Tag: 2014

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish in full the economic analysis on price and illicit trade analysis conducted as part of the Standardised Packaging for Tobacco Independent Review.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department understands that Section 5 and Annex C of Sir Cyril’s report constitute the full and final economic analysis on price and illicit trade analysis conducted as part of the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Independent Review.

  • Gerald Kaufman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Gerald Kaufman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 24 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr Sherratt.

    Jeremy Wright

    The letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) to the Secretary of State for Justice was transferred to the Department for Education for a response.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Stephen Doughty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many times the offence of possession of mobile telephones within a prison has been proceeded upon; and how many days were added to the offender’s sentence in each case.

    Jeremy Wright

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of mobile phones in prisons very seriously and is committed to addressing the risks they present to both the security of prisons and the safety of the public.

    NOMS has implemented a multi-layered approach: to minimise the number of mobile phones entering prisons, to find phones that do get in and to disrupt mobile phones that cannot be found. A range of technology has been rolled out to prisons to strengthen searching and security, including portable mobile phone signal detectors, Body Orifice Security Scanners (BOSS chairs), high sensitivity metal detecting wands and short range portable mobile phone blockers.

    The adjudication process exists to allow prison governors to deal with breaches of prison discipline, including possession of unauthorised items such as mobile telephones.

    From centrally held data, it is not possible to identify those offenders who breached prison discipline by possessing a mobile phone, were proceeded against and given the punishment of additional days. The prison adjudication offence details held centrally are not of sufficient detail to identify the specific breach item – mobile phone possession offences are grouped with other prohibited items.

    Determining if the requested information is held would require a manual search through all individual prison records where a breach of prison discipline led to adjudication in respect of possession of a prohibited item to see if any information is recorded on the type of item. Inspecting each record to ascertain if there was an adjudication for possession of a mobile phone and how many additional days were given as a punishment could only be done at disproportionate cost.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    Whilst noting the many virtues of Brighton, as recognised by the conferring of City status to the towns of Brighton and Hove by Her Majesty in 2000, I am afraid I have to disappoint my hon. Friend. My Department has no current plans to dig out our bucket and spade and move to the seaside.

    Since May 2010, my Department’s priority has been to rationalise our wider estate to reduce costs. This has seen the Department surrender six leasehold office properties through a combination of lease breaks and expiries generating net savings in the period of around £7 million per annum. The Department has also successfully sub-let surplus space across its leasehold office estate during the same period, reducing the overall property costs by around £11.1 million.

    The Department has also negotiated the early surrender of Eland House and is shortly scheduled to relocate to 2 Marsham Street to share premises with the Home Office. This move will reduce our Department’s running costs by a further £9 million a year and generate savings for the taxpayer of £220 million over the lifetime of the building’s lease. This illustrates the scope for Government and, indeed, the public sector as a whole to make sensible savings through better property management.

    However, I commend the hon. Member for his cheerleading of the City as a place to do business.

  • Jamie Reed – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jamie Reed – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many officials in (a) his Department and (b) NHS England are working on the transition to a new system following the implementation of the Health and Social Care Act 2012; and what the cost was of employing such officials in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Jane Ellison

    The Health and Social Care Transition Programme (HSCTP) was set up to implement the changes introduced under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The programme was led by the Department and closed on 31 March 2013. All of the organisations in the new health and care system assumed full responsibilities and powers as set out in the Act from 1 April 2013.

    Any enduring responsibilities that transferred to the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), or NHS England from 1 April 2013 are being discharged as part of business as usual arrangements in each organisation. As the HSCTP has closed and the new organisations are in place, there are no longer any officials working on the transition to a new system.

    Further information on the overall cost of transition is available in the National Audit Office report ‘Managing the transition to the reformed health system’ available at the following link:

    www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/10175-001-Managing-the-transition-to-the-reformed-health-system.pdf

  • Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Sheridan on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries on 25 February 2014, Official Report, column 95WH, when the consultation on modernising the Electronic Programme Guide regime will be launched.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Pursuant to my contribution on 25 February 2014, Official Report, column 95WH, DCMS will make an announcement on the publication date of the consultation in due course.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will review the effect of the operation of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 on services available to assist victims in Northern Ireland.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    Responsibility for victims in Northern Ireland was devolved in 2007. All public bodies in Northern Ireland have a duty to promote equality of opportunity, having regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is responsible for the enforcement of this duty.

  • Elfyn Llwyd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Elfyn Llwyd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Elfyn Llwyd on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications of an increase in the need for court reports arising from his Transforming Rehabilitation agenda on the workload of court staff.

    Jeremy Wright

    We do not anticipate that Transforming Rehabilitation will have a substantial impact on the number of pre-sentence reports written. The National Probation Service (NPS) will continue to offer same-day reports where possible and to work closely with the Courts to minimise adjournments.

    By expanding post-release supervision for those sentenced to under 12-months, this cohort of offenders will now benefit from rehabilitative activity who were previously excluded, but this will not impact on pre-sentence Court activity.

    The new Risk of Serious Recidivism (RSR) tool will be used to inform the allocation of cases to new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) or the NPS and complements the pre-sentence report process. The RSR is straightforward to use and will support the identification of the likelihood of an offender committing serious re-offending in the future. We will ensure that CRCs work closely with the NPS so that cases are brought before the courts speedily and effectively.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of recipients of the Independent Living Fund (a) are in employment and (b) were in employment at the date of application.

    Mike Penning

    The information is not available in the format requested as the ILF does not record the employment status of its recipients.

  • Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the Prison and Probation Ombudsman’s (PPO) report on Learning from PPO Investigations: Risk factors in self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

    Jeremy Wright

    We will carefully consider the Ombudsman’s recommendations made in the Learning Lessons Bulletin on Risk Factors in self-inflicted deaths in prison to identify further learning. I also refer the honourable member to the answer given to the Lord’s Oral Question on 6 February 2014 (Official report Col 36 ), announcing that the Government hasestablished an Independent Review into the self-inflicted deaths of 18-24 year olds in NOMS custody. The review is being led by Lord Harris of Haringey and will report by Spring 2015. NOMS takes the safety of prisoners very seriously and draws learning from individual death in custody reports from the PPO as quickly as possible.