Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are being taken to encourage more young people into work.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee.
We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee, launching Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announcing funding to almost double our Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and we recently launched an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.
We are now expanding the Youth Guarantee, backed by a £820 million investment over the next three years to reach almost 900,000 young people. This includes Youth Hubs in every area in Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit to get them into employment or training. This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.
Employment support policies are devolved in Northern Ireland and the responsibility of the Department for Communities.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he had had with the PSNI on the time taken to process FAC renewals and applications.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
While I meet regularly with the Chief Constable and his senior team regarding national security, and a range of issues, I have a limited role in relation to certain appeals against the decision of the Chief Constable not to issue firearms licences. The issuing of firearms licences is a devolved matter.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of attacks on healthcare workers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. Trends in violence towards NHS staff have generally stayed at the same levels in recent years.
Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff, and they put in place measures, including security, training, and emotional support, for staff affected by violence. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has been clear that there is zero tolerance of violence and harassment against NHS staff, and in April 2025 accepted all the Social Partnership Forum’s recommendations on tackling and reducing violence, part of the 2023 Agenda for Change pay deal. These measures will be strengthened by the introduction of a new set of staff standards, as detailed in the 10-Year Health Plan. These are likely to focus on areas such as improving staff health and wellbeing and dealing with violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the NHS workplace.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many calls were made to police to report incidents of domestic abuse over the Christmas period in December 2024 and 2025.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office collects information from the police on the number of domestic abuse-related incidents from police forces in England and Wales on a quarterly basis. However, these data cannot be further broken down by specific time periods, such as weeks or months.
The latest published data, for the year ending March 2025, are available here: Domestic abuse prevalence and victim characteristics - Office for National Statistics
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps are being taken to improve safety in night clubs especially around spiking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Spiking is an appalling crime that undermines the public’s right to feel safe when out and about.
We are implementing a robust set of actions to improve safety in the night time economy:
In line with our manifesto commitment, the Government has introduced new legislation on spiking, as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, to strengthen the response to these incidents.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to provide for sexual health clinics in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department provides funding for sexual health services through the Public Health Grant, which is allocated to local authorities in England. Sexual health is one of a number of public health services funded through the Public Health Grant. The Department does not specify how much is spent on sexual health specifically; local authorities are responsible for commissioning sexual health services to meet the needs of their populations.
We will continue to invest in local authorities' vital public health work, providing over £13.4 billion over the next three years through a consolidated ringfenced Public Health Grant. This will support a number of vital local health services, including sexual health services.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to decrease underage alcohol consumption rates.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In general, alcohol consumption among under 18 year olds has been declining over the last 20 years. The Chief Medical Officer for England’s guidance for healthcare professionals on alcohol consumption in children and young people is clear that an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest option. The Department promotes this guidance through the alcohol and drug information and advice service ‘Talk to FRANK’ which can be accessed at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to improve the time taken for red flag referrals for breast cancer to be seen.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including breast cancer, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes for all patients across England.
The Department is responsible for healthcare in England and therefore has not made a formal assessment on the timescales for red flag referrals for breast cancer across the whole of the United Kingdom.
As the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and treatment in England, NHS England has delivered an extra 100,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week since the start of this administration. This is supported by an increase in capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
The Department recognises that there is more to be done to ensure that patients have timely access to diagnosis, and remains committed to diagnosing all cancer types earlier, including breast cancer. To tackle late diagnoses, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type.
Reducing variation in cancer care in England, including the movement of patients through breast cancer care pathways, is a priority for the Government. To address this, NHS England funded audits into primary and metastatic breast cancer. Using routine data collected on patients diagnosed with breast cancer in an NHS setting, the audits bring together information to look at what is being done well, where it is being done well, and what needs to be done better. On 11 September 2025, the second State of the Nation report for primary and metastatic breast cancer was published by the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre, and officials in the Department and NHS England are acting on the findings where appropriate.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made on the timescales for red flag referrals for breast cancer across the UK.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including breast cancer, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes for all patients across England.
The Department is responsible for healthcare in England and therefore has not made a formal assessment on the timescales for red flag referrals for breast cancer across the whole of the United Kingdom.
As the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and treatment in England, NHS England has delivered an extra 100,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week since the start of this administration. This is supported by an increase in capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
The Department recognises that there is more to be done to ensure that patients have timely access to diagnosis, and remains committed to diagnosing all cancer types earlier, including breast cancer. To tackle late diagnoses, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type.
Reducing variation in cancer care in England, including the movement of patients through breast cancer care pathways, is a priority for the Government. To address this, NHS England funded audits into primary and metastatic breast cancer. Using routine data collected on patients diagnosed with breast cancer in an NHS setting, the audits bring together information to look at what is being done well, where it is being done well, and what needs to be done better. On 11 September 2025, the second State of the Nation report for primary and metastatic breast cancer was published by the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre, and officials in the Department and NHS England are acting on the findings where appropriate.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing charities lotteries to operate UK-wide.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Large-scale society lotteries in Great Britain are legislated through the Gambling Act 2005, which does not extend to Northern Ireland.
Gambling is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland, and therefore the operation of large-scale society lotteries is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.