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  • Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, if he will take steps to ensure the inclusion in budgetary provisions for a programme to restore and renew the Palace of Westminster proposals for commemorating Augustus Pugin at St Augustine’s Church, Ramsgate.

    Tom Brake

    It would go beyond the statutory remit of the House of Commons Commission to make budgetary provision for the project in Ramsgate. However, the Commission is well aware of the contribution that Augustus Welby Pugin made to the design of the Palace of Westminster and is delighted that it was possible last year to donate some original encaustic tiles from the Palace for public display in St. Augustine’s Church.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drones carrying contraband goods have been seized within prison grounds in each of the last three years.

    Andrew Selous

    There were no reported incidents of drones carrying contraband being seized within prisons in 2013; in 2014 there were two reported incidents; and between 1 January 2015 and 31 October 2015 there were eight reported incidents.

    This Government has made it a criminal offence under the Prison Act 1952 to throw, or otherwise project, any article of substance into prison without authorisation. This includes the use of a drone.

    These figures have been drawn from live administrative data systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to amend sentencing guidelines to reduce the amount of time that offenders spend in prison.

    Andrew Selous

    Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts, who must follow guidelines unless it would not be in the interests of justice to do so. Sentencing guidelines are issued by the independent Sentencing Council to promote consistency and proportionality in sentencing. The guidelines are available on the Sentencing Council website.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recommendations his Department has made to the government of (a) Guernsey and (b)Jersey on the definition of legitimate interest in the management of central registers of beneficial ownership.

    Dominic Raab

    The Prime Minister has made clear that he would like a publicly accessible central register of company beneficial ownership to be the new international standard.

    The Government is in dialogue with the Crown Dependencies about UK policy in this area and progress on the wider G20 transparency agenda.

    The role of my Department is to manage the constitutional relationship between the UK and the Crown Dependencies.We have discussed the subject of beneficial ownership with the Crown Dependencies where it impacts on that relationship but it is not my Department’s role to make specific recommendations.

    The Crown Dependencies are not part of the United Kingdom. They are self-governing Dependencies of the Crown with their own legislative assemblies, administrative, fiscal and legal systems and courts of law.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of trials were ineffective due to the (a) prosecution being engaged in another trial, (b) prosecution advocate failing to attend and (c) prosecution increasing the time estimate due to insufficient time for trial to start in (i) Magistrates’ courts and (ii) the Crown Court in each year since 2007.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Overall numbers and reasons for cracked and ineffective trials are included in our Criminal Courts Statistics Quarterly publication, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2015

    In the published data the reasons specified in the question are aggregated together into one reason in our table: “prosecution end case” for cracked trials and “prosecution availability” for ineffective trials.

    The information requested can be found in the table attached.

    “

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of trials cracked as a result of the prosecution due to (a) insufficient evidence, (b) witness absent or withdrawn, (c) public interest grounds and (d) adjournment refused in (i) Magistrates’ courts and (ii) the Crown Court in each year since 2007.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Overall numbers and reasons for cracked and ineffective trials are included in our Criminal Courts Statistics Quarterly publication, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2015

    In the published data the reasons specified in the question are aggregated together into one reason in our table: “prosecution end case” for cracked trials and “prosecution availability” for ineffective trials.

    The information requested can be found in the table attached.

    “

  • 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 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2015 to Question 14487, whether revenue received from the criminal courts charge have exceeded the cost to the public purse of running such courts since that charge was introduced.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    As the Justice Secretary stated in the house on 3 November, “it is right that we find better ways to pay the costs of running our criminal courts, and the introduction of this charge has made it possible to recover some of the costs from offenders, which reduces the burden on taxpayers. The Government are, of course, keeping the operation of the criminal courts charge under review.”

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the family test on his Department’s policies; and if he will make a statement.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Family Test was introduced in October 2014 and can be located at the following link Family Test Guidance

    The Family Test is part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of new policy in line with the guidance. Potential impacts of policy on family functioning and relationships are identified and brought to the attention of Ministers where appropriate.

    There is no requirement to publish the Family Test assessments. The Ministry of Justice does not collect information on the number of full Family Test assessments completed.

    “

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of a vacated trial in (a) Magistrates’ courts and (b) the Crown Court.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    HMCTS is unable to provide the information requested, as this information is not held.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential opportunities to enhance local services on pre-existing estates by co-locating services as part of proposals on the provision of the court and tribunal estate; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The consultation on the provision of court and tribunal services in England and Wales included details of plans to integrate services in 31 existing court buildings. The court estate is kept under review and any further opportunities to integrate services will be carefully considered.