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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place a limit on the number of the Community Rehabilitation Companies that a single external provider may control; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright

The Transforming Rehabilitation Programme is opening up the market to a diverse range of new providers, so that we can harness the best that the private and voluntary sectors has to offer to reduce reoffending. In mid December 2013, the bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to bid for the rehabilitation contracts were announced. The list includes a mix of private and voluntary sector partnerships with more than 50 organisations represented. We expect to announce the winners of these contracts by the end of 2014 and are committed to the roll out of payment by results by 2015.

The Government has been clear that we want to see a diverse market delivering probation services, rather than being dominated by just a few providers. We have set a market share restriction whereby bidders can win a maximum of 25% of market share based on the indicative contract values set out in the competition documentation. Bidders will be allowed to win multiple contracts up to the point at which their market share cap would be breached subject to meeting any other requirements set out by the Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many unfilled posts of each grade there were in the Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust in each month since January 2012.

Jeremy Wright

The information requested is not held centrally.

Vacancies were managed locally by probation trusts which have now ceased to exist.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he intends to formally abolish probation trusts.

Jeremy Wright

Probation Trusts ceased operating at the end of 31 May 2014. The majority of offenders are now being supervised by staff working in 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies while high risk offenders and those who have committed the most serious offences are being supervised by the National Probation Service. The new structure was tested thoroughly prior to the transition, with staff and cases beginning transfer into the new structure prior to formal transition on 1 June. Formal dissolution of the Probation Trusts will take place following audit of their 2014/15 accounts in the autumn of 2014.

The leadership of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) remain committed to maintaining morale through the effective leadership of change and continued positive engagement across the organisation. Throughout this significant change programme regular communication has been provided across NOMS to keep people informed about the reforms. We understand the challenges large scale reforms such as this can pose, and we are working closely with probation staff to make sure they can raise any issues quickly. Probation staff at all levels are working hard to implement these vital reforms on the ground and we will continue to support them throughout this process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the role of local authorities in the commissioning of probation services within their areas; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright

The Offender Management Act 2007 places the responsibility for the provision of Probation Services on the Secretary of State for Justice. Under the Act, the Secretary of State may make contractual or other arrangements with any other person for the making of the probation provision. The process of commissioning probation services will be informed by engagement with co-commissioning partners including, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Local Authorities. Contracts will be responsive to changing demands and priorities at local and national levels.

During the Transforming Rehabilitation Programme, we have undertaken extensive engagement at a national and local level with PCCs and Local Authorities. As part of this process, we have established a national PCC Reference Group and a Local Authority Reference Group which have proved to be useful forums to engage with those PCCs and Local Authorities which are most interested in our reforms and enabled them to scrutinise the commissioning and delivery of the Programme. PCCs and Local Authorities, together with other key local stakeholders have also been able to provide structured advice on what works locally via the creation of competition local advisory panels.

No organisations are prohibited from bidding in the competition. However, to bid successfully to own and run Community Rehabilitation Companies, they will need to meet the criteria we set, which will include the ability to take on the necessary financial risk under our proposed payment by results mechanism.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many unfilled posts of each grade there were in the Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust in (a) April and (b) May 2014.

Jeremy Wright

The information requested is not held centrally.

Vacancies were managed locally by probation trusts which have now ceased to exist.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to transfer (a) the first and (b) the last Community Rehabilitation Company to an external provider.

Jeremy Wright

The Transforming Rehabilitation Programme is opening up the market to a diverse range of new providers, so that we can harness the best that the private and voluntary sectors has to offer to reduce reoffending. In mid December 2013, the bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to bid for the rehabilitation contracts were announced. The list includes a mix of private and voluntary sector partnerships with more than 50 organisations represented. We expect to announce the winners of these contracts by the end of 2014 and are committed to the roll out of payment by results by 2015.

The Government has been clear that we want to see a diverse market delivering probation services, rather than being dominated by just a few providers. We have set a market share restriction whereby bidders can win a maximum of 25% of market share based on the indicative contract values set out in the competition documentation. Bidders will be allowed to win multiple contracts up to the point at which their market share cap would be breached subject to meeting any other requirements set out by the Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he obtained clearance from the European Commission for his Department to retain a golden share in each Community Rehabilitation Company.

Jeremy Wright

On 19 September last year the Government launched the competition to find the future owners of the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) who will deliver rehabilitation services in England and Wales. The European Commission does not operate a process whereby Member States are required to seek clearance in order to retain Special Shares in a company, and instead the onus is on individual States to ensure they are operating in accordance with the law. The Department is satisfied that it is in full compliance with European law on retaining a Special Share within each of the new CRCs. The Transforming Rehabilitation competition will continue through 2014 with contracts being awarded and mobilised by 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contracts are outstanding in the Astute programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

The following table describes the current Ministry of Defence contracts solely for the Astute class submarine programme. All contracts, except serial 9, are with BAE Systems Marine Ltd. Once in service, platforms, including the Astute class, are supported via extant Fleet wide arrangements.

Serial Contract Description
1 Batch 1 The build of Astute boats 1-3.
2 Boat 4 The build of Astute boat 4.
3 Boat 5 The provision of long-lead materials and activities to support the build of Astute boat 5.
4 Boat 6 The provision of long-lead materials and activities to support the build of Astute boat 6.
5 Boat 7 The provision of long-lead materials and activities to support the build of Astute boat 7.
6 Base Spares To provide the initial spares provisioning for Astute boats leaving Barrow.
7 Foundation Placed to deliver the savings required by the 2010 SDSR through performance improvement and cost-benefit initiatives. To note that this contract impacts on both the Astute and Successor programmes.
8 Submarine Design Services The provision of In Service technical assistance.
9 Astute Class Training Service A PFI contract for the provision of Astute class crew training. The contract is placed with FAST Training Services Ltd (a consortium of BAE Systems, L-3 Communications and Babcock International).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the through life cost is for each of the 14 Voyager aircraft.

Mr Philip Dunne

We do not possess through life cost information for individual aircraft in the Voyager fleet. Under the Voyager PFI solution the MoD is not buying aircraft but a 27 year integrated Air Transport and Air to Air Refuelling service which is underpinned by the provision of 14 aircraft, the infrastructure, personnel, training and training school (including a full mission simulator), aircraft maintenance and engineering, spares, despatch and ground support. The outturn value of the contract is £10.5 billion over 27 years, excluding fuel and other associated usage costs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish his Department’s assessment of lessons learned from the recent Libyan campaign.

Mr Mark Francois

The Department has a very thorough lessons learned process which is normally applied when an operation is initiated. However, due to operational security sensitivities we do not, as a matter of course, publish the findings of such processes. We have no plans to publish any lessons learned from Op Ellamy.