Category: Speeches

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

    Lord Blencathra – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2014-03-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to take steps to recover legal aid payments to the firm Public Interest Lawyers following their statement on 20 March that there was no evidence that British soldiers had murdered 20 Iraqis.

    Lord Faulks

    Legal aid is not funding the Al-Sweady Inquiry. There are therefore no plans to recover payments made from legal aid to Public Interest Lawyers following their statement on 20 March.

    On 20 March, at the Al-Sweady Inquiry into the most serious allegations against British soldiers in the Iraq War, lawyers representing Iraqi families withdrew their claim that the troops had killed unarmed civilians they had captured and brought back to an army base.

    The inquiry continues and the statement on 20 March does not mean that the inquiry has been abandoned.

    Legal aid was provided for an action prior to the Inquiry. Legal aid was provided to Iraqi applicants to seek an independent and effective investigation into deaths and torture or inhumane and degrading treatment in relation to the incident at checkpoint Danny Boy in Iraq in May 2004. As a result of these proceedings, the Secretary of State for Defence decided to hold the Al-Sweady Inquiry. This action was therefore successful in its aim.

    The Inquiry is not yet complete and the Chairman’s report is not due to be published until later in the year. Public Interest Lawyers’s statement refers to part only of the allegations made and the Ministry of Justice awaits the Inquiry Report before commenting further.

  • Lord Tebbit – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Tebbit – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 6 May (WA 359), whether they intend to make it an offence for a British subject to be taken from the United Kingdom to be forced into marriage outside their jurisdiction.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    The Coalition Government has passed legislation to make the act of forcing someone to marry a criminal offence, by means of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. The legislation comes into force on 16 June 2014.

    The extra-territorial provision in this legislation means that if the prohibited acts take place outside the UK by, or to, a UK national, or a person habitually resident in England or Wales, it will be an offence under domestic law and triable in the courts of England and Wales.

  • Lord Harrison – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Harrison – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2014-03-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage local authority pension schemes to take into account environmental, social and governance factors in their decisions.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    These issues are matters for individual local authorities that administer pension funds to consider when deciding upon their investment strategies. Each administering authority is required to publish a statement of principles, which may address such issues. Statutory guidance states that the authority must report periodically to scheme members on the implementation of their policies.

    Notwithstanding, local authorities need to focus on delivering a good rate of return for their fund and value for taxpayers, given local government pensions cost taxpayers (via employer contributions) almost £6 billion a year.

  • Lord Donoughue – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Donoughue – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Donoughue on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord de Mauley on 11 March (WA 374), further to making a complaint about an RSPCA inspector directly to that organisation, what other bodies have the power to regulate the conduct of RSPCA inspectors; and what advice is publicly available to individuals wishing to make a complaint about an investigator.

    Lord De Mauley

    A complaint can also be made to the police or the Charity Commission depending on the nature of the complaint.

  • Jake Berry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jake Berry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are home-schooled in (a) Lancashire and (b) Rossendale and Darwen constituency.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The information requested is not held by the Department.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the number of refugees in the Central African Republic.

    Baroness Northover

    The ongoing violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) continues to take a distressing toll on the civilian population, compounding an already acute humanitarian crisis. The UN estimates that 557,000 people have been displaced within CAR, with 483,000 estimated to have fled the country, of whom 358,000 are refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Cameroon, Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

    Prior to the crisis, CAR was host to over 15,000 refugees from DRC and Sudan; however the deteriorating security situation has led to the voluntary repatriation of many refugees with support from UNHCR. In April over 6,000 Congolese refugees were voluntarily repatriated to Equateur province in DRC – a further sign of the gravity of the situation in CAR.

    The crisis is having a marked impact on education provision, with the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimating that 400,000 vulnerable children are in need of emergency access to education. Many schools outside the capital have been closed since the onset of the crisis and whilst some schools in Bangui have reopened, work on rebuilding educational institutions as well as infrastructure is needed. The Multi-Cluster Initial Rapid Assessment in January 2014 placed the level of functioning schools at 4%, with many looted and occupied by displaced people, but did not report military use of schools. The interruption of education affects both girls and boys.

    The most important need continues to be security, and the UK has worked closely with international partners, including the African Union (AU), to support efforts to bring stability to the country. We have provided £2m in non-lethal support to the UN-mandated AU force, MISCA, which despite serious challenges, has worked well with the French Operation Sangaris to bring some security to the country. We will continue to work with the AU and others as we approach the handover to the UN Peace Keeping Operation, MINUSCA, in September 2014, and as preparations are made for elections, currently scheduled for 2015.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking on the decision to allow the sale and consumption of alcohol in a motorway service area.

    Norman Baker

    The Licensing Act 2003 bans the sale of alcohol at certain motorway service areas but this ban does not extend to all of them. At motorway service areas which are not covered by the Act, the grant of premise licences for the sale of alcohol in any particular case is at present a matter for the local licensing authority.

    The Government included motorway service areas as part of the public consultation on the Alcohol Strategy in 2012/13. The Government’s response to this consultation was published in July 2013 and stated that this issue would be considered further, and it is under active consideration.

  • Lord Patten – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Patten – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the standards of design used for new homes in large-scale greenfield developments in England since 2010.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    The Government is keen to ensure that new homes are well-designed and the National Planning Policy Framework and accompanying Practice Guidance strongly encourages local authorities, working with local partners, to achieve this. However, information about the standard of design for new homes is not collected centrally.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the introduction of legally binding pre-nuptial agreements.

    Simon Hughes

    The Law Commission published its report on Matrimonial Property, Needs and Agreements on 27 February 2014.

    The report focuses on clarifying the law in the areas of financial ‘need’ and nuptial agreements and makes 3 broad recommendations:

    1. that written guidance is produced on financial need;

    2. that the feasibility is assessed of producing numerical guidance to help couples to calculate the likely financial outcome of divorce or dissolution; and

    3. that pre-nuptial agreements are made statutorily binding.

    The Government is grateful to the Law Commission for their hard work on this complex area of law.

    The Government is giving the report careful consideration. An interim response will be published by August 2014 and a full response by February 2015. These are the timescales established in protocol between the Law Commission and Government.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Mulholland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made by his Department’s Justice for Vulnerable Road Users Working Group.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Justice for Vulnerable Road Users group is a sub-group of the Cycling Stakeholder Forum. It includes representatives from the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Metropolitan Police, Crown Prosecution Service, Sentencing Council, CTC, British Cycling and RoadPeace. The next meeting is scheduled for later this month.

    The remit of the group is set out in a terms of reference agreed by the membership. The group has recently looked into whether it would be possible to link data to see how many fatal road traffic accidents have resulted into convictions and this will most likely be discussed at the forthcoming meeting. Many of the other concerns of the Group should be covered in the forthcoming Ministry of Justice Review of Motoring Offences.