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  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 19W, on the electoral register, with which civic society organisations the Electoral Commission is proactively seeking partnerships for the purpose of increasing electoral registration.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it is in the process of contacting a range of organisations, including civic society organisations, and will write to the honourable member once this is complete with the list of organisations that have signed up.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 20W, on the electoral register, if the Electoral Commission will make a copy of its evaluation of the effectiveness of electoral registration grants available online; and if he will inform the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee once this action is complete.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs that it will arrange for the document to be put on their website and will inform the honourable member and the Political and Constitutional Committee Clerk when this has happened.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 22 Janaury 2013, Official Report, columns 131-3W, on the electoral register, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the reasons for the increase from 8 to 58 in the number of electoral registration officers who failed performance standard 3 between 2010 and 2011.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it has previously corresponded with the honourable member on this issue.

    Within that correspondence the Electoral Commission set out that following its 2010 report assessing the performance of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) it became aware of anecdotal evidence suggesting that for various reasons, including local authority budget reductions, there may have been a greater number of EROs who were not meeting performance standard 3. Therefore, in addition to the 2011 performance standard return, the Commission asked all EROs for the first time to confirm specifically whether or not they carried out a personal canvass of all non-responders and, if not, to provide an explanation as to the reasons why.

    The Commission subsequently requested further data from EROs who had not confirmed that they carried out a personal canvass of all non-responders in order to make a better-informed assessment of performance against performance standard 3. This data included the number of non-responding households that were not contacted by a personal canvasser or by any other method (not including forms and reminders); how many of these households had entries confirmed by other records; and how many of those households had entries that could not be confirmed and were removed.

    Following this process, the Commission revised the assessments of 51 EROs to ‘below’ the standard. This meant that, including the seven EROs who originally reported that they did not meet the standard, there were 58 EROs who did not meet this standard in 2011.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, columns 20-1W, on electoral registration, which electoral registration officers and local authorities had the biggest improvement in registering attainers between 2008 and 2013.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not collect data on the number of attainers registered as part of its monitoring of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). Through its performance standards framework the Commission monitors whether EROs are encouraging participation in the registration process by having in place an effective and appropriate public awareness strategy and working with partners where appropriate to promote registration.

    The Commission informs me that there has been a significant improvement made by EROs in this area.

    Between 2008 and 2012 the number of EROs meeting or exceeding the standards relating to public awareness and working with partners increased from 34% to 99% and from 67% to 100% respectively.

    The Commission’s report on EROs’ performance in 2013 will be published at the end of March 2014.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, columns 20-1W, on electoral registration, which local authorities and electoral registration officers the Electoral Commission has identified as pursuing best practice in electoral registration.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it will write to the honourable member on this issue alongside its report on EROs’ planning and preparedness for IER, including their progress in developing public engagement strategies, at the end of March 2014 and will place a copy in the House library.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 19W, on the electoral register, what measures the Electoral Commission agreed following its meetings with the Department for Work and Pensions, Cabinet Office and other departments on co-operation in electoral registration.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it has highlighted the previous question to the Cabinet Office and suggested that they should discuss the issues referred to in it with the Department for Work and Pensions and are currently awaiting a response.

  • Sheila Gilmore – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Sheila Gilmore – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Prime Minister, whether the appointment of the hon. Member for Wealden as (a) a consultant to Vitol Group and (b) a senior adviser to Atlantic Supergrid Corporation Ltd were considered by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments; and whether any conditions were imposed by the Advisory Committee on either such appointment.

    David Cameron

    In accordance with the requirements set out in the Ministerial Code, the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA) provides advice direct to former Ministers about any appointments or employment they wish to take up within two years of leaving office. Details about the ACoBA’s advice is published on its website when appointments are taken up or announced.

  • Bill Esterson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Bill Esterson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time between judgement and sentencing in criminal trials in England was in the latest period for which figures are available; and what assessment he has made of the trends in the time taken.

    Shailesh Vara

    HMCTS can only answer this question for trials in the Crown Court. The case management database for magistrates’ courts does not hold the date of conviction in a way we can calculate the time from conviction to sentence for all defendants so the only way we could answer the question would be to manually check each case file which would incur disproportionate costs.

    The Crown Court database does and Table 1 below shows the average length between the latest conviction date in a trial and the date of sentence. The trend has seen the time between conviction and sentence falling from an average of 35.8 calendar days in 2007-08 to 24.6 calendar days in the first half of 2013-14. When a trial has more than one offence the jury may not reach verdicts against all on the same day, and the sentence cannot take place until all offences have a verdict.

    Table 1 -Average length between conviction and sentence in Crown Court centres in England for defendants sentenced between April and September 2013

    Period

    Average

    April to September 2013

    24.6 calendar days

    2012-13

    28.2

    2011-12

    28.2

    2010-11

    30.2

    2009-10

    32.8

    2008-09

    34.4

    2007-08

    35.8

    Notes:

    1. The average number of calendar days between the latest jury conviction date and the earliest substantial sentence date.
    2. Includes cases where the defendant changes their plea to guilty during the trial.
    3. This is internal management information run specifically to answer this question.

    The judiciary are able to sentence following conviction without the need for additional hearings as a result of initiatives currently in place. The judicially lead early guilty plea scheme aims to have guilty plea cases concluded at a single hearing. Similarly the probation service are able to provide reports on the day of conviction to facilitate the sentencing of the defendant.

    “

  • Mary Creagh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Mary Creagh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in each police force area have been caught speeding and received points on their driving licence in each of the last five years.

    Damian Green

    The maximum penalty for speeding is a fine of up to £1,000 and for speeding on a motorway, £2,500. The courts also have the power to disqualify the offender from driving and must in any event endorse the offender’s licence by between three and six penalty points. Alternatively, if the police decide that the nature of the offence was less serious, they may offer the motorist the opportunity to receive a fixed penalty notice instead of prosecution. If a fixed penalty is issued, the driver may instead chose to plead innocence or mitigating factors in court, and if convicted, any sentence will be decided within the maximum penalty limit and in line with sentencing guidelines.

    The number of persons receiving endorsements only on their driving licence for speeding offences at all courts in England and Wales by police force area from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) can be viewed in the attached table.

    Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2014.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison staff were dismissed in 2013 for conducting inappropriate relationships with prisoners.

    Jeremy Wright

    The National Offender Management Service is committed to dealing with all allegations of misconduct swiftly and robustly. The NOMS Conduct and Discipline Policy sets out the standards of behaviour that all staff are expected to maintain. Where these standards are found to have been breached the disciplinary process set out in the NOMS Conduct and Discipline policy is applied.

    From 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013 there were a total of 11 NOMS employees dismissed for having an ‘Inappropriate Relationship with a prisoner / ex prisoner’.