Tag: Jim Shannon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce nuisance calls and (b) give advice to companies on how to contact the public appropriately on inheritance tax issues.

Matt Hancock

Companies who wish to make direct marking calls must abide by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations(PECR). The Government has already taken a number of steps to reduce the problem of nuisance calls with further measures to be implemented in the near future. In May 2016, the Government introduced a new requirement for all direct marketing callers to provide caller line identification. In September 2016 we introduced a measure in the Digital Economy Bill that in currently going through Parliament that will make it a requirement for the Information Commissioner to issue a statutory code of practice on direct marketing, which will support the ICO in taking action against those who breach PECR. More recently, we announced the Governments intention to hold company directors to account for breaches of the PECR. In addition, the Government is considering extending the Information Commissioner’s powers of compulsory audit to organisations that generate nuisance calls. This measure amongst other measures will provide better consumer protection, from unsolicited telephone calls.

The Gov.UK website, provides information about inheritance tax and the support available from the Inheritance Tax and Probate helpline. HMRC works with advisers to direct them and the public to this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on steps to ensure that maintenance of flight connections between Belfast Aldergrove Airport and New York.

Mr John Hayes

The Department for Transport was briefed on several occasions by the Northern Ireland Office on the Northern Ireland Executive’s considerations on steps to ensure the maintenance of flight connections between Belfast Aldergrove Airport and New York. The Department was not actively involved in this matter.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Government had with the Chinese government during the state visit to London in October 2015 on reducing restrictions on the Christian minority in China.

Mr Hugo Swire

Religious freedom was not raised during the recent State Visit. However, the Prime Minister my Right Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) was very clear during his wide-ranging discussions with President Xi Jinping of the importance that the UK attaches to human rights as part of our wider relationship with China.

We believe that freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental human right. I therefore remain concerned by the restrictions placed on Christianity in China. We are aware of reports of the closure or demolition of churches, the removal of crosses from buildings, and that individuals are being harassed or detained for their beliefs.

We raise the range of our human rights concerns directly with China. We do so during the annual UK-China Human Rights Dialogue, most recently in April 2015. We also highlight them publicly in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy (www.hrdreport.fco.gov.uk). We will continue to pursue our concerns both privately and in public fora.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in each of the last five years had Tourette’s syndrome.

Alistair Burt

Studies estimate that 200,000 – 300,000 people in the United Kingdom are affected by Tourette’s syndrome. Information concerning how many people had Tourette’s syndrome in each of the last five years is not collected.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Iranian counterpart on the human rights of the Bahai community in Iran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have repeatedly expressed our concern at the harassment faced by Baha’is in Iran and at the sentencing of seven Baha’i leaders to 20 years in prison. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised human rights concerns during his visit to Tehran in August, including lack of freedoms for all citizens. We will continue to urge the Iranian Government to ensure that all Iranian citizens are able to practise their faith freely, as required by international conventions.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what restrictions are in place to monitor mobile pubs on bicycles.

Mike Penning

Licensing authorities make decisions about the sale of alcohol which is governed by the Licensing Act 2003.

Under the Licensing Act 2003, there is a prohibition on the sale of alcohol from a moving vehicle. A person would only be able to buy alcohol if the vehicle were stationary and the operator would need a premises licence at every place the vehicle stopped to sell alcohol. There is nothing to prevent the consumption of alcohol by passengers on such vehicles.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with the Royal College of Nursing on the treatment of prostate cancer by high doses of radiotherapy on the first 20 days of that treatment.

Jane Ellison

There have been no discussions with the Royal College of Nursing on this matter.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to monitor and control eye surgery.

Alistair Burt

There are currently no plans to bring forward new legislative proposals for regulating refractive laser eye surgery.

Providers of laser eye surgery are required to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as this is a regulated activity. All providers of regulated activities under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 must be registered with the CQC and meet the new fundamental standards of safety and quality that came onto force on 1 April this year. The CQC has a range of enforcement actions that it can take if providers do not meet the fundamental standards.

Doctors performing laser eye surgery in the United Kingdom must also be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). All registered doctors are expected to be familiar with the GMC’s publication Good medical practice and supporting guidance, which describes what is expected of them. This document makes clear that medical doctors must recognise and work within the limits of their competence

Further work is underway to improve the delivery, safety and standards for patient information regarding these procedures and this is being led by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of depression among new mothers.

Alistair Burt

Reducing the incidence of depression among new mothers is a high priority for the Government.

The Mandate from the Government for the National Health Service includes an objective for NHS England to work with partner organisations to reduce the incidence and impact of postnatal depression through earlier diagnosis, and better intervention and support.

The NHS Mandate also includes an objective that every woman has a named midwife who is responsible for ensuring she has personalised care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and during the postnatal period. This will help clinicians to identify perinatal mental health problems as early as possible and to give women the support they need.

To help achieve this we have increased the number of midwives by over 1,800 and the number of health visitors by over 3,500 since May 2010. In addition, 6,400 midwifery students and an extra 1,000 health visitors are in training respectively.

We are also working to improve the provision of perinatal mental health services which is why it was announced in the March budget that the Government would invest an additional £75 million over the next five years, £15 million per year, to support women with mental ill health in the perinatal period. NHS England is leading a work programme to ensure that this extra money is spent in the right way, at the right time and in the right places. This work is being carried out collaboratively with partner organisations, including the Department and Public Health England, clinical experts and service users.

Health Education England (HEE) has committed to ensure that the right knowledge and training is available so that the NHS is skilled in how it looks after women’s mental as well as physical health. The HEE Mandate includes an objective that there will be specialist perinatal mental health staff available for every birthing unit by 2017. HEE is also committed to working with the medical royal colleges to support specific perinatal mental health training being incorporated into the syllabus for doctors in postgraduate training by 2017.

The Department has funded the Institute of Health Visitors which has trained over 600 perinatal mental health visitor champions to enable health visitors to identify and manage perinatal depression and other maternal mental health conditions.

The Department has also funded the Maternal Health Care Policy Research Unit to undertake a project to develop and pilot test a perinatal mental health indicator which would reflect the mental health care a woman receives at certain critical perinatal time-points; the antenatal booking, the early postnatal period, and approximately one year postnatally.

In line with the approach on other access and waiting time standards, NHS England appointed the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health to run expert engagement and produce implementation outputs, for example commissioning guidance and model pathways. An Expert Reference Group has been formed to oversee this work. NHS England plan to be able to make the recommendations of the group public as soon as possible.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful cataract operations in each age group there were in each of the last three years.

Alistair Burt

Data is not collected on the number of successful or unsuccessful cataract operations. The table below shows the number of finished consultant episodes with a main or secondary procedure of a cataract operation by age group between 2012-13 and 2014-15.

Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

Age	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
0-4	383	423	332
5-9	187	188	168
10-14	128	138	102
15-19	147	153	156
20-24	235	266	255
25-29	331	315	348
30-34	525	542	510
35-39	788	822	820
40-44	1,911	1,883	1,905
45-49	3,803	4,166	4,208
50-54	7,437	7,923	8,554
55-59	13,118	14,283	15,223
60-64	23,605	24,919	26,860
65-69	39,796	43,535	47,591
70-74	53,676	58,908	65,216
75-79	68,836	77,081	85,126
80-84	65,744	72,303	78,833
85-89	39,255	42,602	45,938
90+	13,575	14,883	15,740
Unknown	125	137	213

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Note:

The figures in the table do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.