Tag: Jim Shannon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to protect and help encourage curlew and lapwing habitats.

Rory Stewart

Both lapwings and curlews are priorities for conservation action. For example, the Government’s agri-environment schemes have been designed to encourage habitat management to promote their conservation in targeted areas, specifically to provide suitable nesting and foraging conditions.

Many of the most important sites for nesting lapwings are managed as nature reserves by Government and non-government organisations. In such cases highly specialised management can lead to high numbers breeding in relatively small areas. Success has also been achieved through agricultural schemes such as the Peppering Project on the Arundel estate.

Curlews are more widespread and their specific requirements for breeding are less well-understood. Natural England, together with the RSPB, is conducting research to better tailor upland land management to the specific needs of curlews and to support lapwing breeding.

As part of Defra’s programme of monitoring agri-environment schemes, Natural England has commissioned a survey of breeding waders (including lapwings and curlews) in upland areas in England to measure the effectiveness of these schemes.

As with all wild birds, lapwings and curlews are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the UN Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict, published in April 2016, if the Government will suspend arms export licences and reject new applications for arms exports while there is a risk that they could be used in contravention of international humanitarian and human rights laws.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

All UK export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all available relevant information at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued if doing so would be inconsistent with any provision of the mandatory Criteria, including the UK’s international obligations and its commitments to enforce UN, OSCE and EU arms embargoes, and where it is assessed there is a clear risk that the items might be used for internal repression or in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law. As part of its assessment under Criterion 2, the Government is required to take account of the risk the items might be used to commit gender-based violence or serious violence against women or children.

We do not agree that it is right to prohibit all sales of arms to all the countries named in the UN’s annual reports on Children and Armed Conflict, especially as the violations may be carried out by non-state actors. We take our arms export responsibilities very seriously, and operate a robust arms export control regime with every country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing on the effect of boredom on obesity.

Jane Ellison

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has not had any such discussions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Gambling Commission and the Remote Gambling Association in the last 12 months on the progress of the online multi-operator self-exclusion scheme.

David Evennett

Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed via the gov.uk website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people of each gender over the age of 50 have been treated for (a) drug and (b) alcohol addiction in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

The number of people of each gender over the age of 50 who have been in drug or alcohol treatment for the last five years can be accessed in the following link:

https://www.ndtms.net/Publications/AnnualReports.aspx

Source: National Drug Treatment Monitoring System

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a programme to introduce more oysters in the waters around the UK.

George Eustice

Fisheries management is a devolved issue in the UK. The Government currently has no plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of a programme to introduce more oysters to the waters around England.

Oyster restoration schemes currently underway in the UK include the Chichester Harbour Oyster Partnership Initiative, the Essex Native Oyster Regeneration Initiative, and an initiative in the Solent led by the Blue Marine Foundation.

In 2005, Defra and Seafish commissioned Cefas to produce a feasibility study of native oyster (Ostrea edulis) stock regeneration in the UK. The full report is available on the Seafish website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many compensation claims have been made against NHS hospitals related to treatment received by patients.

David Mowat

The Department does not hold the information to answer this question. This data has been provided by the National Health Service Litigation Authority.

In 2014/15 (the most recent year for which information has been published) 11,497 new clinical negligence claims were received by the NHS Litigation Authority which indemnifies all English National Health Service trusts, clinical commissioning groups and some independent sector providers. This number therefore includes claims related to organisations other than NHS hospitals. Claims can arise some years after an incident so this number represents the number of claims notified to Members in 2014/15 regardless of when the incident occurred. Not all these claims will result in financial compensation being awarded to the claimant.

This information is available on the NHS Litigation Authority’s website in Fact sheets:

www.nhsla.com/CurrentActivity/Pages/Home.aspx

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the government of China on human rights in Tibet.

Alok Sharma

We set out our human rights concerns about China, and specifically in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual report on Human Rights and Democracy. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my noble Friend, the Rt Hon. the Baroness of Anelay of St Johns raised our concerns about the Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk with the Director of the National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs Committee on 7 July.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussion she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the effect of the possible expansion of Heathrow Airport on UK tourism.

Tracey Crouch

The Government has accepted the case for airport expansion in the South East and the Airports’ Commission’s shortlisted options. The new Culture Secretary will be ensuring that tourism is one of the factors considered, when a final decision is taken on a preferred scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has taken steps to support the Northern Ireland Executive in the regeneration of coastal areas in Northern Ireland.

James Brokenshire

I have visited some of the coastal communities in Northern Ireland and aside from their general beauty I have seen how vital they are to local economy. Since its launch in 2012 the UK Government’s Coastal Communities Fund has helped coastal towns across the UK to strengthen their appeal as places to live, work and visit. In Northern Ireland 11 awards have been made, worth £2.5m.