Tag: Jim Shannon

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on religious education as a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

Nick Gibb

The government firmly believes in the importance of religious education (RE).

RE is a compulsory subject for all pupils up to the age of 18 in state funded schools. For schools without a religious character, the RE curriculum needs to reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are, in the main, Christian whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to fund the development of clean energy sources.

Andrea Leadsom

This parliament we intend to hold three new Contracts for Difference allocation rounds to support large scale renewables. The revised Feed-in Tariff scheme will support small-scale renewable projects, providing around £2bn funding for renewables over the lifetime of the new FIT agreements. This is in addition to the ongoing support we are already providing through these schemes and though the Renewable Obligation which has allowed us to more than treble our renewable capacity since 2010.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions his Department has had with its counterparts in Northern Ireland on the integration of minority communities.

Mr Marcus Jones

Officials have regular contact with their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive on issues of mutual interest, including integration, but we do not keep a central list of such contacts, many of which are informal.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-12.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to assist students with minimising the accrual of credit card debt.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, which includes the credit card sector. Consumer credit regulation transferred from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014.

The FCA is currently undertaking a thorough review of the credit card market through its ‘credit card market study’. The market study is investigating three areas, including the extent of unaffordable credit card debt and how consumers can drive effective competition through shopping around and switching.

On the 3rd November 2015 the FCA published its interim report which found that the market was working reasonably well for most customers. However, the FCA expressed concern about the scale of potentially problematic debt in this sector, and the incentives for firms to manage this.

The interim report also included the FCA’s early thinking on potential remedies which include measures to give consumers more control over their credit limits, measures to encourage customers to pay off debt quicker when they can afford to, and proposals that firms do more to identify earlier those consumers who may be struggling to repay and take action to help them manage their repayments.

The FCA also set out potential measures to allow consumers to open access to their credit card usage to other market participants, as well as clarifying standards for price comparison websites, in order to facilitate shopping around and switching. The FCA is currently asking for feedback on the findings and potential remedies.

The Government is looking forward to the full report in the spring, and would encourage interested parties to give their views to the FCA to assist it in addressing the issues it has identified.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government has given to the government of Nepal on the conduct of elections.

Mr Hugo Swire

The UK provided £14 million to support the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections in Nepal. This consisted of support to provide an environment conducive to free, fair and inclusive elections and technical support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been (a) killed and (b) injured working in ports in each of the last five years.

Justin Tomlinson

Table 1 attached contains data on the number of people who have been reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) as (a) killed and (b) injured working in the ports and docks industry in each of the last five years. Please note the caveats included within the table.

The main Standard Industry Classification (SIC) codes used to define the ports and docks industry fall under the general category for the transport industry, of which there are many sub-categories. Considerable overlap exists between codes relating to transport, and codes relating to warehousing and cargo handling, as many organisations are involved in both types of work but can only be attributed to one SIC code. Therefore it is possible that other accidents relating to the ports and docks industry have been classified under different SIC codes; this should be taken into consideration when interpreting the data. A comprehensive text search of all RIDDOR notifications for reference to incidents occurring in ports or docks could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost, and moreover would not be statistically rigorous.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with (a) NATO and (b) the Balkan states on increasing the number of NATO troops and amount of materiel in those states.

Mr Julian Brazier

The UK is fully engaged with NATO’s regular reviews of its distribution of troops and materiel to ensure the Alliance is adaptable to the changing security situation. The NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) – around 4,600 personnel – is reviewed regularly, with SHAPE currently reporting a positive security and political situation. NATO Allies regularly train in the Western Balkans region, and in 2016 the UK will contribute troops to: Exercise CARPATHIAN EXPRESS and Exercise STEADFAST COBALT in Romania; Exercise STEADFAST LEV in Bulgaria; Exercise IMMEDIATE RESPONSE in Slovenia; and Exercise JOINT EFFORT in Albania.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects that retinal implant chips will be available through the NHS to treat blindness.

Alistair Burt

It is for local National Health Service commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund new treatments, taking into account the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance, available evidence and individual patient’s clinical circumstances.

NICE issued interventional procedures guidance on the insertion of a subretinal prosthesis system for retinitis pigmentosa in December 2015. NICE’s recommendation was that this procedure should only be used in the context of research, due to the limited evidence being available on its safety and efficacy.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with lung disease in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

This data is not available in the format requested.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Government is doing to improve the sharing of intelligence among EU countries to reduce the movement of terrorists across Europe.

Mr John Hayes

The UK works closely with European counterparts in the shared goal of preventing and disrupting the movement of terrorists across Europe. The UK is committed to working towards being fully compliant with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2178 which required countries to takes steps to address the foreign terrorist fighter phenomenon, including reducing their movement.

We work with Member States intelligence services on a bilateral basis and through the Counter Terrorism Group. Beyond our extensive engagement on intelligence channels, including senior visits and operational support, we also work closely with partners through bilateral policy and law enforcement exchanges on counter-terrorism, and discuss the issues at high-level fora such as Justice and Home Affairs Council. We exchange threat assessments and information on our respective approaches to counter terrorism with Member States.