman, 26 October 1994, cited in Too Close for Comfort? by Andy Rowell, Spinwatch, July 2008.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ Shanks website, accessed 11 November 2008.
  9. ↑ Caroline Jackson, Declaration of Member’s Financial Interests, 2007, accessed 11 November 2008.
  10. ↑ Andrew Bounds, “MEP on waste company payroll”, Financial Times, 13 June 2008, accessed 11 November 2008.
  11. ↑ Shanks Group plc, Safety, Health and Environment Report 2005/2006, accessed 11 November 2008.
  12. ↑ Shanks Group plc, Safety, Health and Environment Report 2005/2006, accessed 11 November 2008.
  13. ↑ Shanks Group plc, Safety, Health and Environment Report 2006/2007, accessed 11 November 2008.
  14. ↑ European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services, FEAD Bulletin, 21 June – 10 November, N°15, 2006, accessed 11 November 2008.
  15. ↑ Caroline Jackson, Response to the Sunday Times, April 2008, cited in Too Close for Comfort? by Andy Rowell, Spinwatch, July 2008.
  16. ↑ Shanks website, accessed 11 November 2008.
  17. ↑ Andrew Bounds, “MEP on waste company payroll”, Financial Times, 13 June 2008, cited in Too Close for Comfort? by Andy Rowell, Spinwatch, July 2008.
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