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  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of staff numbers and skills at HM Prison Ranby.

    Andrew Selous

    HMP Ranby is currently in the process of implementing its benchmark and expects to have fully achieved this in 2016.

    Nationally, we have recruited 2,340 new prison officers over the last year and this recruitment drive means we have 540 more full-time prison officers in our prisons than there were twelve months ago.

    All Prison Officers complete the national training course (POELT) before they are able to undertake full duties, all staff at Ranby have the same access and opportunity to avail themselves of relevant training and development as any staff member working within NOMS.

  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when a Minister in his Department (a) last visited, (b) met the Governor of and (c) met the Independent Monitoring Board of HM Prison Ranby.

    Andrew Selous

    Available records show that no current Ministers for the Ministry of Justice have visited HMP Ranby, nor met the Governor or met with their Independent Monitoring Board.

    The East Midlands Deputy Director with responsibility for HMP Ranby regularly visits the prison and meets with the Governor. Andrew Selous receives annual reports from the chair of the IMB at Ranby.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to his oral evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee of 2 December 2015, Question 9, what his definition is of a constitutional long stop.

    Dominic Raab

    As the Prime Minister said on 10 November, we need to examine the way that Germany and other EU nations uphold their constitution and sovereignty. The issue that the Prime Minister raises requires serious thought, consultation within government and then space afterwards in order to allow proper debate.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were stopped as a result of witness withdrawal or non-attendance in (a) Crown court trials and (b) hearings in magistrates’ courts relating to (i) domestic violence (ii) rape and (iii) other cases in each of the last five years.

    Mike Penning

    Criminal cases discontinued by the prosecution are recorded by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS). However, the reasons why a case was discontinued are only recorded centrally for cases which are listed for trial but do not go ahead on the day. The reasons for these ‘cracked’ trials, including ‘prosecution end case’, are published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics in the supplementary Criminal Courts transparency tables. These data are not broken down by offence.

    The reasons recorded for cases discontinued at any other point in proceedings are not held centrally by HMCTS. This information could only be provided at disproportionate costs.

    “

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what procedures her Department has to determine which countries are at risk of becoming fragile states in order that such risks can be managed.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID maintains a list of fragile states based on open-source data from a range of sources including the World Bank, UN and the World Peace Index. We update this list regularly to reflect changes in the data.

    DFID also makes use of the Cabinet Office’s annual Countries at Risk of Instability report and quarterly Countries at Risk of Instability tracker.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what baseline data collection her Department plans to undertake in Somalia and Zimbabwe to measure progress against the Sustainable Development Goals in those countries.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    In Somalia, one of the costs of protracted conflict has been the loss of national capacity to produce credible statistics. We are working with the UN and others to help rectify this, but it will be some time before proper baselines can be set across all of the SDGs. For now, we expect some progress to be made soon on the first five (covering poverty, hunger, health, education, and gender equality).

    In Zimbabwe, DFID has supported a number of data collections which will be used to help measure a baseline for SDG delivery. These include the 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), the 2016 Demographic Health Survey (DHS), and other data collections on Agriculture (including the Agriculture and Livestock Survey). DFID will also support a 2016 survey on Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure (PICES).

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support the Government has given to the Government of Nepal for (a) rebuilding, (b) supply of food and (c) energy supply.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    (a) Rebuilding: DFID’s response to the devastating earthquake now stands at £70 million following further commitments made at the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction, making us one of the largest donors. DFID is working closely alongside the Government of Nepal but not directly funding it, rather collaborating with trusted UN and NGO partners to deliver on the humanitarian response both via direct in-kind assistance as well as supporting activities that contribute to an enabling environment for an effective and responsive humanitarian support. We welcome the adoption of the National Reconstruction Authority Bill and formation of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). We will support the Government’s reconstruction vision by funding community infrastructure and social protection but not through direct financial aid. We plan to provide technical assistance and advisory support to the NRA.

    (b) Supply of food: We do not work directly with the Government on this but are supporting local government by providing immediate assistance to the most vulnerable households via in kind distributions (tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, clothes, shelter insulation, solar lamps and cook stoves). We are funding activities that contribute to an enabling environment for an effective and responsive humanitarian support. This includes funding assessments, coordination and logistics. For example DFID supported the World Food Programme’s (WFP) cash and food assistance operations in the aftermath of the earthquake. This planned to reach 1.4 million people in urgent need of assistance within the first three months of the earthquake, including distribution of rice and high-energy biscuits to prevent starvation and provide supplementary nutrition to the most vulnerable.

    (c) Energy supply: DFID has committed £5 million to support delivery of renewable energy technologies to earthquake affected communities. The support includes delivery of solar home systems, mobile phone charging stations and repair of mini-hydropower plants that were damaged by the earthquake. The support is being delivered through Nepal’s Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, a semi-autonomous agency under the Ministry of Population and Environment.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effects of its spending on the education of disabled children in developing countries in the last 10 years.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    We made a number of education commitments in our Disability Framework including a commitment to help to strengthen global and national data systems to be able to better capture child functioning in education. An update of progress against the Disability Framework will be published in the coming weeks.

  • Fiona Mactaggart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Mactaggart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the recommendations of James Ewins’ review of the overseas domestic workers visa.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government is considering carefully James Ewins’ recommendations and will announce its response in due course

  • Stewart Jackson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stewart Jackson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has produced to assist police forces in apprehending foreign-born minors and their transfer into the care of local authorities; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    Guidance to the police on the identification and support of unaccompanied minors from overseas currently exists in two complementary guidance documents, both produced by the then Association of Chief Police Officers and currently supported by the National Policing Lead and the College of Policing: Guidance on the Management, Recording and Investigation of Missing Persons (2010) and Interim Guidance on the Management, Recording and Investigation of Missing Persons (2013). Advice to practitioners, including the police, is also contained within two pieces of statutory guidance from the Department for Education: Care of unaccompanied and trafficked children (2014) and Safeguarding Children who may have been trafficked (2011).

    The College of Policing ran a public consultation in 2015 on revisions to the Authorised Professional Practice (APP) guidance to the police on the handling of missing persons investigations. This is currently being developed following consultation. The APP is expected to contain reference to unaccompanied foreign children, highlighting their vulnerabilities and the potential danger of exploitation, and re-affirm the need to investigate these cases effectively, considering the risks to the child, particularly from adults who may purport to be relatives.