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  • Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Peter Bottomley on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (a) started and concluded its investigation into Benjamin Mire; and what steps that Office subsequently took.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The investigation into Mr Mire’s conduct was initiated by the President of the Residential Property Tribunal in accordance with the Judicial Complaints (Tribunals) Rules 2008 and the Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) Regulations 2006 (as amended). The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office was advised of the complaint against Mr Mire on the 13 October 2011.

    The investigation was conducted in accordance with the Regulations and ceased upon Mr Mire’s resignation as a Valuer Chair of the Southern Property Tribunal on the 16 July 2013.

  • Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Peter Bottomley on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether Benjamin Mire was shown the report of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office into his conduct.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The investigation into Mr Mire’s conduct was conducted in accordance with the Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) Regulations (2006) (as amended). The Regulations require a draft of a review body report to be disclosed to the subject of the disciplinary process. The regulations were followed accordingly in this case.

  • Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Peter Bottomley on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, under what circumstances the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office report on Benjamin Mire can be made public.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Information gathered in the course of a judicial conduct investigation is confidential and may only be disclosed in the circumstances set out in section 139 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

  • Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Peter Bottomley on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what timescale Benjamin Mire would have been removed from his appointment to the property tribunal following the conclusion of the report on the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office had he not resigned from that post.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Mr Mire’s conduct was investigated in accordance with The Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) Regulations 2006 (as amended). These regulations provide opportunities for the subject of the disciplinary process to make further representations and for the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice to consider these and take such action as they think fit. It is therefore not possible to specify a time frame for concluding the disciplinary process. Mr Mire resigned before the disciplinary process was concluded.

    Since 1st October 2013, judicial conduct has been considered under the Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) Regulations 2013. These now provide for the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice to continue to make a finding of misconduct in certain circumstances where a judicial office holder has ceased to hold office during the course of a conduct investigation.

  • 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 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what security breaches associated with the Prisons ICT Academy programme there have been since 1 January 2014; when these first came to the attention of Ministers; what the (a) nature of and (b) the outcome of their investigation was; and what illegal activities by prisoners were uncovered.

    Jeremy Wright

    We are aware of two security breaches within the Prison Information Technology Academies (PICTA) since 1 January 2014. These came to the attention of Ministers on 26 February 2014. As a precaution we immediately suspended the use of the PICTA workshops across the prison estate, pending an investigation which is still in progress. It would therefore not be appropriate to comment further at this stage. In addition we are increasing the security measures within PICTA workshops and we expect them to re-open in the near future.

  • 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 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what rules his Department has in place on the (a) proven and (b) alleged criminal actions of potential bidders for the Transforming Rehabilitaiton programme.

    Jeremy Wright

    Final bids to run the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) are expected in June 2014, and will be rigorously assessed against robust quality, legal, commercial and financial criteria. In the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, bidders were required to declare that they had no convictions in relation to criminal offences such as conspiracy, corruption, bribery, fraud or criminal offences relating to the conduct of their business or profession and acts of grave misconduct. The MoJ also undertook extensive due diligence of bidders on a range of matters, including integrity and legal compliance issues. As a consequence we have a robust and diverse market and are confident that the bidders who passed the first stage of the competition – the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) – are credible organisations.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of (a) domestic and (b) sexual abuse were reported by victims attending a police station in each year since May 2010.

    Norman Baker

    The requested information is not held centrally. The Home Office holds data on
    offences recorded by the police.

  • Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Peter Bottomley on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when and for what reasons Benjamin Mire left his judicial appointment on the property tribunal.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Mr Mire’s chose to resign as a Valuer Chair of the Southern Property Tribunal on the 16 July 2013 following an investigation into his conduct. The reasons given by Mr Mire form part of the information gathered in the course of a judicial conduct investigation which is confidential and may only be disclosed in certain circumstances as set out in section 139 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of crimes reported in a police station in each year since May 2010.

    Norman Baker

    The requested information is not held centrally. The Home Office holds data on
    offences recorded by the police.

  • Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to section 1 of the Indecency with Children Act 1960 in each of the last four years.

    Jeremy Wright

    The number of offenders found guilty at all courts of the offences specified in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, the Indecency with Children Act 1960, the Sexual Offences Act 1967 and the Criminal Law Act 1977, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012 is provided in the attached tables.

    Please note that offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 sections 9 to 12, 14 to 19, 25 to 26, 47 to 50 provide data where the victim can be specifically identified as a child, whereas offences under sections 3, 4, 52 to 53, 57 to 59, 61 and 66 to 67, are not specific to the age of the victim.

    The tables do not include data for offences under section 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, or under section 3 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000. These offences, along with section 54 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, were repealed by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and there have been no convictions in the last four years.

    The number of offenders found guilty of offences under section 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 was provided in answer to PQ 193582 and can be found at Official Report c638W, 1 April 2014. It is not possible to separate out the age of the victims of offences under section 2.

    Similarly, it is not possible to separate out the age of the victim of offences committed under sections 30 – 41 Sexual Offences Act 2003 from centrally held data. For data on offences under this legislation as a whole, I refer the honourable lady to the answer provided to PQ 193810, which can be found at Official Report column 136W, 7 April 2014.

    Section 20 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 deals with offences in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Statistics for these offences in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government, with those in Northern Ireland being a matter for the Department of Justice Northern Ireland

    Court proceedings data for England and Wales for 2013 are planned for publication in May 2014.

    The Government takes very seriously all matters relating to the sexual abuse of children and adults. Our laws in these areas are rightly robust and clear. The 2003 Act, which came into effect in May 2004, significantly modernised and strengthened the laws on sexual offences in England and Wales.