Tag: Jim Shannon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many accidents involving aircraft there have been in the UK in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Statistics for aircraft accidents in the UK are kept by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is required to investigate events which come within the definition of accident contained in Article 1 of the EU Regulation 996/2010. AAIB also investigates "serious incidents" as defined by the Regulation.

The table below sets out the number of investigations that the AAIB has undertaken. These includes investigations into serious incidents involving commercial air transport aircraft for the sake of completeness.

Year	No of AAIB Investigations Commenced
2014	236
2013	245
2012	264
2011	251
2010	248

CAA statistics differ slightly as they are based on reports made under the mandatory occurrence reporting requirements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to prevent diseases (a) contaminating and (b) spreading between horse chestnut trees.

Rory Stewart

Horse chestnut trees have been affected by two particular organisms in recent years; the horse chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella) and horse chestnut bleeding canker (Pseudomonas syringae pathovar aesculi).

These are both well established in Great Britain and statutory action to destroy affected trees would be impractical.

Forest Research has been involved in several studies to understand the nature of the organisms and their spread. This work has been used to develop recommendations for evidence-based disease management.

The UK Plant Health Risk Register helps to identify new and revised threats to horse chestnut trees and priority actions in response. In collaboration with EU partners we have taken actions to reduce the risk of damaging pests, such as the citrus longhorn beetle, being introduced and causing damage to horse chestnut trees.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assistance the Government provides to internet service providers to ensure that images of child pornography online are identified and removed.

Mike Penning

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), an independent organisation funded primarily by the internet industry itself, acts as the UK reporting hotline for criminal content online, including child sexual abuse material hosted anywhere in the world. The IWF works closely with internet companies to remove or block indecent images of children where they appear. Since April 2014, the IWF has been able to search proactively for indecent images as well as acting on reports received from the public.

The Government has been working closely with the IWF and the internet companies as part of the WePROTECT initiative. In December 2014, the Prime Minister hosted the WePROTECT Summit in London which secured globally significant commitments from 50 governments and international organisations, 20 leading technology companies and 10 civil society organisations. These included: that the UK would work with UNICEF to establish a new Global Fund to Prevent Violence Against Children; to put in place the resources needed to better identify victims, track down criminals and remove child sexual abuse material from the internet; and, to forge strong partnerships with industry to develop technological solutions to protect children online. The UK and UAE governments are now preparing for a second summit, in Abu Dhabi this November, which will take forward these commitments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to recover the cost of treating patients who have received injuries from negligent cosmetic surgery from private providers from those providers.

Ben Gummer

Clinical commissioning groups have local arrangements in place to recover the costs from private healthcare providers.

The NHS Standard Contract requires all contractors of National Health Service care to hold and maintain adequate and appropriate indemnity arrangements. The commissioner issuing the contract should always ensure that sufficient indemnity/ insurance is in place.

Private healthcare providers are now able to use the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts. Changes were made to secondary legislation to allow this to happen from April 2013.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with airline companies on seat accommodation for larger people travelling on aeroplanes.

Mr Robert Goodwill

There have been no discussions between the Department and the airline industry on the specific issue of seat accommodation for larger people travelling on aeroplanes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of countryside organisations on the effect of the numbers of badgers on numbers of hedgehogs.

Rory Stewart

Defra is working with partners to identify actions that will help the conservation of hedgehogs, particularly though the Terrestrial Biodiversity Group chaired by Natural England. The reasons for the decline of the hedgehog population are complex. Badgers are one of a number of potential factors in the decline in hedgehog numbers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) practical and (b) emotional support is provided to rape victims.

Karen Bradley

Rape and sexual violence are devastating crimes which we remain committed to tackling. We have made protecting women and girls from violence and supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence a key priority. A refreshed version of the previous Government’s strategy, A Call to End Violence against Women and Girls, will be published later this year.

We recognise the importance of specialist services for victims.

Since 2010 the Government has placed funding for rape support centres on a sustainable footing, and in 2015/16 is spending £4.7m to fund 86 rape support centres across England and Wales, including 15 new centres opened since 2010.

We have set up a dedicated fund specially to support male victims of rape and sexual violence, funding 12 male rape support centres, a support line and a website. We have also ring-fenced £1.72 million per year since 2010 up to 2016 to part-fund 87 Independent Sexual Violence Advisers who provide appropriate and independent support for victims.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been treated for asbestos poisoning in the last five years.

Jane Ellison

The Department does not hold any data on the number of people treated for asbestos poisoning. The number of finished admission episodes (FAE) with a primary diagnosis of mesothelioma is shown in Table 1. Mesothelioma is a cancer that is closely associated with exposure to asbestos.

Table 1

Year	FAEs
2009-10	6,463
2010-11	6,488
2011-12	7,348
2012-13	7,711
2013-14	7,119

Notes:

1. Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector
2. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many big cat sightings have been reported in each of the last five years.

Rory Stewart

A total of 26 sightings of big cats in the wild have been reported to Natural England since 1 January 2010. This figure is broken down as follows:

2010 – 6

2011 – 4

2012 – 4

2013 – 6

2014 – 1

2015 – 5 (to date)

Please be aware that the above are only reports received and logged by Natural England. Other parties such as the Police may hold further records.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase the number of successful prosecutions for incidences of rape.

Karen Bradley

Rape and sexual violence are devastating crimes which we remain committed to tackling. We continue to work with the police to look at ways to improve their response to rape and sexual assault. We have supported the publication of data on rape for every police force in the country as a basis for improving recording and investigations of rape. The Rape Action Plan, led by the Crown Prosecution Service, ensures that investigators and prosecutors have both the right tools for handling rape cases, and improved referrals from the police to prosecutors to increase successful prosecutions.

We want victims to have the confidence to report these crimes to the police, knowing they will get the support they need and that everything will be done to bring offenders to justice. Police recorded rape increased by 43% (to 31,621 offences) in the year ending June 2015 compared with the previous year. This significant rise in the reporting of rape is the result of a renewed focus on the quality of crime recording and a greater willingness of victims to come forward. These can only be positive developments in our fight to end abuse.