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  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many referrals there were from local police forces to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in each CPS business area for a charging dcision on the offences of (a) assisting unlawful immigration to an EU member state, (b) assisting entry to the UK in breach of a deportation or exclusion order, (c) assisting the entry/remaining of an excluded person, (d) possession and/or manufacture of false identity documents, (e) employment of illegal immigrants, (f) trafficking in exploitation/for sexual exploitation, (g) trafficking people for labour and other exploitation, (h) conspiracy to traffic and (i) slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour in each of the last five years.

    Oliver Heald

    The Crown Prosecution Service does not keep a central record of the number of referrals from the Police for a charging decision for the offences listed in the question. This information could only be obtained by a manual examination of all files prosecuted which would incur disproportionate cost.

    Official statistics on crime and policing are maintained by the Home Office.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 8W, on freezing orders, what value of the assets placed under those freezing orders were made subject to a confiscation order; and how much was confiscated.

    Oliver Heald

    Requests from overseas jurisdictions are confidential as they relate to ongoing criminal investigations and proceedings in the requesting country and it would be inappropriate to disclose any further details.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, what discussions the Director of Public Prosecutions has had with the Association of Chief Police Officers about implementing the recommendations in HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspector report on the disclosure of medical records and counselling notes; and if he will make a statement.

    Oliver Heald

    There have been no discussions between the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) about implementing the recommendations in HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate report on the disclosure of medical records and counselling notes. The recommendations of the report were that Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) legal guidance on Rape and Sexual Offences was updated and that CPS Headquarters may wish to liaise with ACPO about such disclosure to develop a national police form for use when the police consult complainants. The guidance was updated on 12 December 2013 and the capture of information in a national police form is being considered as part of the work on digitisation of cases files and has been discussed with ACPO.

  • Gavin Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gavin Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Williamson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local education authorities have proper procedures in place to protect whistleblowers.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    The Department for Communities and Local Government has the overall responsibility for local authorities’ whistleblowing procedures. The Department for Education does take steps to ensure that the schools maintained by local authorities have adequate arrangements.

    Maintained schools are required to submit to their local authorities a Schools Financial Value Standard return. Question 20 of the return requires schools to confirm that all staff are aware of the school’s whistleblowing arrangements and to whom they should raise concerns. The return defines whistleblowing as the confidential raising of problems or concerns within an organisation. The accompanying guidance suggests that schools’ arrangements should be based on local authority policies and that staff should be made aware of the protections that are available to them.

    The Department also requires that local authorities’ Schemes for Financing Schools should contain a provision requiring authorities to set out the procedure to be followed by persons working at a school or school governors who wish to complain about financial management or financial propriety at the school, and how such complaints will be dealt with.

  • Gavin Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Gavin Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Williamson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make representations to the Sentencing Council requesting it to ensure that the strictest possible sentences are given to fly-tippers.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Government is concerned by the damage to the environment that fly-tipping and other unlawful deposits of waste can cause. That is why it we have provided law enforcement agencies and the courts with powers to deal with such offending.

    In regard to sentencing, the independent Sentencing Council conducted a consultation on environmental offences in 2013 and has issued a sentencing guideline for environmental offences which will take effect on 1 July 2014. Judges and magistrates are required to follow the guidelines unless it would not be in the interests of justice to do so.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s Sustainable Consumption Report, published in July 2013, what progress has been made on developing integrated healthy sustainable dietary guidelines to help health professionals, educators, businesses and the public make healthier and more sustainable food choices.

    George Eustice

    The Sustainable Consumption Report, published on 29 July 2013, was produced by a group of organisations following discussions facilitated by Defra. The report reflects the views of the stakeholders who were involved in its production; it does not represent Government policy.

    I met with the co-chairs of the working groups in March, and work has now started to peer review and publish the principles of a healthy and sustainable diet.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to better retain staff in Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

    Norman Lamb

    The Government’s refreshed mandate to Health Education England (HEE), published on 1 May 2014, set out the requirements of HEE regarding recruitment, training and retention for the National Health Service workforce, including staff providing children and adolescent mental health services. Underpinning the HEE mandate is a Government investment of nearly £5 billion for 2014-15.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what criteria his Department uses to evaluate tenders to provide Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

    Norman Lamb

    NHS England has responsibility for commissioning Tier 4 (in-patient) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Tiers 1-3 CAMHS are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

    As with all procurement exercises undertaken by the National Health Service, there will be a clear service specification and evaluation criteria will be developed specific to the requirements of the service being tendered. Providers will then be able to submit a response, which NHS England or the CCG will assess and make a decision based on the outcome.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the quality of service provided by companies with contracts to provide Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

    Norman Lamb

    NHS England has responsibility for commissioning Tier 4 (in-patient) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Tiers 1-3 CAMHS are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). There are a number of measures in place to ensure the quality of Tier 4 CAMHS provided by companies:

    – All providers of CAMHS need to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

    – National service specifications have been developed for Tier 4 CAMHS to which all service providers are required to adhere. These are used as part of the standard National Health Service contract. A copy of these documents can be found on NHS England’s website and accessed via the following links:

    www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-c/c07/

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/c07-tier4ch-ado-mh-aut.pdf

    – All providers are monitored against the standard contract through evidence based contract meetings. NHS England and the CQC may also undertake visits to the units to assess the quality of service being delivered.

    – Where concerns or issues are raised about a particular unit, such matters are referred to the Area Team Quality Surveillance Group, chaired by Directors of Nursing, for consideration and discussion.

    – Where there is significant cause for concern, NHS England may restrict or stop referrals to a particular unit. In extreme circumstances, the CQC has the powers to de-register a provider from being able to provide CAMH Services.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the merits of strengthening penalties for breaches of food law in reducing food fraud.

    Jane Ellison

    The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the competent authority for the Food Hygiene Regulations. The FSA Board has, on a number of occasions, highlighted its concern that the level of sanction imposed by the courts for food hygiene offences has not been sufficient to deter offending. The sentences imposed are often small when set against the potential profits to be accrued from non–compliance with the Regulations. The FSA would welcome the strengthening of penalties for breaches of the Food Hygiene Regulations.

    The FSA is also keen to ensure that there is consistency in sentencing for food hygiene offences. They have approached the Office of the Sentencing Council and requested that they consider producing sentencing guidelines for food hygiene offences. They are currently working with officials from the Council, who are hoping to produce draft guidelines that can be put before the full Sentencing Council.