Tag: Jim Shannon

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 NATO on the emergency provision of troops to (a) Poland and (b) the Balkan states.

Mr Julian Brazier

The UK was one of the driving forces behind NATO’s Readiness Action Plan (RAP), agreed at the Wales Summit, which includes tripling the strength of the NATO Response Force (NRF); the creation of a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) that is able to deploy at very short notice; and enhancing NATO’s Standing Naval Forces.

The UK is fully involved with NATO work to improve the movement of troops and logistic support to the enhanced NRF and VJTF although improvements to and development of road networks remain the responsibility of each member nation.

NATO Allies regularly discuss the progress of the RAP and the capabilities and deployability of our forces; we will do so again at the NATO Defence Ministerial meeting this month.

The UK will contribute to the VJTF in every year between now and 2021 including: a 1,000 strong battle group for the Spanish-led Land VJTF in 2016; we will act as the Land VJTF lead nation in 2017, with 3,000 UK personnel; and in 2020 we will provide a 1,000 battle group to the Polish-led VJTF

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 recent discussions he has had with the BBC and NATO on more effective use of the BBC World Service to counter inaccurate reporting from Russian media outlets.

Mr David Lidington

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is in consultation with partners and allies on how to achieve greater access to quality, independent BBC content in countries with significant Russian speaking populations.

The Government is investing additional funds in the BBC’s digital, TV and radio services around the world to build the global reach of the World Service and increase access to news and information, including additional programming for Russian speakers. It is for the BBC, as an independent broadcaster, to take its own decision about scheduling and programme control.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the implications for her policy on the solar power industry are of the recent European Court of Justice decision on levels of VAT.

Andrea Leadsom

HMRC has consulted on removing solar technologies from the list of measures that are currently eligible for the lower (5%) rate of VAT. They are currently considering the responses to the consultation, which closed on 3^rd February[1].

If it is decided that a change to VAT is appropriate, we will consider options on how to maintain a suitable rate-of-return for investors.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/vat-changes-to-the-reduced-rate-of-vat-for-the-installation-of-energy-saving-materials

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many convictions for drug smuggling have arisen from co-operation between UK and Spanish police in the last five years.

Karen Bradley

The UK works closely with the Spanish authorities on a range of organised crime issues, including drug trafficking. However, the Home Office does not hold information on how many drug trafficking convictions have arisen from co-operation between UK and Spanish police.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the incidence of death during armed forces training.

Penny Mordaunt

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 1 February 2016 to Question 24067 to the hon. Member for Romford (Mr Rosindell).

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people (a) applied for and (b) were granted divorce in each of the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage

Details of the number of applications for divorce and the number of decrees issued by the courts are published in Table 7 of the Family Court Statistics Quarterly and the December 2015 report is at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to make available on the NHS less invasive treatment for inflamed pancreas conditions.

Jane Ellison

Pancreatitis (an inflammation of the pancreas) may either be acute or chronic. Chronic pancreatitis is usually the result of repeated acute episodes of the condition. If a person has suspected acute pancreatitis, urgent admission to secondary care is required. Initial treatment may include pain relief, intravenous fluids and antibiotics for treatment of associated cholangitis (an infection of the biliary tract) or other acute infections.

The management of chronic pancreatitis is usually carried out in secondary care, although the primary care healthcare professional may have a role in the provision of adequate pain relief, screening for diabetes (a possible complication), providing general lifestyle advice and support and referring or admitting patients to secondary care if they develop complication.

Surgical intervention may be required in particularly severe cases of the condition. This may involve the removal of: inflamed sections of the pancreas; pancreatic tissue that has died as a result of infection; gallstones or the entire gallbladder; pseudocysts (sacs of fluid) which can develop on the pancreas; and, in particularly severe cases, the entire pancreas. Whilst some of these interventions may be minimally invasive, others will require more extensive surgical treatment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published Clinical Knowledge Summaries on both acute and chronic pancreatitis. They are available at the following links:

cks.nice.org.uk/pancreatitis-chronic#!scenario

cks.nice.org.uk/pancreatitis-acute

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 clinical bodies on potential links between prostate cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Jane Ellison

There have been no such discussions.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus develop an emergency strategy for the supply of power and water to those Areas.

Mark Lancaster

The Sovereign Base Areas have contingency plans in place for the supply of water and power. The strategy for power is based on emergency back-up generators which support key facilities across the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) and the intention is to increase this capacity to other areas. The SBA Administration is also working with the Cypriot authorities develop a 20MW commercial photo-voltaic power plant in the Western SBA to be linked to the national grid. For water, the Ministry of Defence has its own dam in the Western SBA, providing three months’ water supply and in the Eastern SBA obtains sufficient water capacity from reservoirs, boreholes and desalination plants.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assistance his Department provides for (a) education, (b) youth services and (c) medical treatment in Palestinian camps in Lebanon.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

In 2015/16 we contributed £33.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency General Fund which ensures provision of education and medical treatment for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. We are spending £1.15 million this financial year within the Palestinian camps to support Palestinian youth networks to bolster community stability and resilience to extremism. This includes supporting youth in the development of solutions to community-level problems, civic participation and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, and the production of youth-led counter extremist narratives.