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Tag: 2014

  • Ian Paisley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Ian Paisley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy certificates issued by her Department in the last 30 years have been issued to people accused of terrorism-related offences.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    The information provided in my written answer of 1 May 2014 (Official Report, Column 762W) was based on information held by my Department. I first became aware of the issue of missing files while preparing to answer that question. I directed that a review take place, along with other relevant Departments, of the historical records relating to RPMs during the period 1987 to 1997. This is ongoing.

    Records indicate that the vast majority of uses of the RPM referred to in my answer of 1 May did not relate to terrorist offences. Historically, the RPM was used to remit sentences of individuals before statutory means existed to do so. This included releasing individuals from prison for compassionate reasons (e.g. those who were terminally ill), individuals who assisted the police and prosecuting authorities (now provided for by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005), or to correct errors in calculating release dates. Further information on the general operation of the RPM can be found in the Ministry of Justice’s “Review of the Executive Royal Prerogative Powers: Final Report”, published in October 2009.

    In a written answer to the Member for North West Norfolk on 17 March 2014 (Official Report, Column 368W), I repeated an answer given on 20 March 2003 by the then-Secretary for State for Northern Ireland to the Member for Lagan Valley (Official Report, Column 895W) – namely that 18 individuals had been granted the RPM in relation to terrorist offences since 1998. Given the RPM has not been used since 2002 and has not been used by this Government, the answer given was the same as the 2003 one. However, early findings from the review of files have indicated that at least one of these cases did not relate to a terrorist offence and in one other case the records do not indicate whether or not the offence was terrorism related.

    In relation to the remaining 16 uses of the RPM between 2000 and 2002 (which did concern terrorist offences), I understand that previous Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland used the RPM in relation to individuals who for technical reasons fell outside of the letter of the Early Release Scheme, to shorten (i.e. not waive or remove) sentences in order that individuals fell within what I understand the then-Government saw as the spirit of the Scheme.

    In other words, the RPM was used to correct what the last Government viewed as discrepancies between the letter and the intention of the Belfast Agreement and the subsequent Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act – that for a certain category of terrorist offences, offenders could be released after serving two years of their sentences.

    The reasons for exercising the RPM in the 16 terrorism-related cases are summarised as follows:

    · to correct an anomaly in the treatment of an offender convicted of the same offence(s) and given the same sentence as co-defendants but who would otherwise have served longer in prison;

    · to release prisoners who would have been eligible for early release under the Belfast Agreement had they not transferred to a different jurisdiction;

    · to release prisoners who would have been eligible to be released under the Belfast Agreement had they not served sentences outside the jurisdiction having been convicted extraterritorially, or

    · to release prisoners who would have been eligible to be released under the Belfast Agreement had their offences (which subsequently became scheduled offences) been scheduled at the time they were committed.

    The names of the 16 individuals granted the RPM in relation to terrorist offences since 2000 are currently being considered as part of an ongoing court case in Northern Ireland.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of policing of demonstrations and parades in London.

    Damian Green

    The policing of demonstrations and parades in London are an operational matter
    for the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police.

  • Eric Ollerenshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Eric Ollerenshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eric Ollerenshaw on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department takes to prevent to over-prescribing of psychotropic drugs in hospitals.

    Norman Lamb

    NHS England works with system partners, including training agencies, professional bodies and professional regulators to urge that staff, including those working in hospitals, are appropriately trained, supervised and appraised to monitor practice. In mental health, NHS England is exploring how to modernise the electronic care records system so that it is easier for appropriate prescribing and monitoring to be undertaken.

    The Secretary of State and NHS England would also expect hospitals to take account of relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance.

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to raise public awareness of transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) and of the need to seek immediate treatment for TIAs; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    There are no plans for any specific marketing activity around raising public awareness of transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs). However, Public Health England continues to run the highly impactful Act FAST stroke awareness campaign that covers very similar signs with a message to call 999 if these signs are witnessed. Two new television executions ran in March 2014 with plans to run them again later in the current financial year.

    NHS England produced a resource for clinical commissioning groups (CCG) to support them in setting and delivering on a level of ambition to reduce premature mortality. The resource included information on high-impact interventions that CCGs could consider commissioning to reduce premature mortality. One of these is to increase the proportion of patients with TIA treated within 24 hours from 71% to 100%.

    The resource is available here:

    www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/sop/red-prem-mort/

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates were recruited in each of the last three years.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Magistrates are recruited locally according to the business needs of the magistrates’ courts. The number of magistrates recruited in each of the last three financial years is shown below:

    2011/12 – 442

    2012/13 – 414

    2013/14 – 162

    The downturn in recruitment of new magistrates is a natural consequence of falling workloads in the magistrates’ courts, due to factors such as falling crime. The fall in overall numbers is a consequence of the downturn in recruitment combined with the relatively steady levels of retirements and resignations.

  • James Duddridge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    James Duddridge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Duddridge on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that East Beach in Shoeburyness is surveyed for any unexploded ordnance and that remedial works are carried out as a matter of urgency.

    Anna Soubry

    East Beach is managed by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council under a licence agreement with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The decision to close the beach was made by the Council and it will be for them to determine when to re-open it. As such, no estimates have been made by the MOD about the economic effect of the Council’s decision to the local economy.

    A MOD survey of East Beach will assist in the formulation of a risk management plan that will focus mitigation work on those areas of the beach at greatest risk. It is too early to say what mitigation work will be required, when it will be carried out, and how long it will take to complete.

  • Lord Condon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Lord Condon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Condon on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the progress of the roll-out of high speed broadband, and in particular of the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Government’s programme is making good progress and has now made available superfast broadband to over 0.5 million premises in the UK. The pace of deployment has increased from 10,000 premises a week gaining availability of superfast broadband in early 2014 to 20,000 a week now and this will increase to 40,000 per week by the Summer of 2014.

    With respect to impact on SME’s, the Broadband Impact Study – Impact Report, an expert report by analysts SQW (with Cambridge Econometrics), revealed the Government’s investment in superfast broadband will deliver a major boost to the UK economy; for every £1 the government is investing in broadband, the UK economy will benefit by £20 by 2024. It also demonstrated that the benefits will be shared across the UK, helping the rebalancing of our economy; approximately 89 per cent of the benefits will be in areas outside London and the South East of England with rural areas set to benefit most.

    The report focussed on impacts of mass market broadband services – i.e. ‘affordable broadband’ for SMEs and households – and estimated that by 2024, net annual GVA impacts attributable to intervention include:

    · £0.8 billion from safeguarding local enterprise employment,

    · £5 billion from productivity growth for broadband-using firms,

    · £0.3 billion from improved teleworker productivity, and

    · £0.2 billion from increased labour force participation.

    The majority of these benefits will be to SMEs, and over half to rural areas.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Berkeley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government for how many spills a year the Environment Agency has licensed the upgraded Mogden sewage works; and how many were achieved in the first year of operation.

    Lord De Mauley

    Mogden Sewage Treatment Works has an Environmental Permit issued by the Environment Agency to discharge treated and storm effluent to the Thames Estuary at Isleworth. The discharge of storm effluent is permissible only when the capacity of onsite facilities for treatment and containment are exceeded. This includes a 77,000m³ storm tank.

    The permit does not specify a number of spills per year. It requires the works to provide secondary treatment for a specific flow rate of incoming sewage.

    The current version of the permit came into effect on 31 March 2013. During the subsequent 12 months, Thames Water reported 54 occasions when the works discharged storm sewage to the Thames. Thirty-four of these were during the wet weather in January and February.

  • Baroness Goudie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Goudie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Goudie on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to encourage other donor governments and developing country partner governments to pledge support at the Global Partnership for Education replenishment in June.

    Baroness Northover

    DFID are working closely with other international donors and developing country partner governments to support the GPE replenishment. We are meeting regularly with donor governments to discuss support for the GPE replenishment. We are also liaising closely with GPE to ensure that the new funding model works to increase domestic financing to education.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they decide which retailers can be accessed using the Azure prepayment card given to asylum seekers.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    The Azure card is provided to failed asylum seekers supported under the provisions of section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.

    Any retail outlet that provides food and other essential living items and accepts visa transactions can apply to join the Azure card scheme.

    The card is currently accepted by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, the Co-operative, Boots, Peacocks, Early Learning Centre, Mothercare, The British Red Cross, The Salvation Army and a few small independent retailers. There are ongoing discussions with other outlets that may be interested in joining the scheme.