Tag: 2015

  • Kate Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prisoners were released without accommodation from each private prison in England and Wales in the most recent 12 months for which figures are available.

    Andrew Selous

    We are fully committed to the rehabilitation of offenders so as to turn their lives around and reduce the risk of their re-offending in future. Dealing with their accommodation needs on release from prison is an integral part of that.

    The table below shows the number and percentage of offenders by recorded type of accommodation on discharge from contracted-out prisons 2013-14.

    Contracted Prisons: Accommodation on Release

    Settled Accommodation on Release

    % Settled Accommodation on Release

    Not in Settled Accommodation on Release

    % Not in settled Accommodation on release

    Total Offender Releases

    2011/12

    13,775

    90.5%

    1,445

    9.5%

    15,220

    2012/13

    14,297

    84.9%

    2,537

    15.1%

    16,834

    2012/13 excluding HMP Thameside

    13,892

    90.2%

    1,506

    9.8%

    15,398

    2013/14

    16,076

    91.6%

    1,472

    8.4%

    17,548

    Notes

    Settled accommodation covers the following categories: permanent housing, supported housing, approved premises, other hostels and BASS accommodation.

    Not in settled accommodation means: transient/short term accommodation, No Fixed Address, or No Information.

    Figures for 2012/13 are shown both including and excluding HMP Thameside, whose low outcomes in their first year of operation impacted on the overall outcomes.

    The figures show that less than 5% of prisoners were recorded as being of no fixed abode upon release from contracted-out prisons in 2013-14.

    The figures in the above table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

    It should also be noted that recorded accommodation type is based on prisoner self-reporting. We are aware of the inherent limitations in relying on self-reporting and are developing alternative measures aimed at ensuring that prisons and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) managing low and medium risk offenders fulfil their respective roles in preparing prisoners for release and helping them to find suitable accommodation.

    Under the Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, all prisoners will benefit from a universal resettlement service and genuine continuity of provision ‘Through the Gate’ from custody to the community. We have established a network of Resettlement Prisons to facilitate the smooth transition from custody to community to enable the new CRCs to work with those prisoners returning to their local area.

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government under what circumstances and with what conditions access to any prison by a journalist would be permitted.

    Lord Faulks

    The External Communications team at the Ministry of Justice receives a significant number of requests by local and national media for access to prisons. For operational reasons and resource implications it is not possible to facilitate all requests.

    Each request is considered on its own merit, with careful thought over the subject area, resource and security implications, victim impact, and value to the taxpayer. In a similar way to the police or the NHS, there are operational considerations to be made when filming or reporting in prisons. When facilitating media access we must ensure that the needs of victims are met, which may involve concealing identities, carrying out relevant checks and liaising directly with victims about the access request. We must also ensure that media access does not breach any security restrictions, for example filming keys or locks. Consideration is also given to protecting the identities of prisoners and staff.

    We are committed to providing open and transparent access to prison and regularly provide access to journalists for news items, features and documentary programmes. We aim to provide a range of access to different journalists covering both print and broadcast media, local, national and online media.

    Since the beginning of January 2015 we have provided access to a range of media outlets, a few examples are listed below:

    • The Guardian were given access to HMP New Hall – http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/30/new-hall-womens-prison-inmates-equals
    • BBC and the Sun were giving access to HMP Coldingley
    • Regional BBC were giving access to HMP Northumberland (Sodexo run prison)
    • Telegraph and Heart Radio were giving access to HMP Drake Hall
    • Evening Standard and regional BBC were giving access to HMP Thameside (Serco run prison)
    • BBC Radio 4 were giving access to HMP Prescoed/HMP Cardiff
    • Sky Sports were giving access to HMP Feltham
    • National BBC, regional ITV and the Manchester Evening News were giving access to HMP Styal
    • Evening Standard and London Live were giving access to HMP Isis
    • East Anglia Daily Times and regional BBC radio were giving access to HMP Hollesley Bay
    • Sky News were given access to HMP Ranby
    • ITV were given access to HMP Norwich
  • Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of her Department have had with representatives of (i) the Taxpayers’ Alliance, (ii) the Confederation of British Industry, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) the Adam Smith Institute, (v) the Freedom Association, (vi) the Politics and Economics Research Trust and (vii) the Midlands Industrial Council in the last 12 months.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published up to 31 March 2015 and can be accessed on Gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications

    Further publications of Ministerial meetings will be published in due course.

    “

  • Ian Murray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Murray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2015-10-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons his Department has not published a distributional analysis showing the effect on families of the reduction of the higher income threshold for child tax credit from £16,105 to £12,125.

    Damian Hinds

    The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. It means Britain moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society.

    A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

    To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

    The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July 2015. Taken together, the introduction of the National Living Wage, increases in the personal allowance and welfare changes mean that 8 out of 10 working households will be better off as a result of the Summer Budget.

    In response to a request from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, the government has chosen to produce and release an impact assessment on the tax credit changes to the Committee. The impact assessment shows that 60% of the tax credit savings come from the half of tax credit claimants with the highest income.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support or respite care is available to full-time carers who wish to work part-time in addition to their caring responsibilities.

    Alistair Burt

    Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a responsibility to support carers in a number of ways. Local authorities will be required to undertake carers’ assessments, based on the appearance of a need for support. An assessment must establish the impact of caring on the carer, and the outcomes they wish to achieve, including engaging in work, education, training or recreation. For the first time, local authorities have a duty to meet carers’ eligible needs for support: this may include access to training to support them in their caring role or support to maintain employment where this is a desired outcome.

    Through the Care Act 2014 local authorities are required to provide information and advice and universal preventative services for carers. Local authorities can also support the person in understanding other types of support available to them for example to seek to promote access to appropriate employment, education or training, which can be an effective way of maintaining independence.

    In May 2014, NHS England published an action plan NHS England’s Commitment to Carers, which includes a series of commitments around 8 priorities, among which are raising the profile of carers. The Department of Health has also made available additional funding of £400 million to the National Health Service between 2011 and 2015 to enable carers to take a break from their caring responsibilities to sustain them in their caring role. The carers’ breaks funding of £130 million for 2015 – 16 will also be in the Better Care Fund.

    In February 2015 the Government launched a joint Department of Health, Government Equality Office and Department for Work and Pensions investment of £1.6 million in pilots in nine local authority areas to explore ways in which people can be supported to combine work and care.

    We also fund the Carers Direct service which includes web-based information and advice for all carers through NHS Choices, as well as a telephone helpline service through which carers can be signposted to information. Carers Direct includes training materials that build on the Caring with Confidence programme – a time-limited national programme funded by the Department of Health to support the development of carer training, which closed in September 2010.

    On July 2015 my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Mr Jeremy Hunt) announced that the Government will develop a new carers’ strategy that looks at the best of international practice and examines what more we can do to support existing carers and new carers. This will include consideration how best to support carers to maintain employment and of the training requirements of carers and whether current measures are fully meeting these.

    Specifically regarding carers of people with dementia, the Department of Health contributed to the funding of the Alzheimer’s Society’s ‘Dementia Guide’, designed to help guide people with dementia and their carers through their journey with dementia. The Guide provides useful information for carers, following a diagnosis of dementia, and includes advice to help people understand a diagnosis of dementia to enable them to live well with the condition.

    With Department of Health funding, the Royal College of General Practitioners has developed a Dementia Roadmap that can be accessed by families and carers. It is a web based platform that provides high quality information about the dementia journey alongside local information about services, support groups and care pathways, primarily to assist primary care staff to more effectively support people with dementia, their families and carers.

    The Department is supporting the Dementia Action Alliance’s Carers Call to Action and the establishment of a Life Story Network for family carers of people with dementia. The Department provided funding of £30,000 to the Life Story Network during 2014/15 to support the establishment of a new involvement network for family carers of people with dementia, which is being established as part of the legacy of the Dementia Action Alliance’s Carers Call to Action.

    NHS England’s 2015/16 Dementia Enhanced Service encourages GP practices to increase the health and wellbeing support offered to carers of patients diagnosed with dementia.

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many lay magistrates were recruited in the last year for which figures are available, and what was the breakdown by ethnicity and gender.

    Lord Faulks

    A total of 403 magistrates were appointed in England and Wales between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015. A breakdown of those appointments can be found in the tables below:

    Gender

    Male

    Female

    158 (39%)

    245 (61%)

    Ethnicity

    White

    Mixed

    Black

    Asian

    Chinese

    Other

    333 (83%)

    15 (4%)

    24 (6%)

    22 (5%)

    3 (>1%)

    6 (2%)

    Age

    18-29

    30-39

    40-49

    50-59

    60-65

    24 (6%)

    75 (19%)

    97 (24%)

    154 (38%)

    53 (13%)
  • Baroness Cox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Cox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they plan to make to the government of Sudan following the findings by the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor that Sudanese armed forces used air-dropped cluster bombs in Darfur and South Kordofan’s Nuba Mountains in the first half of 2015.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have brought this issue to the attention of the Government of Sudan. We have also raised the use of cluster munitions in Darfur through the UN Security Council and will continue to do so. Most recently, the UK-drafted Security Council resolution 2228 called for the Government of Sudan to immediately investigate evidence on cluster munitions presented by the Secretary General. The UK is clear that cluster munitions should in no circumstances be used to target civilians, and urge all States to act in accordance with international humanitarian law.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress achieved at the meeting of the Middle East Quartet on 10 September.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    On 30 September 2015, the Quartet met in the margins of the UN General Assembly. The Quartet released a statement reaffirming its commitment to the two state solution and noting the urgency of progress towards this objective, in the context of the intensifying threat of terrorism, sectarian extremism and radicalisation in the Middle East. Amongst other things, the Quartet expressed concern at current trends, and stressed the need for significant steps on the ground, consistent with past agreements. The UK, represented by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), attended the expanded second part of the meeting. The Foreign Secretary stressed the need for practical actions which would have impact on the ground and expressed concern at settlements, housing demolitions and population clearances.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 25 September (HL2301), how many job vacancies there were in each of the industries covered in the most recent Vacancy Survey.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Baroness Worthington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Worthington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Worthington on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they have taken to limit their exposure to costs arising from the decommissioning of North Sea oil and gas infrastructure.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    There are robust safeguards in place to prevent the costs of decommissioning falling to the taxpayer. Measures under Part 4 of the Petroleum Act include the ability for the Secretary of State to require the owners of an offshore installation or pipeline to prepare and execute a decommissioning programme for those assets, and to take financial securities from those companies to protect the tax-payer from any default.

    We are committed to ensuring decommissioning programmes represent value for money, which is why the Government intends to bring forward amendments at Lords Report Stage of the Energy Bill to: require decommissioning programmes to be cost effective, ensure the Oil and Gas Authority has the powers it needs to scrutinise companies’ decommissioning plans to ensure they are cost effective, and enable the Secretary of State to require a company to take specific action to reduce the costs of decommissioning to address cost overruns.