Blog

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with which countries the UK has asset sharing agreements for the purposes of freezing, confiscating and repatriating the proceeds of crime; and how many such agreements have been reached since 2010-11.

    Karen Bradley

    he UK is party to a number of multilateral international agreements that
    contain asset recovery and asset sharing provisions. These include the Council
    of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the
    Proceeds from Crime, the UN Convention Against Corruption and the UN Convention
    Against Transnational Organised Crime. The UK does not require a formal
    international agreement to be able to cooperate with another country in respect
    of freezing, confiscating and sharing or repatriating the proceeds of crime but
    does have 37 bilateral mutual legal assistance agreements with other countries
    including such provisions. These are –

    1. Algeria
    2. Antigua and Barbuda
    3. Argentina
    4. Australia
    5. Bahamas
    6. Bahrain
    7. Barbados
    8. Brazil
    9. Canada
    10. Chile
    11. Colombia
    12. Ecuador
    13. Grenada
    14. Guyana
    15. Hong Kong SAR
    16. India
    17. Ireland
    18. Italy
    19. Jordan
    20. Libya
    21. Malaysia
    22. Mexico
    23. Netherlands
    24. Nigeria
    25. Panama
    26. Paraguay
    27. Philippines
    28. Romania
    29. Saudi Arabia
    30. Spain
    31. Sweden
    32. Thailand
    33. UAE
    34. Ukraine
    35. Uruguay
    36. USA
    37. Vietnam

    The agreements with Jordan and Malaysia have been concluded since 2010.

    There are a further six bilateral agreements limited to the issue of asset
    sharing. These are –

    1. Canada
    2. Jersey
    3. Hong Kong SAR
    4. Ireland
    5. Jamaica
    6. Netherlands

    These were all concluded prior to 2010.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Attorney General, whether the Serious Fraud Office has applied to HM Treasury for additional funding for its investigation into the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.

    Oliver Heald

    The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has a core budget to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute the most serious and complex cases of fraud, bribery and corruption and some exceptionally large cases will arise that require additional resources. However it is not in the public interest to specify in detail what resources the SFO intends to dedicate to each case.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many cases of non-payment of the minimum wage were (a) referred to the Crown Prosecution Service from HM Revenue and Customs, (b) prosecuted and (c) prosecuted successfully in 2013-14 and each of the preceding three financial years.

    Oliver Heald

    Based on data held centrally by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) together with information provided by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which has responsibility for enforcing the law in relation to the National Minimum Wage, I have established (a) three referrals were made to the CPS from HMRC in 2010-2011. No referrals were made in the financial years 2011-2012, 2012-2013 or 2013-2014. (b) One prosecution commenced in 2011-2012 from the three cases referred in 2010-2011. (c) One conviction is recorded in 2010-2011 (referred in 2009/10) and one conviction in 2012-2013 (referred in 2010/11). This information represents the period of 2013-14 and the preceding three financial years.

    HMRC also has civil enforcement powers to secure and punish in cases of non-compliance.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-30.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) inspections, (b) findings of non-compliance, (c) prosecutions and (d) convictions have been handled by HM Revenue and Customs to non-payment of the minimum wage in each region in each year since 2008.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government take the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously and HMRC reviews every complaint that is referred to it, investigating the complaint and, in addition, carrying out targeted enforcement where we identify a high risk of non-payment of NMW.

    The information for the time period requested is detailed in the table below. HMRC does not keep statistics at regional level for the purposes of completed inspections and non-compliance. However, the location of the employers prosecuted is included.

    Financial

    Year

    Completed

    Inspections

    Non-

    Compliance

    Prosecutions

    Employer

    Location

    2009-10

    3643

    1256

    0

    2010-11

    2904

    1140

    1

    Liverpool

    2011-12

    2534

    968

    0

    2012-13

    1693

    736

    1

    London

    2013-14

    1455

    680

    0

    The majority of employers identified as paying below the NMW will pay arrears on receipt of a formal Notice of Underpayment. Where they don’t, HMRC will pursue recovery through the civil courts. For deliberate non-compliance or obstructive behaviour, HMRC operates a policy of selective and exemplary criminal investigation action to bolster our overall enforcement strategy. Criminal investigations rarely result in arrears being paid to workers and are reserved only for the most serious cases. All of the prosecutions noted in the table above were successful.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he will answer question 188564 tabled on 13 February 2014 for Answer on 24 February 2014, and question 188387 tabled on 12 February 2014 for Answer on 26 February 2014.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I responded to the hon. Member today.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2014, Official Report, columns 578-9W, on equality, how many companies responded to the recent survey of companies participating in the Think Act, Report initiative; and what information her Department holds on which companies participating in that initiative (a) have conducted a gender pay audit in the last two years and (b) publish detailed gender pay gap information for each grade.

    Jenny Willott

    The survey of Think, Act, Report participating companies was conducted in October 2013. There were 39 responses, roughly a third of the companies then supporting the initiative.

    The survey was anonymous, so the Department does not hold information on which of the companies have conducted gender pay audits. However, we are aware there are at least 16 such companies.

    At least two companies, Friends Life and Genesis Housing, publish detailed gender pay gap information broken down by every grade. The Government is using the initiative to encourage companies to publish pay information, and for many of them signing-up to Think, Act, Report is their first step on that journey.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many motorists were prosecuted for speeding offences in (a) Nottinghamshire and (b) Ashfield constituency in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Jeremy Wright

    The number of defendants proceeded against at Magistrates’ courts for speeding offences in the Nottinghamshire Police Force Area, from 2008 to 2012 (latest available) can be viewed in the table. Information cannot be broken down by Parliamentary constituency

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) nurses, (b) doctors and (c) surgeons have been employed at (i) Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (ii) Nottingham University Hospitals in each year since 2007.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    Information on the number of (a) qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff (b) Hospital and community health service (HCHS) doctors and (c) surgeons employed at (i) Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (FT) and (ii) Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, in each year since 2007 is shown in the attached table.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of levels of self-harm in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) the East Midlands in each of the last five years.

    Norman Lamb

    The Department has made no estimate of the levels of self-harm in the above named areas.

    Information on the numbers of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a cause code of self-harm and numbers of accident and emergency (A&E) attendances (excluding planned attendances) with a patient group of deliberate self-harm for Ashfield constituency for 2009-10 to 2012-13, Nottinghamshire County or Nottingham City Primary Care Trust (PCT) and East Midlands Strategic Health Authority (SHA) for 2008-09 to 2012-13 where available, is shown in the attached tables.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, which organisations have been awarded funding to conduct a review into homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools.

    Jenny Willott

    The contract to conduct a review of the available evidence on the most effective practices to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools has been awarded to NatCen Social Research following a rigorous assessment process.