Tag: Jim Shannon

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

To ask the Attorney General, if he will take steps to offer incentives to encourage more solicitors to offer pro bono work.

Robert Buckland

Pro Bono is a voluntary commitment made by lawyers who understand that the service they provide is invaluable to those individuals who would otherwise be denied access to justice.

As pro bono champions of the Government, the Law Officers support a number of projects through our co-ordinating committees. The Government has also provided funding for several projects, such as the Litigants in Person package run by the Ministry of Justice.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people under the age of 18 have died after receiving the HPV vaccination in the last three years.

George Freeman

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) collects reports of suspected side effects to vaccines and medicines via the Yellow Card Scheme. It is important to note that a report of a suspected side effect does not necessarily mean the vaccine or medicine was the cause of the reported event, and coincidental illness can also be a factor. Such reports remain under continual review by the MHRA in order to detect possible new risks.

The MHRA has received one suspected side effect report with a fatal outcome temporally associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine which occurred in the last three years. A link with the vaccine has not been established. There has been no suggestion from safety monitoring so far in the United Kingdom that the vaccine has been responsible for any deaths.

More than three million girls have been vaccinated in the UK with HPV vaccine since 2008, and tens of millions more have been vaccinated globally. As with all vaccines, safety remains under continual review, and HPV vaccine has a very good safety record.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Local Government Association on the effect of charges on local authorities of changes to funding over the next five years announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Mr Marcus Jones

The 2015 Spending Review confirmed a historic four year settlement for local government, including making councils responsible to local people for their financing, rather than central government. It delivers a long-held ambition for councils to be financed from locally raised resources. And it means that by the end of this Parliament, councils will benefit from 100 per cent business rates retention – something they have been calling for, for over a quarter of a century.

It is a settlement which has been subject to extensive consultation, including with the Local Government Association, which welcomed the offer of a four year planning horizon. A range of additional funding flexibilities were sought during the consultation, especially on fees for planning and licensing.

In February 2016, proposals were outlined to link future increases in councils’ fees for processing planning applications to performance in terms of speed and quality of decisions.

By the end of this Parliament, local government will be able to retain 100 per cent of local taxes, including up to £13 billion of revenue from business rates, to spend on local government services. In order to ensure that the reforms are fiscally neutral, these new powers must come with new responsibilities, as well as phasing out grants from Whitehall. The government is working closely with the Local Government Association to design the reforms.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Bahrain on the protection of the civil and political rights of the Shia population in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We follow the political situation closely in Bahrain, including issues related to the country’s Shia population. We regularly discuss civil and political rights with the highest levels of Government of Bahrain. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Right Honorable Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) did so most recently with his Bahraini counterpart, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa on 14 June 2016. We encourage the Government of Bahrain to respect the rights of political groups to operate and to seek an inclusive political dialogue.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department is doing to help reduce the price of food for people on low incomes.

George Eustice

It is not the Government’s role to set retail food prices. The main drivers of food prices are commodity prices, exchange rates and oil prices. Anything that affects these will have an impact on food prices.

Defra does monitor retail food prices through The Consumer Prices Index. Year on year food prices have continued to fall with an annual rate of inflation of minus 2.8 per cent in the year to May 2016. Following a period of higher food price inflation retail food prices have fallen by 7.0% since their peak in February 2014.

We also monitor trends in household expenditure on food through the Family Food Survey. This includes monitoring the percentage of household expenditure which is spent on food, including for households with the lowest 20% income, which was 15.4% for 2014 compared with an average of 16.1% over the last 10 years.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with pharmaceutical companies on steps to reduce the cost of cancer drugs for the NHS.

Nicola Blackwood

The Department has frequent discussions with representatives of the United Kingdom pharmaceutical industry as well as with individual pharmaceutical companies on a range of topics. We want to see the latest and most advanced drugs made available to National Health Service patients in a way that ensures value for money.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage tree planting; and what grants are available for that purpose.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

The Government is committed to planting 11 million trees in England during this Parliament, and is also supporting the planting of a million trees by schoolchildren, in partnership with the Woodland Trust. Individual administrations within the UK determine their own ambitions for tree planting.

In England, we encourage tree planting by championing sector-led initiatives, such as Grown in Britain and the Roots to Prosperity strategy, in their work to grow demand for wood from ground level up, developing the woodland economy. We also support the Woodland Carbon Code to help to attract private investment in woodland creation.

Grants are available from the Forestry Commission under the EU funded Woodland Creation Grant in the Rural Development Programme for England. Until negotiations conclude and the UK leaves the EU, all existing arrangements remain in place, including the rural development programme. We are working with the Treasury to ensure continuity, particularly for agri-environment schemes, but without prejudice to future decisions.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to make dietary supplements to address osteoporosis available through the NHS.

David Mowat

General practitioners can prescribe any product, which they consider to be a medicine necessary for the treatment of their patients providing that the product is not included in Schedules 1 or 2 to the NHS (General Medical Services contracts) (Prescription of Drugs etc.) Regulations 2004 and the doctor is prepared to justify any challenges to their prescribing by their local primary care organisation.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hate crimes were committed against disabled people in each of the last five years.

Sarah Newton

The Home Office has collected disability hate crime data from the police since 2011/12.

In 2011/12, the police recorded 1,748 disability hate crime offences, 1,911 in 2012/13, 2,006 in 2013/14 and 2,508 in 2014/15.

Further information on hate crime can be found in Hate Crimes, England and Wales, 2014/15, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2014-to-2015

Data for 2015/16 are due to be published in October 2016.

As stated by the Office for National Statistics, action taken by police forces to improve their compliance with the National Crime Recording Standard has led to improved recording of crime over the last year, especially for violence against the person offences. Together with a greater awareness of disability hate crime, and improved willingness of victims to come forward, this is likely to be a factor in the increase in disability hate crimes recorded by the police.

This Government is committed to tackling hate crime. The UK has one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to tackle hate crime. We are working across Government with police, (including National Community Tensions Team), the Crown Prosecution Service and community partners to send out a clear message that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit these crimes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will hold discussions with Greek Orthodox leaders in (a) Iraq and (b) Kurdistan on (i) support for internally displaced people from and (ii) returning internally displaced people to (A) Mosul and (b) Nineveh.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We are working with partners to ensure stabilisation efforts in liberated areas allow internally displaced persons to return to their homes safely. On 21 July, the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), announced £10.5 million in additional UK funding for stabilisation in Iraq, this includes £1.75 million to support planning associated with the Mosul campaign. This announcement brings the UK’s Iraq contributions on immediate stabilisation to £9.25 million, and on explosive hazards to £7.75 million.

Since summer 2014, the UK has pledged £129.5 million of humanitarian support. This includes £50 million of additional assistance announced on 20 July 2016. To date, we have provided cash assistance, access to clean water, food, medicines and other life-saving assistance for the most vulnerable – irrespective of race, religion or ethnicity.