Tag: Jim Shannon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been of usage of illegal highs in prisons in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous

We do not tolerate drugs in prison. Prisoners are tested for a range of controlled drugs through our mandatory drug testing (MDT) system, which randomly tests up to 10% of the population in each prison, each month. In addition, prisoners can be subject to testing in response to specific threats. Any prisoner found through MDT to have used controlled drugs will face an internal adjudication and could receive a range of sanctions including days added to their time in custody.

We have begun a pilot to expand this testing to include new psychoactive substances and in April we plan to introduce this across the prison estate. We have also introduced new legislation to counter the smuggling of NPS into prisons and are training 300 sniffer dogs to detect NPS.

The table below shows the number of positive MDT tests for illegal drugs over the past five financial years.

Year	Number of positive MDT tests
2010/11	10324
2011/12	10268
2012/13	9956
2013/14	8659
2014/15	6742

Notes:

• Table shows instances where a prisoner has tested positive for a controlled drug, one of amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepine, cannabis, cocaine, heroin, opiates, methadone and buprenorphine.

• Where a prisoner is found to have used more than one substance, a separate positive will be reported for each substance found to have been used.

• Includes MDT tests arising from all prison MDT programmes including random, suspicion, at risk, frequent and reception testing

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations he has received concerning paintings left by Sir Hugh Lane to the National Gallery.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy met with Paul McGuinness, Roy Foster and Sir Donnell Deeny in September to discuss the bequest left by Sir Hugh Lane to the National Gallery. The department has received no other representation concerning the bequest.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to prevent EU health tourism.

Alistair Burt

Since its inception in 2013, the Department’s Visitor and Migrant NHS Cost Recovery Programme has been working to design and implement key improvements to ensure that those people who should pay for National Health Service care are identified and charged.

Achievements include:

– The launch of the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) reporting incentive on 1 October 2014. All EHIC activity correctly reported by NHS secondary providers, so that the UK is able to make appropriate reimbursement claims from other member states, allows them to access an additional 25% funding;

– The revision of the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations which came into force on 6 April 2015, reducing the number of exemption from charge categories and realigning the Regulations to the principle that the NHS is a residency-based healthcare system; and

– Support and engagement with NHS providers through meetings with senior trust employees and the launch of a cost recovery support team to provide bespoke assistance to trusts to improve their processes for identifying chargeable patients and recovering funds owed, including those from Europe.

The Department is currently consulting on the extension of charging overseas visitors and migrants using the NHS in England. Part of the consultation proposes to amend the residence definition for EEA nationals, by which they qualify for free NHS treatment in England. The consultation is due to conclude on 7 March 2016.

The Department does not hold information on the cost to the public purse of EU health tourism.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with the Big Lottery Fund on the renewal of the lottery licence.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Gambling Commission is responsible for issuing the licence to run the National Lottery. Camelot currently hold the licence, which runs until 2023. The Commission expects to engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including lottery distributor bodies, during any future licence competition.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing on the health effects of over-use of paracetamol to treat colds and flu.

George Freeman

No such discussions have taken place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has in place to provide accommodation for service personnel posted in Cyprus at short notice.

Mark Lancaster

British Forces Cyprus has available Service Family Accommodation and Single Living Accommodation that can be used for short notice posting of Service personnel. If the demand is in excess of that available at any one of the specific locations, temporary solutions would be adopted.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect the diversity of wildlife in Forestry Commission land.

Rory Stewart

We are committed to keeping the Public Forest Estate in England in trust for the nation and for it to continue to be sustainably managed. The entire Public Forest Estate is independently certified as sustainably managed to the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS). A key element of this certification standard is the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity.

The Forestry Commission continues to maintain a high performance in the management of the 68,000 hectares of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) under its stewardship, increasing the area in favourable condition year on year. Overall 99.5% of these SSSIs by area are in favourable or recovering condition. It also supports a comprehensive range of species conservation projects, including the freshwater pearl mussel, rare birds of prey, woodland and heathland insects and the recovery of species such as the chequered skipper, ladybird spider and pool frog.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome there have been in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

We are advised by the Health and Social Care Information Centre that the data requested is not held.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to improve defence capacity building.

Michael Fallon

We engage in capacity building activities with a wide range of international partners, covering a broad spectrum of topics including Humanitarian and Disaster Relief; Countering Violent Extremism; Peace Support Operations and countering illicit trafficking.

We committed in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 to increase our capacity building with partners, and have since then expanded our activity in a number of ways.

For example, we have launched a new three year Counter-IED capacity building programme with Pakistan. We have also joined the US-German Trans-Atlantic Capability Enhancement and Training (TACET) initiative, under which we will deploy Short Term Training Teams to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. In Ukraine, where we have already trained over 2,000 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, we are aiming to provide additional support to Ukrainian Defence reform including practical interventions in areas such as strategic communication and modernisation of procurement and logistics systems. In Nigeria we continue to expand our resident British Military Advisory and Training Team, and have committed to more than doubling the number of UK military personnel who deploy on short term training tasks to 300 in 2016. We have also significantly increased the support we provide to the Jordanian Army to help them improve border security.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will estimate the level of creditor claims related to insolvency litigation in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous

The Ministry of Justice does not hold this information.