Tag: Jim Shannon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Afghan government on sexual abuse of and physical attacks on young boys and girls in Afghanistan.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK continues to raise this issue both with the Government of Afghanistan and in multilateral fora. We welcome the Government of Afghanistan’s public commitment of support for human rights and eliminating violence against women and girls, most recently at the September 2015 Senior Officials Meeting in Kabul.

Through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Programme Fund almost £400,000 has been allocated to address the psychological needs of victims of sexual harassment and violence; support state institutions to improve their response to victims; and raise awareness of the threats.

We are also funding the United Nations Population Fund in Afghanistan (UNFPA) to provide family protection units, which will include psychological aftercare for survivors of sexual violence. This complements the Department for International Development’s work to strengthen access to justice for survivors of violence.

Afghanistan is one of six focus countries for the UK’s National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security, for which there is a joint implementation plan across FCO, MOD, and DFID. We have also been involved and continue to support the Afghan National Action and Implementation plan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Brittany Ferries on the carriage of game birds on their ships.

James Brokenshire

Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial meetings are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Gov.uk website: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/ministerial-data-home-office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will discuss with representatives of the insurance industry the effect on premiums of changing weather conditions.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government does not intend to intervene in these commercial decisions by insurers as this could damage competition in the market. The respective capabilities of insurers to assess risk is a key element on which they compete. This competition is important and should lead to better products and lower prices for consumers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were diagnosed with sleep apnoea in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

The full figures are not held in the format requested. However, the attached table gives a count of finished hospital admission episodes in England with a primary diagnosis of sleep apnoea, for the years 2010-11 to 2014-15.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is sufficient lift capacity to airlift the two new strike brigades to theatres of operation.

Penny Mordaunt

As part of the SDSR and our plans for Joint Force 2025 we are investing more than £178 billion in buying and maintaining equipment over the next decade. This includes the modernisation and investment in our air transport fleet which will include the C17, A400M, Voyager and C130J platforms. We are still developing our plans for how the Army’s new strike brigades will be deployed, but part of the extra capability we expect them to offer is the ability to deploy at pace by air, sea or to self-deploy over land.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to strengthen regulation of marketing of alcoholic drinks; and what the Government’s policy is on introducing minimum unit pricing for alcohol.

Jane Ellison

UK controls (regulatory and self-regulatory) control both the placement and content of alcohol advertising to prevent advertisers targeting young people.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) police and promote the rules, which were strengthened in October 2005 and part of a general review of all the ASA codes in late 2009.

The Government is committed to working with industry to address concerns over any irresponsible promotions, advertising and marketing relating to alcohol, particularly to ensure that children and young people are suitably protected.

Material in the Committee of Advertising Practice and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice Codes relating to the advertising and marketing of alcohol products is exceptionally robust, recognising the social imperative of ensuring that alcohol advertising is responsible and in particular that children and young people are suitably protected.

If new evidence emerges that clearly highlights major problems with the existing Codes, then the Advertising Standards Authority has a duty to revisit the Codes and take appropriate action.

The Government has no plans to introduce Minimum Unit Pricing although the evidence for all policy approaches is kept under review.

We have noted the recent opinion of the EU Advocate General. We await a final ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union and we will continue to monitor developments.

In the meantime we are pursuing targeted action to reduce alcohol-related harms.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of progress in building security in Nigeria and the neighbouring countries which are often entered by Boco Haram; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding by the UK and EU for this purpose.

James Duddridge

We welcome the recent successes achieved by the Nigerian armed forces against Boko Haram and the establishment of the Multinational Joint Taskforce to tackle the group.

The UK is providing a substantial and increasing package of UK military, intelligence, development and humanitarian support to help Nigeria and the region tackle Boko Haram. This includes training and advice to Nigerian military units deployed against Boko Haram and £5 million to support the Multinational Joint Taskforce. However a security approach alone will not solve the conflict. We are therefore providing £8.2 million in humanitarian support and the Department for International Development are also providing £9 million through its Sahel humanitarian programme to support Nigerian refugees and other vulnerable people in Cameroon and Niger. In addition 60% of the Department for International Development’s £222 million 2015/16 development budget for Nigeria is spent in Northern Nigeria.

The UK works closely with the European Union on their programmes in the region, these include €20.5 million aid for Nigeria programmes to Counter Violent Extremism and on civil-military relations in Nigeria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people of each gender and age group were diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt

2012-13 is the first year for which information is available. The number of people in England who were referred to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services with obsessive compulsive disorder as the recorded problem from 2012-13 to 2014-15 is given in the attached table Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: Number of referrals where the recorded problem was Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, by gender and age group 2012-2013 to 2014-2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with organisations representing people with TB on support for people with that disease who are unable to work as a result.

Jane Ellison

Departmental officials meet regularly with colleagues from TB Alert, a third sector key partner in the publication of Public Health England’s National Strategy for Tuberculosis (TB), launched in January 2015. TB Alert provides support to those affected by TB including the homeless and unemployed. Officials also liaise with the Find and Treat outreach service that provides TB screening services through a mobile x-ray unit to vulnerable groups.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will issue clear guidance that buzzard control licences should be granted to gamekeepers or organisations whenever the criteria for applications for such licences are met.

Rory Stewart

Licences to control buzzards are issued by Natural England on the Secretary of State’s behalf in accordance with the Government’s policy on wildlife management. Following the recent McMorn judgment in the High Court, which quashed a licencing decision taken in 2014 relating to buzzards, Natural England is revising the guidance on dealing with these types of application and once completed, the guidance will be publicly available.