Tag: Jim Shannon

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing on the link between the speed of a person’s walk and dementia.

Jane Ellison

Improving dementia research, improving the treatment and care of people with dementia and reducing the incidence of dementia, 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.

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.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recently published a guideline which makes recommendations on approaches in mid‑life to delay or prevent the onset of dementia, disability and frailty in later life.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans the Government has to support the rebuilding of Syria after the end of the conflict in that country.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK has been at the forefront of the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. We have committed over £1.1 billion to date, making us the second largest bilateral donor to the international response.

The UK is now updating our planning to reflect the timeline envisaged in the Vienna political process and are asking others to do the same. The scale of the task will be enormous, complex and take a long time to complete. The UK’s response will therefore be part of a wider international effort.

The initial priorities will be to support stabilisation and transition including safety and security, reconciliation, transitional justice and confidence building measures. Meeting protection and basic needs will remain a priority, along with helping displaced persons to return. We will also look to build local governance structures in liberated areas. Over time the focus will shift to longer-term reconstruction, which includes the re-building of Syria’s shattered infrastructure, economy, services, and society. The expertise of the UN, International Financial Institutions and the private sector will be essential.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the government of Romania on (a) improving media freedom and media pluralism in that country and (b) the activities of (i) Central Media Enterprise, (ii) Adrian Sârbu and (iii) Ronald Lauder.

Mr David Lidington

The British Embassy in Bucharest continues to follow the issue of media freedom in Romania, given its impact on the quality of democracy and on the rule of law. As part of the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), to which Romania has been subject since its EU accession, the European Commission has called on Romania to “review existing standards to safeguard a free and pluralist media”. We have worked closely with the European Commission and the Romanian government in encouraging full implementation of CVM recommendations including on the relationship between the media and state institutions. The Department has had no recent discussions with the government of Romania on the activities of Central Media Enterprise, Adrian Sarbu or Ronald Lauder.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve the personal fitness and health of police officers.

Mike Penning

The Winsor review of police officer and staff pay and conditions, which the Home Secretary commissioned, recommended in March 2012 that fitness testing should be introduced. Following consideration by the Police Advisory Board, mandatory fitness testing was implemented on 1 September 2014.

The management of initiatives that support officers to improve fitness is a matter for individual police forces and the College of Policing has issued guidance in this area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to develop a shared strategy across the UK for tackling sexually transmitted diseases.

Jane Ellison

The Department set out its ambitions on sexual health, including tackling sexually transmitted diseases, in its Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England (2013); a copy is attached.

As health is a devolved matter Ministers do not regularly discuss these issues, however research and evidence of best practice is made available throughout the United Kingdom.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on religious education as a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

Nick Gibb

The government firmly believes in the importance of religious education (RE).

RE is a compulsory subject for all pupils up to the age of 18 in state funded schools. For schools without a religious character, the RE curriculum needs to reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are, in the main, Christian whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to fund the development of clean energy sources.

Andrea Leadsom

This parliament we intend to hold three new Contracts for Difference allocation rounds to support large scale renewables. The revised Feed-in Tariff scheme will support small-scale renewable projects, providing around £2bn funding for renewables over the lifetime of the new FIT agreements. This is in addition to the ongoing support we are already providing through these schemes and though the Renewable Obligation which has allowed us to more than treble our renewable capacity since 2010.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions his Department has had with its counterparts in Northern Ireland on the integration of minority communities.

Mr Marcus Jones

Officials have regular contact with their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive on issues of mutual interest, including integration, but we do not keep a central list of such contacts, many of which are informal.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-12.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to assist students with minimising the accrual of credit card debt.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, which includes the credit card sector. Consumer credit regulation transferred from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014.

The FCA is currently undertaking a thorough review of the credit card market through its ‘credit card market study’. The market study is investigating three areas, including the extent of unaffordable credit card debt and how consumers can drive effective competition through shopping around and switching.

On the 3rd November 2015 the FCA published its interim report which found that the market was working reasonably well for most customers. However, the FCA expressed concern about the scale of potentially problematic debt in this sector, and the incentives for firms to manage this.

The interim report also included the FCA’s early thinking on potential remedies which include measures to give consumers more control over their credit limits, measures to encourage customers to pay off debt quicker when they can afford to, and proposals that firms do more to identify earlier those consumers who may be struggling to repay and take action to help them manage their repayments.

The FCA also set out potential measures to allow consumers to open access to their credit card usage to other market participants, as well as clarifying standards for price comparison websites, in order to facilitate shopping around and switching. The FCA is currently asking for feedback on the findings and potential remedies.

The Government is looking forward to the full report in the spring, and would encourage interested parties to give their views to the FCA to assist it in addressing the issues it has identified.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government has given to the government of Nepal on the conduct of elections.

Mr Hugo Swire

The UK provided £14 million to support the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections in Nepal. This consisted of support to provide an environment conducive to free, fair and inclusive elections and technical support.