Tag: Jim Shannon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the hate mail and verbal attacks on people who are overweight.

Karen Bradley

Weight is not a protected characteristic under discrimination or hate crime legislation. However, there are protections in place for all citizens against hatred and verbal abuse.

The Government is absolutely clear that abusive and threatening behaviour – in whatever form and whoever the target – is totally unacceptable. This includes harassment committed in person, or using phones or the internet. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 has provisions for prosecution where harassment has taken place on two or more occasions. Harassment involves improper, oppressive and unreasonable conduct that is targeted at an individual and calculated to alarm them or cause them distress.

The Malicious Communications Act 1988 prohibits sending letters or emails which are grossly offensive, threatening or known or believed to be false by the sender, within England and Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy in each of the last five years; and how many such people were (a) women and (b) men aged (i) under 18, (ii) between 18 and 45, (iii) between 45 and 65 and (iv) over 65.

Jane Ellison

This information is not collected. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Clinical Knowledge Summary (CKS) for Bell’s palsy estimates that the annual incidence of the condition in the United Kingdom is one in 5,000 people and that it most commonly occurs in people aged between 15 and 60 years. The CKS, which is an online resource, can be viewed at the following link:

http://cks.nice.org.uk/bells-palsy#!topicsummary

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing on a connection between worry and dementia.

Jane Ellison

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had and continues to have discussions with a range of organisations about dementia including its signs and symptoms.

Reducing the incidence of dementia, improving the treatment and care of people with dementia and improving dementia research, is a key priority for the Government. That is why in February 2015, the Prime Minister launched his Challenge on Dementia 2020 as a successor to the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2012-2015.

Under the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020, we set an ambition for:

– Improved public awareness and understanding of the factors, which increase the risk of developing dementia and how people can reduce their risk by living more healthily. This should include a new healthy ageing campaign and access to tools such as a personalised risk assessment calculator as part of the NHS Health Check.

– Increased identification of effective ways in which people can reduce their personal risk of developing dementia, including cardio-vascular and cognitive strategies, and ways of encouraging these approaches to improve public health and wellbeing.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on developments in the stock market in that country.

Harriett Baldwin

The Chancellor, as well as other HM Treasury ministers and officials regularly meet with their international counterparts to discuss a range of issues, including economic developments in China.

As the Chancellor said during his trip to China in September 2015, the UK should “support and encourage China on this journey of economic change… Both Britain and China also recognise the importance of rebalancing our economies. It’s another way we can partner each other on the journey ahead… As the home to the world’s global financial centre, Britain can support China’s important financial reforms”.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assistance the Government is giving to Libya for protection of oil fields and production lines in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We are extremely concerned about the growing threat from extremist groups in Libya, including Daesh. The recent attacks on the Ras Lanuf and Sidra oil terminals show the threat that these groups pose to Libya’s future political and economic stability. The urgent establishment of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) is the best way to tackle the threat in the long term. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) gave this message when he spoke to Prime Minister-designate, Fayez al-Serraj, on 10 January. He also emphasised the UK Government’s commitment to supporting the GNA in tackling the threats from Daesh and people smuggling.

Effective public financial management will be crucial in helping the GNA achieve real impact on the ground and gain economic credibility. And it is why we have committed £3 million over the next two years to provide technical assistance and economic governance expertise to Libya, thereby enabling a more effective response to defending Libya’s oil facilities.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance the Government has given to former Gurkhas who are homeless as a result of recent earthquakes in Nepal.

Mr Desmond Swayne

A Joint DFID and Ministry of Defence (MOD) response was launched immediately in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquakes in April and May 2015. The MOD through the Gurkha Welfare Trust (GWT) supported both immediate and longer term initiatives. The GWT carried out a detailed assessment of the damage to Gurkha communities and provided £1.2 million in emergency aid that included distribution of shelter kits, tarpaulins and corrugated iron sheets in remote areas immediately in the aftermath of the earthquake. In addition, a unit of the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers was deployed to repair and rebuild the homes and communities of approximately 2,200 Gurkha servicemen that were severely damaged by the earthquake. To date, 150 new houses, built to an earthquake resistant design, are under construction and a further 600 houses will be started this year. DFID has been supplying humanitarian assistance to the Gurkha communities hit by the earthquake since April 2015 and continues to do so.

The GWT’s commitments for the earthquake response now stand at £19 million over 5 years. The MOD has provided an additional grant of £512,000 to assist the GWT in its on-going response operations. Between 2012-20 DFID has committed £14.19 million to support the GWT’s Gurkha Welfare Scheme, a programme predominantly supporting the Nepali servicemen and their communities, on water and sanitation programmes.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make the test for levels of fetal fibronectin to assist in detecting likely premature births available through the NHS.

Ben Gummer

In November 2014, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommended that screening for pre-term birth should not be offered as the available screening test is not reliable. Further research is also needed to better understand the use of fetal fibronectin as a screen indicator in an antenatal screening programme.

The UK NSC concluded that based on the published peer reviewed evidence preterm birth should not be offered for the following reasons:

― The available tests for identifying which asymptomatic women were at risk of preterm labour, including the measurement of cervical length, are not reliable enough to meet the UK NSC’s criteria for use as a screening tool. Screening would identify many women as at risk when they are not, leading to unnecessary preventive treatment;

― The measurement of cervical length has no agreed measurement for establishing which pregnancies are at risk and which are not; and

― There is not enough evidence to suggest that the most effective treatment from preventing preterm labour, vaginal progesterone provides any overall benefit or reduced the likelihood of a baby dying.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the likelihood of a bilateral ceasefire in Colombia as a result of a final peace agreement being signed; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire

President Juan Manuel Santos announced in October 2015, that the Government was prepared to declare a bilateral ceasefire on completion of point 5 of the agenda ‘end of conflict’, which is still being negotiated in Havana. However, he said repeatedly that the FARC must first agree to lay down their weapons and give up their armed struggle before a ceasefire is declared.

On 25 January, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2261, drafted by the United Kingdom. The resolution establishes a Special Political Mission, to monitor and verify the ceasefire between the Government of Colombia and the FARC.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in the UK have been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt

We do not have information on the numbers of people diagnosed with age related macular degeneration in each of the last five years.

What we do have is the number of finished admission episodes, for England, for the last five years, where the primary diagnosis was ‘degeneration of the macular and posterior pole’.

Age group	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
0-4	2	2	3	2	3
5-9	1	2	7	3	6
10-14	6	9	8	8	3
15-19	9	18	10	11	9
20-24	43	32	21	36	20
25-29	51	29	33	47	45
30-34	61	42	57	56	58
35-39	95	73	101	100	73
40-44	162	156	162	229	148
45-49	256	254	319	377	386
50-54	417	439	477	636	603
55-59	980	812	973	1,216	1,283
60-64	2,617	2,589	2,647	2,833	2,767
65-69	4,740	5,153	5,982	6,427	6,729
70-74	8,685	8,937	9,770	9,847	10,671
75-79	12,998	14,051	15,347	14,506	16,069
80-84	16,568	17,083	18,765	17,747	18,847
85-89	13,114	13,960	15,550	14,262	15,497
90+	5,382	6,179	7,320	7,318	8,580
Unknown	8	6	7	11	18
TOTAL	66,195	69,826	77,559	75,672	81,815

This would include age related macular degeneration, as well as other conditions. It also only relates to people admitted to hospital not those seen in outpatients or primary care.

Notes:

A finished admission episode is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider.

Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the same period.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support the Government gives to large pharmaceutical companies to partner with universities.

Joseph Johnson

In the last five years, Innovate UK has committed around £32M to support partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and universities in order to drive the translation of university-based research and commercial applications which tackle disease and life-threatening illnesses.

In addition, the Government is investing in three Catapult Centres supporting the life sciences sector – the Cell Therapy, Precision Medicine and Medicines Technologies Catapults. These centres have a particular focus on supporting collaborative research and innovation among small and medium sized firms.

Large companies are able to claim R&D Tax Relief through a 130% enhanced allowance or, alternatively, an 11% taxable credit via the R&D Expenditure Credit. In 2013/14, these schemes provided support of £950M to 3,950 businesses. Additionally, the UK’s Patent Box was introduced in 2013 and gives additional incentive to develop, retain and commercialise new, innovative patented products in the UK. The Patent Box offers an effective 10% corporation tax rate on trading profits earned in the UK from specified patents.