UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2014

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which rape support centres and helplines (a) nationally and (b) in each region will receive funding from the Rape Support Fund in 2014-15; and how much funding has been allocated in each case.

    Damian Green

    The Ministry of Justice remains committed to supporting organisations that deliver specialist support to female victims of rape and sexual violence and has committed £4.4m per year over 2014-2016 through the Rape Support Fund.

    Detail regarding all organisations funded through the Victim and Witness Fund, which includes the Rape Support Funds 2011-2014 and 2014-2016 can be found at gov.uk the information provided includes the amount of funding awarded to each organisation. The documents are located in the transparency data section of the Publications tab; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/victims-and-witnesses-funding-awards

    The document for the 2014-2016 Rape Support Fund is divided into Police and Crime Commissioning Areas and includes the funding amounts awarded for both 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. The document was published on the 8 April 2014.

    “

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of staff within his Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.

    Gregory Barker

    From November 2010 a single team was established to control the process for all formal disciplinary proceedings being undertaken against Civil Servants in the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC). Therefore central records only exist from that date.

    The proportion of Civil Servants in DECC, who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings since November 2010 to date and who are white British, is less than 1% of the total number of Civil Servants in each year.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make resources available for a project by the Law Commission investigating the question of fraud by victims of personal injury.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Government is committed to turning the tide on fraudulent personal injury claims. To this end, it is considering what specific reforms might be appropriate, including whether the Law Commission should be asked to consider this issue. We will make our conclusions known in due course.

    No figures are available on the number of exaggerated or fabricated personal injury claims struck out by the courts. Figures for 2011 published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) indicate that whiplash claims cost customers more than £2 billion a year and add £90 to the average motor insurance premium.

    The ABI describe 7% of all motor claims in 2011 – worth £441m – as fraudulent. In addition, they estimate that a further £1 billion of motor insurance fraud went undetected in 2011.

    As announced last year, we are working with stakeholders in the industry to tighten the medical evidence process so that only evidence from accredited experts can be considered, and the costs for those reports can be fixed. This will mean people can no longer profit from exaggerated or fraudulent compensation claims but victims with genuine cases can still get the help they deserve. We are introducing these reforms later in the year. We are also working to secure better data on motor accident cases, including the number of fraudulent cases.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of changes in average waiting times for GP appointments in Sunderland since May 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    No such estimate has been made.

    The attached table contains results from NHS England’s 2013 GP Patients Survey. The survey collected data from January to March and July to September 2013.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on the Jobcentre Plus rapid response service in each year since 2003-04.

    Esther McVey

    Information requested can only be provided in part due to 7 year archive period for financials data.

    Spend on Rapid Response Service has therefore been:

    Period £

    2007-08 579,853

    2008-09 851,954

    2009-10 9,963,293

    2010-11 6,472,119

    2011-12 3,432,793

    2012-13 4,020,041

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of staff within her Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    Because of the devolution of policing and justice functions on 12 April 2010, and subsequent reconfiguration of the Northern Ireland Office, my Department does not hold figures for the periods prior to 2010. Attempting to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.

    Since April 2010, seven members of staff have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings. Given the small numbers involved, it would not be appropriate to provide any further breakdown as to do so would risk the identification of the individuals concerned.

  • Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for backlogs of medical assessments for personal independence payments.

    Mike Penning

    We are committed to ensuring personal independence payment (PIP) claimants receive high quality, objective, fair and accurate assessments. Since the introduction of PIP new claims in April 2013, we have been closely monitoring all aspects of the process.

    As personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit, processes are currently bedding in. Our latest analysis is telling us that the end-to-end claimant journey is taking longer than expected. We are working closely with the assessment providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. We are also seeking to ensure that all the steps in the process run as smoothly as possible and that there are no barriers in our processes and systems that contribute to claims taking longer than necessary to progress.

    Whilst there are no statutory (legal) requirements to complete action on a claim to PIP within a specified time, we have set both personal independence payment assessment providers a target for the length of time to complete assessments of 30 working days.

    Any delays experienced in the new claims process will not affect the date from which claimants are paid; all successful claims will be paid from the date the claim was initially made or the date the qualifying period is met, whichever is the later.

    As for the administration of all benefits, a claimant is free to complain about the service they have received from the Department for Work and Pensions. Complaints about the service received from our assessment providers should be made direct to the relevant assessment provider. A complaint may result in a special payment if the claimant has experienced unfair treatment or suffered financially.

    The Department has robust expectations for provider performance and contracts include a full set of service level agreements setting out expectations for service delivery, including quality of assessments and the number of days to provide advice to the Department. Officials meet regularly with both assessment providers to discuss performance. The contracts include a range of remedies and failure to meet contractual obligations will result in the Department applying service credits in line with the contract.

  • Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many child victims and witnesses involved in sexual abuse cases have been given access to and use of a Registered Intermediary in each of the last five years.

    Damian Green

    As at 19 June 2014, 29 Registered Intermediaries (RIs) were available for use by child victims and witnesses in the Greater Manchester police force area that covers Bolton, 25 RIs for Lancashire, 81 RIs for England and 26 RIs for Wales. Support for vulnerable witnesses is a devolved matter in Scotland.

    We recruited over 25 RIs this year, to increase the numbers of Active Registered Intermediaries to be used across the 43 police forces to help vulnerable witnesses.

    Registered Intermediaries are available for work across multiple police force areas and the numbers quoted above do not reveal the total number of active RIs.

    The number of child victims and witnesses involved in sexual abuse cases that have benefitted from the use of an RI in the last four years since the Witness Intermediary Scheme has been operational are provided in the table below. We do not hold data on cases before this time.

    Age
    0 to 4

    Age
    5 to 11

    Age
    12 to 17

    Yearly
    Total

    2010

    131

    152

    351

    2011

    62

    107

    171

    340

    2012

    87

    173

    165

    425

    2013

    168

    257

    261

    686

    TOTAL

    385

    668

    749

    1802

    The Ministry of Justice continues to monitor the number of Registered Intermediaries and is considering future recruitment plans. We are working with the CPS and police so that RIs are used to help more vulnerable witnesses to give their best evidence.

  • Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the external law firm appointed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to review its handling of its announcement on closed life funds is independent of the FCA and the firms covered by the FCA investigation.

    Lord Deighton

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have announced that the FCA Non-Executive Directors have appointed Simon Davis, a senior commercial litigation partner at Clifford Chance, to conduct an independent inquiry into the handling of the FCA’s announcement of proposed supervisory work on the fair treatment of long standing customers in life insurance.

  • Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2014-06-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what outcomes they anticipate from the visit of Premier Li Keqiang of China.

    Baroness Warsi

    Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to the UK for the UK-China Summit has brought our two countries closer together in a partnership for growth, reform and innovation. During the visit, £14 billion of trade and investment deals were signed between UK and Chinese firms. London’s position as the leading offshore Renminbi (RMB) trading hub was strengthened by the appointment of China Construction Bank as an RMB clearing bank in London. Premier Li’s visit has also deepened our cooperation on innovation, as well as on key global issues including through a landmark Joint Statement on Climate Change and through positive discussions with the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), on key foreign policy issues such as Iraq and Ukraine.