Category: Speeches

  • David Amess – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Amess – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many bids have been received for each community rehabilitation company; how many of those were (a) successful and (b) discounted; and if he will make a statement.

    Jeremy Wright

    The contract winners for each Community Rehabilitation Company will be announced by the end of 2014. Bids to run the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) have yet to be submitted, but are expected in June 2014. In mid December 2013, the 30 bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to bid for the rehabilitation contracts were announced and approximately one third of the bidders included a potential mutual organisation within their consortium. A list of the bidders who have been successful at this stage can be found at:

    https://www.justice.gov.uk/transforming-rehabilitation/competition

    “

  • Rehman Chishti – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rehman Chishti – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many complaints his Department received from members of the public on care and treatment by Medway NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified 19 items of correspondence from members of the public received between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2010 which complain about care and treatment at Medway NHS Foundation Trust. This is a minimum figure which represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Doughty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for applicants for personal independence payment in each region of the UK to be assessed by (a) Capita Health and Wellbeing and (b) Atos Healthcare in each region.

    Mike Penning

    Personal Independence Payment (PIP) started from April 2013 and although limited data has started to feed through, we need to wait until the Department has quality assured, meaningful figures for publication. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy –https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284330/pip_stats_release_strategy_feb14.pdf

    An ad-hoc release of PIP information was published on Tuesday 11th February 2014.

    “

  • Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many adult cystic fibrosis patients were being cared for by specialist centres in each of the last 10 years.

    Norman Lamb

    Information concerning the number of adult cystic fibrosis (CF) patients cared for by specialist centres in each of the last 10 years is not available. This data has only been collected since the introduction of the tariff for CF services in 2011, and in the following table we have provided the number of adult patients cared for in each year since that time:

    Year

    Adult Patients

    2011

    3,885

    2012

    4,107

    2013

    4,244

    More generally, we expect all CF patients to have a CF specialist in charge of their care and as part of the ongoing support they receive, to be assessed at specialist centres.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2014-03-31.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prosecutions for VAT carousel fraud have taken place in the United Kingdom over the last six years.

    Lord Wallace of Tankerness

    The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service do not identify the number of prosecutions for fraud cases known as VAT carousel fraud. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Ian Swales – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Swales – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Swales on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost of redundancy payments for special advisers in her Department has been since May 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    No redundancy payments have been made to special advisers in the Home Office since May 2010.

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions have been (a) commenced, (b) resulted in a non-custodial sentence and (c) resulted in a custodial sentence for (i) witness intimidation, (ii) perverting the cause of justice and (iii) conspiracy to pervert the course of justice as a result of incidents arising from cases involving domestic violence in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Oliver Heald

    The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identify the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in magistrates’ courts which were flagged as involving domestic violence, rather than the number of defendants or cases prosecuted.

    The data is accurate only to the extent that the flag has been correctly applied.

    Offences of perverting the course of justice are charged under Common Law, conspiracy to pervert justice, by way of Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 and intimidation of a witness or juror by way of Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

    The table below shows, for each of the last five years, the number of these offences charged and reaching a first hearing at magistrates’ courts, which were identified as involving domestic violence.

    2009-2010

    2010-2011

    2011-2012

    2012-2013

    2013-2014

    Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 51 }: Intimidating/threatening or harming a witness or juror

    846

    859

    763

    611

    686

    Common Law: Perverting the course of justice (including attempts)

    140

    136

    103

    121

    150

    Criminal Law Act 1977 { 1 }: Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice

    4

    7

    5

    4

    8

    Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

    There is no indication of the final prosecution outcome, or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at the time of finalisation. It is also often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same victim.

    It is not possible to centrally disaggregate offences charged by way of Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, to separately identify those offences relating to witnesses from those concerning jurors. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur disproportionate cost.

    The CPS does not hold records of sentences imposed following a conviction. Statistics relating to sentences are maintained by the Ministry of Justice.

  • Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Burns on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, who was responsible for the appointment of Saxton Bampfylde for the search for a successor to the Clerk of the House and Chief Executive; and who will monitor its progress.

    John Thurso

    Following a competitive tendering process, Saxton Bampfylde was appointed on 29 May 2014 to support the recruitment of the next Clerk of the House and Chief Executive, in particular by providing executive search services. Three bids were received and evaluated by Mr Speaker and the Director General of HR and Change. The fee for these services is fixed at £18,000. The contract will be monitored by the Department of HR and Change. The recruitment brief to which Saxton Bampfylde are working will be placed in the Library.

    The Clerk of the House is appointed by the Crown by Letters Patent, on the recommendation of the Speaker to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister to the Crown. Short-listed candidates will be interviewed by a panel chaired by Mr Speaker, three other members of the House of Commons Commission, a senior backbencher and an external member.

  • David Morris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    David Morris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to lift people over 75 years of age out of council tax.

    Brandon Lewis

    Low-income pensioners are already protected under the nationally set council tax support scheme for pensioners, and do not have to pay any council tax. They have saved and worked hard all their lives, and deserve security in retirement.

  • Sheila Gilmore – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Sheila Gilmore – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what visits each of the Ministers in her Department have made since January 2013; and what the purpose of each such visit was.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    Details of Ministers’ visits overseas are published quarterly and can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=northern-ireland-office.

    “