UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which organisations have provided diversity and equality training to judges since 1 January 2012.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Judicial training is a matter for the judiciary and is fulfilled by the Judicial College, which reports to the Lord Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals. Some outside organisations have been invited to provide input, under judicial direction, into judicial training programmes and materials, including on specialist subjects. The Judicial College does not have a consolidated record of which organisations these are.

    Under the Judicial College Strategy, training in social context issues is incorporated into all training programmes and diversity and equal treatment issues are woven into the case studies used in training. The strategy is publicly available https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about-the-judiciary/training-support/judicial-college/judicial-college-strategy-2015-2017/

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  • 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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  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of introducing non-invasive prenatal testing on the prevalence of sex-selective abortions.

    Ben Gummer

    The UK National Screening Committee which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy has conducted a full review of the published scientific and cost evidence relating to Non-Invasive Pre-Natal Testing (NIPT) as a screening test for Down’s, Edwards’ and Patau’s syndromes. On 15 January 2016, the Committee announced its recommendation that NIPT should be introduced as an additional test into NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme as part of an evaluation. This is because the evidence suggests that NIPT is much more accurate than the current testing used in screening and can substantially reduce the number of pregnant women needing an invasive test, which carries a high risk of miscarriage. Ministers are currently considering this recommendation.

    The possible introduction of NIPT into the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme does not fundamentally alter the choices presented to prospective parents, or the options and choices available when testing identifies a feotus with a syndrome. Therefore, no assessment has been made of the impact of NIPT on the number of abortions.

    NIPT testing as part of the NHS Foetal Anomaly Screening Programme will not be used to determine the sex of the foetus. Abortion on the grounds of gender alone is illegal.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate how many jobs have been created in Yorkshire since May 2015.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that staff in her Department receive religious literacy training.

    James Brokenshire

    Civil Service Learning, the main training provider for the Home Office, has a broad range of diversity and inclusion learning opportunities which are available to all staff.

    Horizon (the Home Office intranet) hosts an information portal with resources to develop staff’s religious literacy.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2016 to Question 43316, which elements of the EU Nature Directive transposed into UK law her Department is considering for repeal.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government is considering the impacts of the decision to leave the EU including for existing legislation.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Stephenson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons do not accommodate workshops.

    Andrew Selous

    We want to see more prisoners working productively for longer numbers of hours. We also want to attract more employers who offer both work in prison but also guaranteed interviews and employment opportunities on release. That is why we want to reform the prison estate, building nine new prisons with better facilities for training and rehabilitation.

    All prisons provide opportunities for offenders to work and learn new skills which can help them find a job on release and support their rehabilitation. We work continuously with employers nationally and locally to create new opportunities in line with our code of practice.

    NOMS uses a specific definition of ‘workshop’ which is only used for commercial and industrial scale work and specific work activities. [1] Currently, there are 10 prisons which are not planning to offer this type of work this year [2], however other learning, vocational training and work opportunities will still be available in these establishments.

    Work in prisons continues to grow steadily, up from 10.6 million working hours in 10/11 to 14.9 million working hours in the year 14/15.

    [1] Including Enterprise/Contract Services, Engineering, Aluminium, Laundry, Newgate Furniture, Concrete, Plastics, Textiles, Woodwork, Food Packing, Commercial Land Based Activities, Braille, Charity, Printing, Data Entry, Signs, Desk Top Publishing, Retail, External Recycling and other workshops.

    [2] Excludes four establishments the Youth Justice Board (YJB) commission from the National Offender Management Service (NOMS)

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual cost is of the health needs of UK thalidomide survivors.

    George Freeman

    In addition to using NHS services, thalidomide survivors have access to health grants in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The grants are administered by the Thalidomide Trust and allocations in 2015 are set out in the following table.

    Allocations under the Thalidomide Health Grants in 2015

    Country

    Total Allocation (£000s)

    Number of beneficiaries

    England

    7,454

    325

    Scotland

    1,254

    55

    Wales

    782

    31

    Northern Ireland

    472

    19

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many pupils have gone missing from school registers in the last 10 years in total, and in each year.

    Lord Nash

    The Government does not collect data on children who are not registered pupils at a school. Local authorities have a duty under s.436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to establish the identities of children who are not receiving a suitable education. This would include collecting as much information as necessary to establish the whereabouts of children who are potentially missing education and whether they are receiving suitable education.

  • 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 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, which cycling programmes his Department plans to fund from the £300 million fund for cycling for 2015-16 to 2020-21; and what other funding for cycling to which cycling programmes his Department plans to fund over that period.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to be published in summer 2016, will set out the Government’s plans for investing in cycling and walking.

    Otherwise, at the Spending Review the Government reaffirmed its commitment to cycling and walking by committing to investing over £300 million over the life of this Parliament. This includes delivering the Cycle City Ambition scheme in full, a new ‘access’ fund for sustainable travel and our Road Investment Strategy for 2015-20 which includes plans to improve 200 sections of the road network in England for cyclists. We will also provide 1.3 million children with cycling proficiency training through the Bikeability scheme.

    Over this period, other Government funding streams will contribute to cycling. Through the Local Growth Fund, an investment of at least £270m is planned by local enterprise partnerships for cycling infrastructure. Local authorities could also use sums from the £1.3bn Integrated Transport Block to 2019/20 for cycling schemes.

    It should also be noted that spending on road maintenance can benefit not just motorists but can also lead to improved conditions for cyclists, and a record £6.1billion is allocated to local highway authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance.