Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many days of school closure were there in 2025 due to adverse weather conditions.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Decisions about school closures are made by individual settings and responsible bodies based on local risk assessments. Closure should be a last resort, with schools expected to remain open where it is safe. If a school must close unexpectedly, such as due to adverse weather, no attendance register is taken and the session is recorded as ‘not possible’ for statistical purposes.
During temporary closures, schools should consider providing remote education in line with departmental guidance. Pupils receiving remote education are still recorded as absent using the appropriate absence code. Schools should monitor engagement with remote education, although this is not formally recorded in attendance data.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to protect victims of AI deepfakes.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to tackle illegal content and protect children from harmful content, including where it is AI generated. Ofcom has robust enforcement powers for non-compliance.
In the coming weeks, the offence of creating intimate images without consent, including using AI, will come into effect. The Secretary of State announced it will be made a priority offence under the Act, giving users the strongest protections from such content. In addition, the Government has announced that it will criminalise nudification apps – which will make it illegal for companies to supply tools designed to create non-consensual intimate images.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will exempt people over 80 from self assessment for taxes.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Many pensioners will pay tax via PAYE and some will receive a Simple Assessments from HMRC. Generally only those with more complex affairs may need to do a Self Assessment. We have no plans to change this.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many additional people will pay the higher income child benefit charge in this financial year.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Statistics on the number of people paying the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) are published each year as part of the Child Benefit Statistics annual release. The latest figures are available here:
Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, August 2024 - GOV.UK
The next release is due to be published this Spring. Figures are produced with a time lag due to Self-Assessment deadlines.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people paid the Higher Income Child Benefit Charge in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Statistics on the number of people paying the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) are published each year as part of the Child Benefit Statistics annual release. The latest figures are available here:
Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, August 2024 - GOV.UK
The next release is due to be published this Spring. Figures are produced with a time lag due to Self-Assessment deadlines.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England and Wales in primary school have a classroom assistant for part of their school day.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department does not hold data on whether a child has access to a teaching assistant full time or for part of their school day.
Schools in England are asked to record the headcount and FTE of their teaching assistants. In the November 2024 school workforce census, there were a reported 288,800 teaching assistants (FTE).
Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of teaching assistants in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
These figures have been available since 5 June 2025.
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 many men have been prescribed GLP1 weight-loss injections on the NHS in the last 12 months.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Business Services Authority holds data on drugs that have been submitted for reimbursement from English dispensing contractors in community settings. Patient information has been captured where possible. No data about the clinical indication for a prescription can be captured.
The following table provides the total number of identified patients who were dispensed injectable medicines listed in the NHS Obesity Guidance and licenced for the use of weight loss management, between December 2024 and November 2025, regardless of where prescribed:
Products | Male patients | Female patients |
Injectable weight loss medication | 146,900 | 163,400 |
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 many women have been prescribed GLP1 weight-loss injections on the NHS in the last year.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Business Services Authority holds data on drugs that have been submitted for reimbursement from English dispensing contractors in community settings. Patient information has been captured where possible. No data about the clinical indication for a prescription can be captured.
The following table provides the total number of identified patients who were dispensed injectable medicines listed in the NHS Obesity Guidance and licenced for the use of weight loss management, between December 2024 and November 2025, regardless of where prescribed:
Products | Male patients | Female patients |
Injectable weight loss medication | 146,900 | 163,400 |
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people moved into the additional tax band in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of individuals moved into the additional rate of Income Tax is published in Table 3.19 of the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook, linked below:
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 many people have received Gastric band surgery in each of the last three years in England and Wales broken down by male and female.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health is a devolved matter. The Department does not hold information on gastric band and gastric sleeve surgery in Wales.
For England, the table below shows the number of gastric band and gastric sleeve surgeries undertaken between 2022 and 2025:
Financial Year | Gastric Band | Gastric Sleeve | ||||
Female | Male | Other | Female | Male | Other | |
2022-23 | 50 | 7 | 0 | 1,928 | 460 | 1 |
2023-24 | 28 | 8 | 0 | 2,443 | 568 | 18 |
2024-25 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 3,122 | 664 | 26 |
This analysis is based on Hospital Episode Statistics and includes all episodes in which a procedure for the insertion of a new gastric band or gastric sleeve is recorded. These figures do not directly represent the number of individual patients, as one person may have multiple episodes of care either within the same hospital stay or across different admissions during the year and/or over years.
Data for gastric sleeve procedures also includes episodes where the sleeve is performed as part of wider surgery for a duodenal switch.