The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the potential for Russia to use submarines to monitor internet traffic through undersea cables.
Mr David Lidington
Her Majesty’s Government continually assesses a range of possible threats to the UK’s infrastructure and interests.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that drivers on public transport are trained to assist disabled passengers.
Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport (DfT) has work closely with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee to commission work to evaluate the existing Disabled Awareness Training and to produce some guidelines in best practice.
Since September 2008 all professional bus and coach drivers have been required to hold a Certificate of Professional Competence as a requirement of the EU Directive 2003/59. Disability Awareness Training is currently available to all drivers as part of the periodic Certificate of Professional Competence training syllabus. The bus industry has reported that virtually all drivers have now undertaken Disability Awareness Training and DfT will continue to work with the industry to encourage the further uptake of disability awareness training by bus and coach drivers.
The standards that taxi and PHV drivers have to meet is a matter for individual local licensing authorities. DfT Best Practice Guidance for taxi and PHV licensing says that licensing authorities should consider requiring or encouraging their drivers to undertake disability awareness training. According to DfT’s 2015 taxi and PHV statistical survey, 104 licensing authorities in England and Wales require taxi drivers to undergo disability awareness training.
In the rail industry awareness training is mandatory for all customer facing staff and managers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to introduce a standard dementia test for all people aged between 65 and 70.
Jane Ellison
Improving the treatment and care of people with dementia, reducing the incidence of 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.
There are different models of diagnosis which are being utilised for all stages of the condition across all age groups. A range of different tests and diagnostic procedures are needed to diagnose dementia depending on the person and the type of dementia they may be suspected of presenting with, therefore a single standardised test would not be clinically appropriate.
On 10 September 2014 NHS England published a new Dementia Toolkit aimed at helping general practitioners making a more timely diagnosis and what they can do in terms of vital post-diagnostic support. Decisions on specific health treatments and tests, however, are made at a local level to best meet the needs of the individual concerned.
We will be raising awareness of dementia as a component of the NHS Health Check for all attendees aged between 65 and 74.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions the Government with the EU on charges for quarry spaces and pest control.
Rory Stewart
No discussions have been held with the EU about changes to the protection of quarry and pest control species.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her French counterpart on the possible introduction of fingerprinting at Schengen zone borders.
James Brokenshire
The Home Secretary and her French counterpart have had a number of discussions concerning the need to fingerprint individuals at the external border of the Schengen area as part of the strategy to manage the unprecedented flow of migrants.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what educational and health programmes are (a) in place and (b) planned to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted disease.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) supports local prevention initiatives through the provision of guidance, evidence and data. PHE supports the National Chlamydia Screening Programme which provides testing for chlamydia to all young people aged 15-24 annually. PHE commissions a number of national human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention activities and specialised sexual health information resources to provide educational and health resources to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV.
STI prevention programmes are the responsibility of local authorities, and there are a wide variety of local educational and health initiatives underway across England. Local authorities are mandated to provide genitourinary medicine services for the early diagnosis and treatment of STIs.
Further, last week I launched the £500,000 HIV prevention innovation fund and our first National HIV Home Sampling service which aims to deliver up to 50,000 postal testing kits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Israeli government on the prevention of attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We are deeply concerned by the recent violence across the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. We have had a number of discussions about this matter with the Israeli authorities over recent weeks. On 19 November, our Ambassador to Tel Aviv discussed the ongoing violence with Gilad Erdan, the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs, Public Security and Information. On 24 November, I raised this issue with the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires and officials from Israel’s Ministry of Defence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many women have suffered from hair loss in each of the last five years.
Jane Ellison
Data for the number of women with hair loss is not collected.
The number of finished admission episodes (FAEs) for women with a primary diagnosis of hair loss in each of the last five years is provided in the following table.
|
Year |
FAEs |
|
2010-11 |
578 |
|
2011-12 |
551 |
|
2012-13 |
640 |
|
2013-14 |
676 |
|
2014-15 |
633 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, Health and Social Care Information Centre
Notes:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will have discussions with pub chains on training staff to identify people with suicidal tendencies in order to stop serving such people alcohol.
Anna Soubry
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has no plans to undertake such discussions but as part of the continuing programme of work to support the government’s suicide prevention strategy, Public Health England has published guidance for local authorities to develop local suicide prevention action plans. The guidance suggests that local authorities establish a local suicide prevention group and work with relevant organisations in their area to co-ordinate activities to reduce suicide. Those groups can work with landlords and pub managers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to tackle obesity in children under 11.
Jane Ellison
Tackling obesity, particularly in children, is one of our major priorities. Progress has been made in recent years, but we know we have much further to go. We will announce our plans for tackling childhood obesity in the new year.
In the meantime we are continuing to invest in the Change4Life campaign, which provides motivation and support for families to make small but significant improvements to their diets and activity levels. Industry has also taken a range of actions including removing billions of calories and tons of sugar from products and portion sizes have been reduced, but the challenge to industry to make further substantial progress remains.