The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on whether the use of shellfish supplements increases life expectancy.
Jane Ellison
The Department does not hold any information on whether the use of shellfish supplements increases life expectancy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with NHS England on the potential for exercise to reduce the need for patients to have back surgery.
Norman Lamb
There is evidence that physical activity can alleviate lower back pain and can benefit musculoskeletal health. However, there have been no specific discussions between Department of Health Ministers and NHS England on the potential for exercise to reduce the need for patients to have back surgery.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that a structured exercise programme, tailored to the person, be offered as a treatment option for early management of persistent, non-specific back pain.
Public Health England is working with partners, including the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance, Arthritis Research UK and the business sector to encourage better prevention and management of back pain, particularly through the promotion of physical activity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people are employed in the arms industry in the UK.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Ministry of Defence no longer compiles national or regional defence industry employment statistics as they do not directly support policy-making or operations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have had varicose veins surgery in each of the last five years.
Jane Ellison
This information is not available in the format requested.
In the following table, we have provided information concerning the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)1 with a primary or secondary procedure2 of varicose vein treatment3 for the years 2008-09 to 2012-134. It should be noted that this is not a count of people as the same person may have had more than one episode of care within the same time period. This data also includes non-surgical treatment such as radio-frequency ablation and other treatments.
|
Year |
FCEs |
|
2008-09 |
36,997 |
|
2009-10 |
36,366 |
|
2010-11 |
33,620 |
|
2011-12 |
27,731 |
|
2012-13 |
24,767 |
Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector
Notes:
1A finished consultant episode is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.
2The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 procedure fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure.
3Codes used to identify varicose vein treatment include combined operations on varicose vein of leg, ligation of varicose vein of leg, injection into varicose vein of leg, other operations on varicose vein of leg, and transluminal operations on varicose vein of leg.
4HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care.
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were infected with bacillus cereus in each of the last five years.
Jane Ellison
The numbers of reported patient infection episodes of Bacillus cereus, isolated from blood samples from all age-groups between 2009 and 2013 in England, are shown in the following table.
|
Year |
Number of patient infection episodes |
Organism name |
Specimen type |
Country |
|
2009 |
50 |
Bacillus Cereus |
Blood |
England |
|
2010 |
46 |
Bacillus Cereus |
Blood |
England |
|
2011 |
39 |
Bacillus Cereus |
Blood |
England |
|
2012 |
37 |
Bacillus Cereus |
Blood |
England |
|
2013 |
56 |
Bacillus Cereus |
Blood |
England |
These data were extracted from Public Health England’s centralised microbiology database (LabBase2), which collects voluntarily reported microbiology data from participating laboratories across England. Although only clinically significant isolates should be reported to LabBase2, some of the reports may be contaminants that occurred either during collection or during processing of samples as B. cereus is a ubiquitous environmental organism.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-03-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of which countries in Africa (a) have the highest incidence of illegal killing of wildlife and (b) have the largest illegal trade in wildlife with China.
George Eustice
As a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the UK supports work to monitor the illegal killing of wildlife. My Department has provided £270,000 since 2009 to support the CITES Secretariat to undertake such work, including the MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) project and ETIS (Elephant Trade Information System).
In response to assessments made of illegal killing, the CITES Secretariat has identified the following African counties as primary source countries for ivory: Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Republic of Tanzania. Assessments have also shown that illegal killing poses a significant threat to rhinoceros populations, particularly in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
These countries are taking action under CITES, such as producing National Ivory Action Plans, but many are going beyond this. For example,Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon and Tanzania announced the Elephant Protection Initiative at the London Conference in February. This initiative aims to secure new funding from private and public sources for the implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan. Other recent developments include Gabon announcing plans to impose new penalties for poachers and traffickers, and Ethiopia committing to destroying its ivory stockpiles.
Further knowledge is needed about the trafficking of the products of poaching of wildlife from source countries to consumer countries, particularly in Asia. The Declaration adopted at the recent London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade took an important step forward in relation to this, with over 40 countries agreeing to undertake further assessment, initially over the next twelve months, of the markets and dynamics of the illegal wildlife trade, and the progress made in combatting it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase sentences for shoplifting.
Jeremy Wright
The maximum penalty for theft is seven years’ imprisonment. The independent Sentencing Council is responsible for issuing guidelines which all courts must follow when determining the appropriate sentence in each case, within this maximum penalty. On 3 April, the Council opened a consultation on a new draft guideline for theft offences. The consultation period ends on 26 June 2014 and is open to everyone. The responses received will inform the definitive new sentencing guideline for theft offences in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with (a) the Royal Colleges and (b) pharmaceutical companies about the efficacy of anti-depressants.
Norman Lamb
A search of the Department’s records and those of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has found no record of any such correspondence or discussions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the time taken to prescribe drugs for heart disease.
Jane Ellison
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made no recent assessment of the time taken to prescribe drugs for heart disease. All drugs should be prescribed in accordance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Air Force armourers have died from leukaemia in each of the last five years.
Anna Soubry
From 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013 (the last full year for which data is available), no RAF Armourer personnel have died as a result of leukaemia.