Category: Speeches

  • Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugh Bayley on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people with cases before (a) civil and (b) criminal courts received legal aid in (i) England and (ii) York in each year since 1995.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The amount spent on (a) civil and (b) criminal legal aid in (i) cash (i.e. net of operating receipts) and (ii) real terms in each of the last 20 years was provided by way of a written response on 18 June 2013 to the hon. Member for York Central’s Parliamentary Question 160682.

    The Legal Aid Agency does not record the number of people who receive legal aid. Instead it records the number of ‘acts of assistance’. One individual may receive a number of separate acts of assistance, and one act of assistance can help more than one person. As the categorisation of legal aid has changed over the last 20 years, acts of assistance relating to representation in court cannot be accurately compared over time. The total acts of assistance relating to civil and criminal cases from 1995 onwards were provided by way of a written response on 18 June 2013 to the hon. Member for York Central’s Parliamentary Question 160683.

    With regard to the breakdowns requested for England and York, to extract the information requested from the Legal Aid Agency’s IT Systems would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the incidence of truancy was in schools in the latest period for which figures are available; and what steps he is taking to reduce it and to involve parents in those efforts.

    Elizabeth Truss

    Since the report by Charlie Taylor on improving school attendance, the Government’s focus has been on reducing absence overall and encouraging schools to address patterns of poor attendance early.

    To help schools do this, the Department for Education reduced the threshold at which pupils were classified as persistent absent, from 20% to 15% of sessions missed. In 2012, we increased the level of the school attendance penalty fines, from £50 and £100 to £60 and £120 respectively, and in 2013 reduced the overall timescales for paying fines from 42 to 28 days. The second most common reason for absence is family holiday, so we tightened the law in September 2013 so that headteachers could only grant requests for leave during term time in exceptional circumstances.

    Our reforms are working. In 2012/13, 300,895 pupils were persistently absent, down from 433,130 in 2009/10 – a fall of almost a third. 130,000 fewer pupils were missing 15% of school in 2012/13 compared to 2010/11. Overall absence rates are down from 6.3% of possible sessions missed in 2008/09 to 5.2% in 2012/13.

  • Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugh Bayley on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate the UK Statistics Authority has made of the number and proportion of young people aged 16 to 24 in York in (a) training, (b) employment and (c) education in each year since 1995-96.

    Matthew Hancock

    Data are not available prior to 2000. Estimates for the proportion of young people in training, employment and education separately are not available.

    Information on the number of Apprenticeship starts and achievements by geography and age is published in supplementary tables to a Statistical First Release:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships–2

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/308808/apprenticeship-starts-by-geography-level-and-age.xls

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/296382/apprenticeship-achievements-by-geography-level-and-age.xlsm

    “

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many requests to leave the Environment Agency under the voluntary early release scheme are from staff in the operations and legal services departments.

    Dan Rogerson

    As of 1 April this year, the Environment Agency had received 956 requests within its operations and legal services departments to leave the organisation under its voluntary early release scheme.

  • Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael McCann on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much public interest lawyers have received in legal aid for cases against the Department for Work and Pensions in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) cannot separately identify legal aid cases against the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office. Opponents are not systematically recorded against Legal Aid cases.

    The net payments to Public Interest Lawyers over the past ten tears were:

    Financial Year

    Net Payments

    FY2003-2004

    £139,620.72

    FY2004-2005

    £158,282.52

    FY2005-2006

    £251,844.27

    FY2006-2007

    £299,667.99

    FY2007-2008

    £577,263.60

    FY2008-2009

    £628,527.75

    FY2009-2010

    £267,433.88

    FY2010-2011

    £439,268.02

    FY2011-2012

    £331,238.85

    FY2012-2013

    £50,633.27

    These payments cover all work undertaken by the firm under legal aid. The payments made will be offset by recoupment on successful cases where the opponent has paid the costs.

  • Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to prevent famine in South Sudan.

    Justine Greening

    The UK is the second largest donor to the Crisis Response Plan for South Sudan, and we are working with the UN and other donors to raise the prominence of the appeal, and secure new and increased commitments of funds. DFID has contributed £20.8 million of new humanitarian funding in South Sudan since December 2013. We have also allocated £17 million to support the refugee response in neighbouring countries.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Nigerian counterpart on the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria.

    Mark Simmonds

    My right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (William Hague) discussed the abduction of the school girls with FM Wali on 18 April, and attended a Summit in Paris on 17 May with the Nigerian President, which was specially convened to discuss this issue. I discussed the abduction with President Jonathan and Defence Minister Gusau during my visit to Nigeria on 14 May. During that visit we agreed the package of support the British Government would offer to help find the girls, as well as to help tackle Boko Haram’s wider activities. Foreign Minister Wali and I have been in contact since then on the subject of Boko Haram. I look forward to further detailed conversations with him and representatives from Nigeria’s neighbours, the US, Canada, France, EU, UN and AU at this week’s ministerial meeting on security in northern Nigeria.

  • 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 effect on insurance premiums of personal injury insurance fraud in the last year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement.

    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.

  • Conor Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Conor Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor Burns on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations his Department has received from UNESCO on the proposed Navitus Bay Wind Farm development.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    UNESCO has submitted representations from its Advisory Body the IUCN about the proposed Navitus Bay Wind Farm development. The development is being considered by the planning authorities and these views have been submitted as part of this process.

  • 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.