Tag: Jim Shannon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Albumin Bound Paclitaxel, Bevacizumab and Cabozantinib since the introduction of those drugs; and what discussions on this matter he has had with his counterparts in the devolved Assemblies.

Norman Lamb

We have had no such discussions.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has appraised the use of bevacizumab (Avastin) for a number of cancers including colorectal, breast, ovarian, non-small cell lung cancer and kidney cancer and has not been able to recommend the drug’s use as a clinical and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources in any of these appraisals.

NICE is currently appraising the use of paclitaxel albumin-bound nanoparticles (Abraxane) in treating advanced pancreatic cancer with final guidance expected in January 2015. NICE is also appraising this technology for use in the first-line treatment of metastatic melanoma, with final guidance expected in May 2015.

There are no plans for NICE to appraise cabozantinib (Cometriq) for the treatment of thyroid cancer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on hearing aids in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb

Information on National Health Service expenditure on hearing aids is not collected centrally. However, reference costs, which are the unit costs to NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients, provide some information which is shown in the following table.

Estimated cost to NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts of hearing aid provision, 2008-09 to 2012-13, £ million

Year	Hearing aid costs	Associated hearing aid costs	Cochlear implants and bone anchored hearing aids
2008-09	60.7	89.0	18.7
2009-10	57.7	96.0	17.7
2010-11	55.8	103.2	19.2
2011-12	62.1	118.5	26.6
2012-13	62.7	127.6	25.8

Source: Reference Costs, Department of Health

Notes:

1. Hearing aid costs are the actual costs of the hearing aids excluding other associated costs.

2. Associated hearing aid costs include assessment, fitting, follow-up and aftercare.

3. Reference costs are submitted on a fully absorbed basis, which means that all the costs of running the organisation are included in the return except where their exclusion is permitted.

4. Some relevant costs may be excluded. For example, maintenance and reprogramming costs for cochlear implants and bone anchored hearing aid costs were excluded from reference costs for these years.

5. The supply and fitting of hearing aids is also commissioned from the independent sector, and this expenditure is not reflected in the table.

6. 2012-13 is the latest year for which reference costs data are available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Ministers had with the Iranian government on the imprisonment of (a) Rasoul Abdollahi, (b) Saeed Abedini, (c) Ebrahim Firozi, (d) Behmain Iranal, (e) Alireza Seyedin, (f) Maryam Naghash-Zargaran, (g) Farshid Fathi and (h) others imprisoned for their religious beliefs in Iran.

Hugh Robertson

We remain deeply concerned about the detention and treatment of all prisoners of conscience in Iran and the ongoing discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups. We have called publicly for the Iranian government to end all persecution of individuals on the basis of their faith. The UK’s non-resident Chargé d’Affaires raised the issue of freedom of religion with the Iranian authorities during his last visit to Iran on 12 March.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the number of merlins in the UK; and what steps his Department is taking to maintain their numbers and habitat.

George Eustice

The merlin is protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it an offence to take, kill or injure any wild bird; take or damage their nests while in use; and take or destroy an egg. This robust legal framework protects the merlin from persecution, with penalties including imprisonment.

The Department has not made an assessment of merlin population levels. A study by Ewing et al reported that in 2008 there were approximately 1,100 breeding pairs of merlins in the UK.

Several measures are in place to protect habitats. The UK has designated 615 sites as Special Areas of Conservation under the Habitats Directive, and 270 sites as Special Protection Areas under the Birds Directive to provide protection to our most vulnerable and threatened wild birds.

The Government has also provided £7.5 million to establish twelve Nature Improvement Areas. These are intended to benefit birds by improving existing habitat, creating new habitat and improving connectivity between habitats.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps her Department has taken to ensure further opportunities for Northern Ireland’s film industry are secured.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The hon Member will appreciate that this is a devolved matter. However I take every opportunity to promote the Northern Ireland film industry which has been significantly boosted by the high end television tax credit introduced by my Rt hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I have met the senior team at Home Box Office on two occasions. Last month I wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to coincide with the publication of the UK Creative Industries International Strategy in China, in order to promote some 250 media production companies based in Northern Ireland that are already delivering on a global stage and offering world-class talent across the sector.