Tag: Jim Shannon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many seizures of illegal drugs took place in the UK in each of the last five years; and what the value was of the drugs seized in each such case.

Mike Penning

‘Drug Seizures in England and Wales, 2014/15’ was published on 5 November 2015. This statistical release covers the number of drug seizures made by both police forces and Border Force in England and Wales from 2006/07 to 2014/15. The publication can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-2015

Data specifically on the number of seizures made by police forces and Border Force in England and Wales in 2014/15 can be found in Summary Table 1 of the data tables.

The Home Office does not hold information centrally on the number of drug seizures in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Border Force publishes the number of seizures of drugs at the UK border on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-force-transparency-data-august-2015

The Home Office and Border Force do no hold any information on the value of drugs seized.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that young women attend screening for cervical cancer.

Jane Ellison

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy. The UK NSC reviews its recommendations on a three year basis or earlier if any new peer reviewed evidence emerges.

The UK NSC is currently reviewing the evidence on whether human papillomavirus testing as primary screening for cervical disease should replace the currently used cytology test and whether faecal immunochemical testing could be used as the primary screening marker in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. Public consultations on both reviews have just closed and the UK NSC is expected to make a recommendation to ministers later this month.

The NHS Breast Screening Programme is currently carrying out a long-term trial to investigate extending current screening eligibility to women aged 47-49 and 71-73. Over two million women have taken part in a randomised control trial, with the impact on breast cancer mortality rates due to be reported in the early 2020s. The UK NSC will consider the research evidence when it is published.

We are not aware of steps being taken by employers to enable staff to take time off work to attend cancer screening appointments. However, Macmillan has produced, “Your rights at work” an information leaflet on reasonable adjustments in the workplace for people who have or have had cancer.

In 2011, the UK NSC recommended that bowel scope screening could be offered in addition to the homes testing kit as part of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. Currently 76% of bowel scope screening centres in England are operational, and the Secretary of State’s commitment is to have this programme rolled out to all screening centres in England by the end of 2016. Health Education England has commissioned a training pilot for non-medical endoscopists (NMEs) to provide accelerated training in certain diagnostics procedures, with the aim of providing additional screening capacity. The pilot will commence in January 2016. A framework has also been developed to help NMEs demonstrate that they have achieved the competency levels required for their role.

The NHS Screening Programmes have a dedicated team who oversee education, training and stakeholder information. This involves working closely with Royal Colleges, Professional bodies, stakeholder groups, NHS England, Health Education England and the Public Health England campaigns team. A vast range of educational resources exist which are free to NHS staff and cover all screening programme plus the theory and practice of screening. The team is currently expanding the range of taught courses and e-learning resources to make learning more accessible. Accessible patient information is available to educate users of the service and enable informed choices regarding screening. This is complemented by a comprehensive set of material on NHS Choices regarding all 11 NHS Screening Programmes. Patient information is constantly updated and users are involved in the reviews and evaluation of all materials.

To increase rates of cervical screening in young women, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme has commissioned a £1 million study to determine which interventions are effective at increasing screening uptake amongst women who are receiving their first invitation from the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. The study began in November 2011 and reports can be expected in spring 2016.

In addition, the Department of Health Behavioural Insight team is developing a trial to investigate the use of behavioural insights to optimise the content of the invitation letter for cervical screening.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to expedite the process for fostering a child.

Edward Timpson

As this is a devolved matter we can only provide information for England.

Between 2013 and 2015, the government invested £900,000 to support local authorities and their partners in recruiting and retaining the foster carers they need to ensure that there is a range of placement options available to meet the needs of local looked-after children. In 2013, the government streamlined and strengthened the assessment and approval process for foster carers in England. The government introduced a two-stage process to ensure efficiency and transparency. The expected timeframe for approving a person wishing to become a foster carer is eight months but this can vary depending on individual circumstances.

Information on the average duration of foster placements that ceased in England in the year ending 31 March 2014 is available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption–2 .

Information on the average duration of foster placements that ceased in England in the year ending 31 March 2013 is available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption

Information on the average duration of foster placements that ceased in England in the year ending 31 March 2012 is available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-by-local-authorities-in-england-including-adoption.

Analysis of the average duration of foster placements has not been undertaken below national level.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the indebtedness of people aged 18 to 25.

Harriett Baldwin

The government is committed to ensuring that young people can access the support they need in order to make informed financial decisions and avoid problem debt.

To ensure that young people leave school with an understanding of personal finance, financial literacy was made part of the secondary school National Curriculum in September 2014; and the mathematics curriculum has also been changed to include topics on financial decisions. This means that for the first time, young people now learn about the importance of budgeting, sound management of money, credit and debt, as well as understanding different financial services and products.

The government set up the Money Advice Service (MAS) in 2010 to enhance consumers’ understanding and knowledge of financial matters. MAS provides a single point of debt advice for consumers, including people aged 18-25, and allows those facing problems with debt to obtain free and impartial money advice. MAS also recently launched their nationwide Financial Capability Strategy, which will specifically consider how the needs of young people should inform provision going forward.

The government is currently consulting on how the provision of public financial guidance could be made more effective for consumers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) an appropriate number of podiatrists work in the NHS and (b) such podiatrists are appropriately trained.

Alistair Burt

It is the responsibility of Health Education England (HEE) to ensure that the healthcare workforce has the right skills, behaviours and training, and is available in the right numbers to support the delivery of health care and health improvement.

HEE’s workforce plan is based on the needs of Local Education and Training Boards, which are responsible for working with local providers and clinical commissioning groups, to determine the future requirements of the workforce reflecting local patient need. The workforce investment plans are reviewed by the HEE Allied Health Professions (AHP) Advisory Group, which is chaired by NHS England’s Chief AHP Officer and has representation from the AHP professional bodies including the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists. For 2015/16, HEE commissioned 362 training places for podiatrists.

HEE is committed to working with stakeholders to influence training curricula and ensure that the NHS workforce can provide the highest standards of care. This includes ensuring that podiatrists receive appropriate pre-registration training and then through Continuing Professional Development to broaden their knowledge, expertise and competence, in line with the latest evidence-based clinical practice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that reductions in energy prices are passed on to consumers by energy companies.

Andrea Leadsom

The government expects and has regular discussions with suppliers to make sure any reductions in the costs of supplying energy are passed to consumers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans the Government has to introduce a tax relating to the sugar content of food.

Jane Ellison

There are no plans to introduce a tax on sugar. However all taxes are kept under review, with decisions being a matter for the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to improve the security of mobile devices that are used to access internet banking.

Mike Penning

Through the National Cyber Security Programme, the Government committed £860 million in the last Parliament to increase the cyber security of the UK. This has included a range of work with industry to increase their cyber resilience. For example, the Cyber Essentials scheme sets out the basic technical controls organisations should have in place to protect against common cyber attacks. As the Chancellor also announced on 17 November, spending on the UK’s cyber security programmes will be almost doubled over the next five years, with £1.9 billion funding. Although Government is making a significant investment, partnership between the public and private sector is crucial to making the UK one of the safest places to do business online. By identifying and closing down vulnerabilities in their systems and processes, the private sector can make it much more difficult for criminals to operate. That is why we are working closely with the private sector to drive up standards. In the coming months we will also publish, in collaboration with industry, information to help the public better understand key cyber security principles of devices to help them to make more informed decisions. This work will be a part of the Government’s Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, which I intend to Publish next year.

At the same time, through our Cyber Streetwise campaign, we are helping to inform the public of simple security measures, such as installing security software, which in themselves can protect them and their devices against fraud.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in the last year.

Jane Ellison

No assessment has been made of the number of people who have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in the last year.

In 2007 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) produced the clinical guidance Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): Diagnosis and management of CFS/ME in adults and children, which estimates that the annual prevalence is approximately 4,000 cases per million of the population.

There is no medication available to specifically treat CFS, however the NICE guidance recommends that pharmacological pain relief may be appropriate for the relief of chronic pain that the condition can cause. Other methods of treatment that may be of benefit are cognitive behavioural therapy, graded exercise therapy or activity management. The guidance can be found at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg53

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of trends in media ownership in Romania.

Mr David Lidington

The British Embassy in Bucharest follows developments in the Romanian media closely, including changes in media ownership. The economic crisis of 2008 resulted in questions over the profitability of many media outlets and changes in ownership. The Government considers that a pluralist media is important for media freedom and the freedom of speech as provided for in the Romanian Constitution.