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  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government has taken to ensure independent verification for the evidence on which it has proposed changes to personal injury law and procedure.

    Dominic Raab

    The government received and analysed data from numerous sources prior to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. It will consult on the detail of the new reforms in due course and the consultation will be accompanied by an impact assessment.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funding his Department provides to academic research on new prisoner rehabilitation methods.

    Andrew Selous

    The Ministry of Justice and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) are committed to developing the evidence base to support prisoner rehabilitation and prison reform. NOMS allocates an annual budget for research undertaken by external organisations. NOMS research reports, including those undertaken by external contractors, are published on the gov.uk website here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?keywords=&publication_filter_option=research-and-analysis&topics%5B%5D=all&departments%5B%5D=ministry-of-justice&official_document_status=all&world_locations%5B%5D=all

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  • Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of his Department’s invoices for goods and services supplied by (a) private companies and (b) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are completed on time; and what proportion of the (i) number and (ii) value of contracts between his Department and private companies are held by SMEs.

    Mike Penning

    The attached link (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/procurement#our-payment-performance) provides information on the Department’s published data on payment of invoices from 2012-13 to quarter 3 of 2015-16. It is not possible to break the payment data down by category of provider.

    The proportion and value of contracts held by MoJ with SME providers is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482524/Central_Government_Direct_and_Indirect_Spend_with_SMEs.csv/preview

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  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff of the National Probation Service have completed Prevent awareness training.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Working to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP) was developed by the Home Office in 2009. From 2009 to 2014 all probation staff in the former Probation Trusts were to be trained in WRAP.

    As part of the Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme, the National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) were formed on 1 June 2014, and 9,140 staff transferred from Probation Trusts to the National Probation Service.

    Since then, all new NPS staff have been receiving Prevent awareness training, and all existing NPS staff have been receiving refresher training.

    We are fully committed to ensuring that we have a properly trained workforce within the NPS. Prevent Awareness (WRAP) is one of a number of training programmes delivered to staff in the NPS to provide staff with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively manage offenders and protect the public.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will conduct research on the potential effect on the cost of legal aid of encouraging early guilty pleas by defendants in serious criminal trial cases.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    We currently have no plans to do so. It has long been the practice to encourage early guilty pleas by offering reductions in sentence, and this is governed by the guideline Reduction in Sentence for a Guilty Plea, first issued by the Sentencing Guidelines Council in 2005. The Sentencing Council (as it now is) last month published for consultation a revised guideline, the purpose of which is stated to be ‘to encourage those defendants who are aware of their guilt to enter a plea as early in the court process as possible’. Increasing the incidence of early guilty pleas would be expected to result in savings in legal aid, as well as in other benefits.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the standard and level of maintenance of roads in Torridge and West Devon constituency; and what steps his Department has taken to improve the maintenance of those roads.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport regularly publishes Official Statistics on the proportion of roads where maintenance ‘should be considered’ in England. The smallest administrative area this information is published for is the local highway authority area. Devon County Council is the local highway authority for the constituency of Torridge and West Devon, but the Devon County Council area covers in whole or part 8 other constituencies.

    For Devon County Council we are providing £42.3 million this financial year (2015/16).

    Road maintenance is a matter for individual local highway authorities, such as Devon County Council, and it is for them to prioritise work according to local need.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward proposals to give bus and coach passengers statutory rights to compensation for delays in their bus or coach service.

    Andrew Jones

    Bus and coach passengers already have statutory rights under the services provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. If the bus or coach service is not provided with reasonable care and skill or in line with certain information the transport operator has given about it then the passenger may be due compensation, including compensation for delays and cancellations.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what changes his Department has made to the collection of data on bus fares and punctuality since 2010.

    Andrew Jones

    The department operates two surveys to collect data on bus fares and bus punctuality. Bus fares information is collected from bus operators every quarter and bus punctuality is collected from local authorities every year, both via online surveys.

    In 2012 and 2015 the sample of operators from whom the Department collected data on bus fares was revised.

    For the 2012/13 bus punctuality data collection the following voluntary questions were added to the survey:

    • Do you continue to collect/record data on bus patronage in your area?
    • If yes, can you please enter the number of passenger journeys on local bus services?
    • Please indicate if you are able to share figures for individual operators with DfT (solely for use in validation of figures we collect directly from operators)
    • If possible, please provide a contact name/email for any queries on the patronage data and any relevant notes in the box below (for example, if figures are not yet available but will be later)
    • The Department is also interested in learning more about the number of passengers carried on flexible or demand responsive modes of transport, including community transport. If you are able to supply any information on these for your area (such as number of passengers, nature of service) please enter brief details below
  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether provisions in the Buses Bill will seek to require bus operators to publish data on fares.

    Andrew Jones

    The Bill will include powers to require the release of open data on routes, timetables, punctuality and fares, in a specified format.

  • David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of trunking the new M6 link road from junction 34.

    Andrew Jones

    The M6 link road to Heysham is a local road that has been funded by Government to complete the connection from the Heysham and Morecambe peninsula to Junction 34 of the M6. Neither the local authority nor the Department has raised the issue of trunking the road.