Category: Speeches

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders have been recalled to prison and given a fixed term recall since 3 December 2012 whilst (a) on home detention curfew and (b) serving a sentence for a violent or sexual offence as listed in schedule 15 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

    Jeremy Wright

    The information required to answer these questions is due for publication on 24 April 2014. I will write to my Honourable friend as soon as it is available. A copy will be placed in the House Library.

  • Jim Dobbin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Dobbin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Dobbin on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 41W, on drinking water, whether his Department has conducted a study of levels of psychotropic drugs in UK rivers and seawater.

    Dan Rogerson

    Currently no psychotropic drugs have been identified as Priority Hazardous Substances, Priority Substances or UK Specific Pollutants under the Water Framework Directive. As such no routine monitoring is carried out for these substances in England.

    However, previous research by the Environment Agency on pharmaceuticals in surface waters included environmental monitoring for the psychotropic drug fluoxetine (an anti-depressant). In 2005, monitoring was undertaken in rivers downstream of a number of sewage works across England and Wales. Thirty-nine samples were taken with fluoxetine occurring in 85% of samples with a maximum concentration of 0.044 microgrammes/litre (µg/l), and norfluoxetine in 51% of samples with a maximum concentration of 0.083 µg/l.

    During 2011, a programme of monitoring for pesticides was undertaken in six catchments. The psychotropic drugs carbamazepine and gabapentin were detected in all six catchments with maximum levels of 0.7 µg/l and 1.2 µg/l respectively.

    The report published by the Drinking Water Inspectorate evaluated the risk from psychotropic drugs in river water used for abstraction for drinking water supplies.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authority (a) augmented and (b) did not augment Department for Work and Pensions data matching with the electoral register with local authority data matching.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that 137 local authorities provided data to them on their local data matching activities following the trial of matching with the DWP in 2013. The table below lists these local authorities. Those that did not provide data may still have carried out local data matching work.

    Reported on local data matching activities

    Amber Valley

    Argyll & Bute

    Ashfield

    Aylesbury Vale

    Barking & Dagenham

    Bassetlaw

    Bath & North East Somerset

    Bexley

    Blaby

    Bolsover

    Bournemouth

    Bracknell Forest

    Brighton & Hove

    Bromley

    Bromsgrove

    Broxbourne

    Broxtowe

    Burnley

    Calderdale

    Canterbury

    Carlisle

    Central Bedfordshire

    Ceredigion

    Cheltenham

    Christchurch

    Conwy

    Coventry

    Dartford

    Daventry

    Denbighshire

    Derbyshire Dales

    Dudley

    Dumfries & Galloway

    Durham

    East Dorset

    East Dunbartonshire

    East Lindsey

    East Lothian

    East Northamptonshire

    East Renfrewshire

    Eastleigh

    Eden

    Edinburgh, City of

    Elmbridge

    Flintshire

    Forest of Dean

    Gosport

    Gravesham

    Guildford

    Gwynedd

    Halton

    Hambleton

    Hammersmith & Fulham

    Harborough

    Harrogate

    Hastings

    Havant

    Herefordshire

    High Peak

    Hillingdon

    Hyndburn

    Inverclyde

    Ipswich

    Kensington and Chelsea

    Kettering

    Kingston upon Thames

    Lewisham

    Lincoln

    Luton

    Mansfield

    Medway

    Melton

    Midlothian

    Milton Keynes

    Mole Valley

    Neath Port Talbot

    New Forest

    Newport

    North Dorset

    North Kesteven

    North Lincolnshire

    North Somerset

    North Tyneside

    North Warwickshire

    North West Leicestershire

    Nottingham

    Orkney Islands

    Oxford

    Pendle

    Poole

    Purbeck

    Redcar & Cleveland

    Redditch

    Renfrewshire

    Richmond upon Thames

    Richmondshire

    Rossendale

    Rotherham

    Rushcliffe

    Rushmoor

    Sandwell

    Sedgemoor

    Sefton

    Sheffield

    Shepway

    Shropshire

    South Derbyshire

    South Gloucestershire

    South Kesteven

    South Ribble

    Southend-on-Sea

    St Edmundsbury

    St. Helens

    Staffordshire Moorlands

    Stockport

    Surrey Heath

    Swale

    Swindon

    Tamworth

    Tandridge

    Thanet

    Thurrock

    Tonbridge & Malling

    Walsall

    Warrington

    Watford

    Waverley

    West Berkshire

    West Dunbartonshire

    West Lindsey

    West Lothian

    Wigan

    Wiltshire

    Wolverhampton

    Wychavon

    Wyre

    York

  • Gordon Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Gordon Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Brown on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will visit Dalgety Bay to discuss the time taken to clean up radiation contamination there.

    Mr Mark Francois

    In 2006 the then Health Protection Agency (HPA) Radiological Protection Authority advised that radioactive contamination on Dalgety Bay presented a low risk to the public. A more recent scoping risk assessment undertaken in 2011 by the HPA Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards at the bequest of the Scottish Government concluded that the risk to health was very low.

    The view of the Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards (now part of Public Health England) remains unchanged. However, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is completing a detailed quantitative risk assessment to inform the longer term management strategy which will be available in due course.

    Copies of the advice received by MOD together with a copy of the more detailed risk assessment, when published, will be placed in the Library of the House.

  • Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-03-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the number of children living in households in Wrexham constituency where one or both parents are (a) working-part-time because they are unable to find full-time work and (b) employed on a zero-hours contract.

    Nick Hurd

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

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the efficacy of the General Dental Council’s fitness to practise regime.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Department has made no recent assessment of the efficacy of the General Dental Council’s fitness to practise regime.

    It is the role of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) to independently review the performance of the regulators on an annual basis, to check how effective the regulators have been in protecting the public and promoting confidence in health and care professionals.

    Further information on the PSA reviews can be found on their website using the following link:

    www.professionalstandards.org.uk/

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2014-03-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they are giving to the Howard League for Penal Reform’s request to the Ministry of Justice to reverse their ban on family and friends sending books to prisoners.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    There are important reasons why we have restricted the sending in of parcels by families and friends of prisoners and we do not intend to withdraw those restrictions. The changes we introduced last year in relation to parcels were to ensure consistency across the estate and to make sure that security can be maintained. There have always been controls on the sending of parcels into prisons, and allowing parcels to be sent in unrestricted would be operationally unmanageable and would lead to a significant risk of drugs and other illicit items being smuggled into prisons.

    We have always recognised the importance of reading and literature in the rehabilitative process, and the positive effects these have on prisoners’ welfare. Every prison has a library, to which every prisoner has access. Prisoners may hold up to 12 books in their cell at any one time, and additional books can be stored locally at the prison. The National Offender Management Service also works closely with the Shannon Trust to support schemes such as ‘Toe by Toe’, which includes peer mentoring to improve reading levels.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, within what time period Ofsted is required to provide feedback to a school after it has reported to his Department.

    Mr David Laws

    This question is a matter for Ofsted. I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the hon. Member. A copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.

  • Lord Boateng – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Boateng – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2014-03-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the functioning of the inquest system in the absence of publicly funded legal representation for the families of deceased victims of actions on the part of the police or other public authorities.

    Lord Faulks

    The Government is confident that the inquest system is functioning effectively following reforms introduced last July under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. We are committed to reviewing the impact of the reforms in 2015.

    In addition, the Government has specifically protected legal aid for families at inquests. Legal Help (the advice and assistance level of legal aid) remains routinely available within the scope of the civil legal aid scheme. In exceptional circumstances funding can also be provided for the family’s legal representation at the inquest pursuant to section 6(8)(b) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 (AJA) or section 10(1) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) (the applicable legislation depending on the date of the original application). A means test applies but can be waived in certain circumstances.

    The Lord Chancellor is prevented by statute from giving directions and guidance to the Legal Aid Agency in relation to an individual case, but has published general guidance to which the Director of Legal Aid Casework must have regard when making individual decisions on applications for exceptional funding for representation at inquests. The guidance sets out the relevant criteria and specifically addresses inquests where there is a death in custody or a death in the course of police arrest, search, pursuit or shooting.

    Following a review of its decision in the Groce family’s case, the Legal Aid Agency made a funding request to the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor has considered the request and has granted funding

  • John Mann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    John Mann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport renewals have been completed within the advertised three week turnaround time from receipt in the last period for which figures are available.

    James Brokenshire

    Straightforward passport applications from applicants in the UK have a published expected turnaround of three weeks. For the financial year 2013-14,
    99.58 percent of customers received their passports within that period.

    Achievement of turnaround times is a national objective and specific targets are not focused on individual offices. This approach allows HM Passport Office
    to channel resources and distribute applications to meet capacity.