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  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons were (a) receivers and (b) suppliers of detached duty staff in each month since December 2013.

    Jeremy Wright

    A nationally co-ordinated detached duty scheme has been operating since 21 October 2013. Information on which public sector establishments have either received or provided staff on detached duty since the beginning of the nationally co-ordinated scheme until the 31 December 2013 is contained in the table below. Some allocations outside of the national scheme continued after October 2013 but is not included in the information provided. London region particularly allocated staff within their own region. Information is collected on the staffing allocated. On occasions the resource is not actually deployed due to changes in local circumstances.

    The deployment of staff between prisons on detached duty is a regular and normal part of prison resourcing. It allows staff to be allocated from prisons with the capacity to provide them, to those where additional staffing is required. On average over the three month period (October to December 2013), less than 1% of staff were provided on detached duty. A large proportion of the capacity was available from prisons that were in the process of closure or going through a re-role. This process temporarily releases a number of officers who are not supplied for specific occasions but are sent and received on a shift pattern throughout the week.


  • Miss Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Miss Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Miss Anne McIntosh on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what prosecutions there have been for (a) sheep rustling and (b) other crimes on farms in each of the last three years.

    Damian Green

    The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to separately identify from this centrally held information offences of sheep rustling from other offences of theft. Nor is it possible to separately identify which offences occurred on a farm. This information may be held on the individual court files, which can only be checked at disproportionate cost.

  • Andrew Turner – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Turner – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether prisoners are subject to different conditions depending on their religion.

    Jeremy Wright

    All prisoners are held in accommodation/conditions appropriate to their individual categorisation and the assessed rehabilitation needs.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to reform civil procedure rules in a similar manner to the Republic of Ireland’s Civil Liabilities and Court Act 2004 to tackle third party insurance fraud.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Government is committed to turning the tide on fraudulent personal injury claims. To this end, it is considering what specific reforms might be appropriate, including whether the Law Commission should be asked to consider this issue. We will make our conclusions known in due course.

    No figures are available on the number of exaggerated or fabricated personal injury claims struck out by the courts. Figures for 2011 published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) indicate that whiplash claims cost customers more than £2 billion a year and add £90 to the average motor insurance premium.

    The ABI describe 7% of all motor claims in 2011 – worth £441m – as fraudulent. In addition, they estimate that a further £1 billion of motor insurance fraud went undetected in 2011.

    As announced last year, we are working with stakeholders in the industry to tighten the medical evidence process so that only evidence from accredited experts can be considered, and the costs for those reports can be fixed. This will mean people can no longer profit from exaggerated or fraudulent compensation claims but victims with genuine cases can still get the help they deserve. We are introducing these reforms later in the year. We are also working to secure better data on motor accident cases, including the number of fraudulent cases.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make resources available for a project by the Law Commission investigating the question of fraud by victims of personal injury.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Government is committed to turning the tide on fraudulent personal injury claims. To this end, it is considering what specific reforms might be appropriate, including whether the Law Commission should be asked to consider this issue. We will make our conclusions known in due course.

    No figures are available on the number of exaggerated or fabricated personal injury claims struck out by the courts. Figures for 2011 published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) indicate that whiplash claims cost customers more than £2 billion a year and add £90 to the average motor insurance premium.

    The ABI describe 7% of all motor claims in 2011 – worth £441m – as fraudulent. In addition, they estimate that a further £1 billion of motor insurance fraud went undetected in 2011.

    As announced last year, we are working with stakeholders in the industry to tighten the medical evidence process so that only evidence from accredited experts can be considered, and the costs for those reports can be fixed. This will mean people can no longer profit from exaggerated or fraudulent compensation claims but victims with genuine cases can still get the help they deserve. We are introducing these reforms later in the year. We are also working to secure better data on motor accident cases, including the number of fraudulent cases.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the scale of (a) detected and (b) undetected insurance fraud in the last year for which figures are available.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Government is committed to turning the tide on fraudulent personal injury claims. To this end, it is considering what specific reforms might be appropriate, including whether the Law Commission should be asked to consider this issue. We will make our conclusions known in due course.

    No figures are available on the number of exaggerated or fabricated personal injury claims struck out by the courts. Figures for 2011 published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) indicate that whiplash claims cost customers more than £2 billion a year and add £90 to the average motor insurance premium.

    The ABI describe 7% of all motor claims in 2011 – worth £441m – as fraudulent. In addition, they estimate that a further £1 billion of motor insurance fraud went undetected in 2011.

    As announced last year, we are working with stakeholders in the industry to tighten the medical evidence process so that only evidence from accredited experts can be considered, and the costs for those reports can be fixed. This will mean people can no longer profit from exaggerated or fraudulent compensation claims but victims with genuine cases can still get the help they deserve. We are introducing these reforms later in the year. We are also working to secure better data on motor accident cases, including the number of fraudulent cases.

  • Philip Hollobone – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Hollobone – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national prisoners were transferred to secure detention in their home country under (a) compulsory and (b) voluntary prisoner transfer agreements in each of the last five years.

    Jeremy Wright

    The table below sets out the number of prisoners who have transferred from a prison in England and Wales to a prison in their state of nationality in the last five years on both a compulsory and voluntary basis.

    Year of Transfer

    Voluntary Transfer

    Compulsory

    2009

    40

    2010

    46

    2011

    33

    2012

    40

    2013

    38

    5

    With the implementation of the Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA (The EU PTA) by the United Kingdom in December 2011 prisoners can be transferred on a voluntary or compulsory basis. Since the implementation of the EU PTA in December 2011 a total 18 EU Member States, including the United Kingdom, have brought the EU PTA in to force.

    Compulsory Prisoner Transfer Agreements can be difficult to negotiate, but we remain determined to secure them wherever possible. In January this year we signed a compulsory transfer agreement with Nigeria and last year we signed an agreement with Albania. We expect to see prisoner transfers to both these countries before the end of this year.

    We are also working hard to increase the number of Foreign National Offenders removed from prison under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS). In 2013, we removed nearly 2,000 FNOs under ERS and under TERS, which we introduced in May 2012, we have removed 237 prisoners to date.

    The numbers reported here are drawn from a Prison Service Case Tracking System. Care is taken when processing these cases but the figures may be subject to inaccuracies associated with any recording system.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will request that the Law Commission undertake a law reform project on the question of fraud victims of personal injury as part of its 12 programme of law reform.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Government is committed to turning the tide on fraudulent personal injury claims. To this end, it is considering what specific reforms might be appropriate, including whether the Law Commission should be asked to consider this issue. We will make our conclusions known in due course.

    No figures are available on the number of exaggerated or fabricated personal injury claims struck out by the courts. Figures for 2011 published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) indicate that whiplash claims cost customers more than £2 billion a year and add £90 to the average motor insurance premium.

    The ABI describe 7% of all motor claims in 2011 – worth £441m – as fraudulent. In addition, they estimate that a further £1 billion of motor insurance fraud went undetected in 2011.

    As announced last year, we are working with stakeholders in the industry to tighten the medical evidence process so that only evidence from accredited experts can be considered, and the costs for those reports can be fixed. This will mean people can no longer profit from exaggerated or fraudulent compensation claims but victims with genuine cases can still get the help they deserve. We are introducing these reforms later in the year. We are also working to secure better data on motor accident cases, including the number of fraudulent cases.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment she has made of dissident republican links with Al-Qaeda involving the supply of weaponry and expertise in warfare.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    I am aware of media speculation on this issue. Terrorists around the world have attempted to use online information to seek to build their capabilities in order to carry out violent attacks. Measures are in place to seek to limit access to information online which might assist in the commission of an act of terrorism, and the Government and law enforcement agencies are committed to apprehending and prosecuting those who contravene the law in this regard.

  • Naomi Long – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Naomi Long – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naomi Long on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether she considers the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to allow the National Crime Agency to operate fully in Northern Ireland is beginning to have a significantly detrimental impact on the fight against organised crime in Northern Ireland.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    There is an increasing risk of such an impact. The National Crime Agency is committed to assisting the Police Service of Northern Ireland to tackle serious and organised crime in Northern Ireland, as far as the restrictions on its powers permit. However, its activities in devolved areas have been curtailed and the capability that the Agency has available in Northern Ireland is therefore less than that available in the rest of the UK. This is of particular concern in areas where the Police Service of Northern Ireland or other Northern Ireland agencies do not have the powers or expertise to replace NCA capabilities, such as civil asset recovery.