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  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Prime Minister’s oral contribution of 2 December 2015 on ISIL in Syria, Official Report, column 323, what the seven locations are in the UK where the security services have stopped terrorist attacks; and in which months each such attempted attack was stopped.

    Mr John Hayes

    In line with our longstanding practice, it would be inappropriate to comment further on operational matters.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of proposals to revise the costs capping scheme for environmental legal challenges on ease of access to redress through the courts.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The proposals to revise the costs capping scheme for environmental legal challenges in England and Wales do not seek to make environmental justice less accessible. The Ministry of Justice will continue to keep their impact under review as part of its consideration of the consultation responses. We will also carry out a full impact assessment and this will be published as part of the government’s response paper. The Ministry of Justice has due regard to its duties under the Equalities Act 2010, and has carried out an initial equality impact assessment prior to publishing the consultation document. This will be reviewed as part of the response paper.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of changes to his Department’s policy on the criminal courts charge.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    From 24 December the Criminal Courts Charge will be suspended, pending a review of all financial impositions imposed in the criminal courts. There are no direct financial costs involved in making this change.

    The updated Impact Assessment estimated that the Criminal Courts Charge would bring in approximately £95m per annum in steady state (from 2019/20 onwards). The Impact Assessment can be found here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/796/impacts.

    “

  • Mark Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Field on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average unit cost of caring for a victim of human trafficking in a government-funded shelter is; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government funds a range of support services through a contract with The Salvation Army. It is not possible to provide an average unit cost because the needs of potential victims of trafficking are varied, as is the length of stay in accommodation, where provided.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will place in the Library a copy of the timetable for transition of the emergency services from Airwave to the emergency services network, for each (a) service and (b) region.

    Mike Penning

    The supporting transition plan attached is a provisional plan and, therefore, subject to change.

    Note:

    • This is for the 3 Emergency Services only and does not include British Transport Police (BTP), Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) and National Crime Agency (NCA)

    • Dates are shown in months from Effective Date (ED)

    • Kent Constabulary is shown in East of England transition group as per ESMCP Programme Board decision; Kent Fire and Rescue Service is still in South East

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on the emergency services mobile communications programme.

    Mike Penning

    The purpose of the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) is to deliver a mobile communications network for use principally by the Emergency Services – the Emergency Services Network (ESN). The ESN will deliver integrated critical voice and broadband data services to all three emergency services (3ES) and other users throughout England, Wales and Scotland. The aim is to provide a mobile communications network capable of providing the full coverage, resilience, security and public safety functionality required by the 3ES.

    The procurement of the ESN is divided in 3 main procurement lots supplemented by a number of related projects. The contract for Lot 1 – Delivery Partner was awarded to Kellogg Brown and Root in August 2015 . The Home Office announced it’s intention to award contracts to Motorola – Lot 2 User Services and EE Lot 3 Mobile Services on 13th November 2015. The procurement process was halted following a legal challenge by Airwave Solutions Limited, the incumbent supplier, on 23 November 2015, the last day of the 10 day standstill period. The Home Office submitted an application to lift the automatic suspension of the procurement and had been working with Counsel preparing for a hearing in the High Court on 8th and 9th Dec.

    On Saturday 5th December, the Home Office was informed that ASL would no longer contest the Home Office application to lift the suspension and that subject to the consent order being agreed by the Court today, the Home Office will seek to sign contracts with Motorola and EE on 8th December. This will then start the Mobilisation phase of the programme during which the network will be designed, built and tested over a 21 month period. The 3ES will start to use the network from late 2017 following extensive tests and trials.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2015 to Question 18224, how many local authorities have indicated that they wish to participate in the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.

    Richard Harrington

    This is a voluntary scheme whereby local authorities sign up to accept refugees on a voluntary basis. Although we do not propose to give a running commentary on the number of local authorities that have indicated they wish to participate in the scheme we can confirm that as of 7 December 2015, 55 local authorities had signed up to participate in the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and had provided confirmed offers of places.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2015 to Question 18221, what estimate she has made of the time taken to process a family from Syria onto the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme before they are housed in the UK.

    Richard Harrington

    The time taken to process a family from Syria onto the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme varies depending on the individual circumstances of that family.

  • Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme; and what steps he is taking to increase uptake of such screening among (a) men, (b) people living in deprived areas, (c) ethnic minorities and (d) all people.

    Jane Ellison

    The UK National Screening Committee recently consulted on the use of Faecal Immunochemical testing (FIT) as an alternative screen test for bowel cancer. Initial results of the FIT pilot, indicates that this test is more acceptable to the screened population with a significant increase in participation (10%). This is particularly marked amongst men and disadvantaged groups.

    At the end of January 2015, 25 million faecal occult blood test kits had been sent out to men and women aged 60-74 to self-sample at home. Over 15 million kits have been returned by post to one of five regional laboratories (programme hubs). Over 21,000 cancers have been detected and over 122,000 patients have been managed for polyps, including polyp removal.

    Public Health England (PHE) Screening held a national workshop engaging various organisations to discuss inequalities in accessing screening programmes.

    The national workshop was attended by colleagues from local authorities, the Department of Health, PHE, National Health Service and cancer research UK. The day looked at current knowledge about the extent of inequitable access, what works to improve access for those in deprived and protected groups, how existing levers might best be used and by whom.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure the efficient and timely transfer of prisoners to hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983; and how many prisoners have waited for more than 14 days for such a transfer in each of the last five years.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS England has revised good practice guidance on transferring adult prisoners to secure hospitals under sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983. This guidance includes the expectation that a transfer will take place within 14 days, when the need for hospital admission is urgent, and that longer transfer periods should be reported to NHS commissioners, so that steps can be taken to improve. The guidance will be published shortly.

    Between April to September 2015, 343 prisoners waited more than 14 days for a transfer. Data on prisoner transfer waiting times was not held centrally prior to April 2015. Since then, NHS England has collected data from Health and Justice Indicators of Performance (HJIPs) at a national level.

    HJIPs include data on waiting times for transfers between prisons and secure hospitals in England since April 2015 and available information is shown in the attached table, Health & Justice Indicators of Performance – Mental Health Secure Assessment and Transfer. NHS England intends to publish future HJIP data online from April 2016.