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Tag: 2015

  • Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the total value of criminal courts charges (1) issued by the courts, and (2) collected to date; and what estimate they have made of the total cost of enforcement to date.

    Lord Faulks

    Information on the enforcement of financial impositions is contained within an annex to Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly statistical bulletin published quarterly by the Ministry of Justice.

    Data relating to the criminal courts charge for the period April to September 2015 will be published on 17 December 2015. This will separately identify the monetary values of the criminal courts charge imposed and collected since 13 April 2015.

    The cost of enforcing the criminal courts charge cannot be separated from the total cost of enforcing all types of court ordered financial impositions. Enforcement action is taken against the total amount an offender owes and offenders are often ordered to pay more than one type of financial imposition.

  • Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is giving to strengthening water, sanitation and hygiene services in countries affected by Ebola.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Prior to, during and following the Ebola outbreak, DFID has provided funding and technical assistance to increase access to water, sanitation services and hygiene education (WASH) in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Between 2012-2016, DFID has committed through our country programmes up to £71.3m for WASH programmes in Sierra Leone and £4.75m for Liberia. We have no bilateral programme in Guinea.

    During the Ebola outbreak our existing WASH programmes were adapted to help Sierra Leone and Liberia respond to the crisis. The above figure includes DFID assistance to improve water and sanitation facilities in schools and health facilities as part of our support to the post-Ebola recovery.

    The President of Sierra Leone has identified water as one of his top six priorities for the post Ebola recovery period. DFID has committed to support delivery of this agenda and we are working with them to define high quality programmes that will increase access to clean water.

  • Baroness Whitaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Whitaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Whitaker on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which European Union directives apply to urban air pollution; and how each is enacted in United Kingdom law.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    There are two main pieces of European legislation applicable to urban air pollution:

    • The Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe Directive 2008 (“the Directive”) applies to urban air pollution. It has been transposed in England by the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively, the Directive has been transposed by the Air Quality Standards (Scotland) Regulations 2010, the Air Quality Standards (Wales) Regulations 2010 and the Air Pollution and the Air Quality Standards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010. The regulations reflect the legally binding limits set by the Directive for concentrations in outdoor air of major air pollutants that impact public health such as particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The Directive requires the undertaking of air quality assessments and the reporting of findings to the European Commission annually. The UK has statutory monitoring networks in place to meet the requirements of the Directive, with air quality modelling used to supplement the monitored data.
    • The National Emission Ceilings Directive (2001/81/EC) (NECD) sets limits on total annual emissions of key air pollutants (sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ammonia) to help reduce transboundary air pollution. The NECD is transposed into UK law by the National Emission Ceilings Regulations 2002.

    There is also further legislation aimed at delivering specific reductions in emissions from certain areas of the economy, which for competitive or single market reasons has been set at European level. This includes:

    • The Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU)
    • The Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels Directive (1993/32/EC)
    • Petrol Vapour Recovery Directive (94/63/EC)
    • The Quality of Petrol and Diesel Fuels Directive (98/70/EC)

    .

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will impose interim driving bans between arrest and the outcome of a court case on drivers involved in fatal or serious injury collisions where the arrestable offence carries a mandatory ban.

    Andrew Jones

    Driving bans are issued by courts after the case has been proved on evidence. Motorists are innocent until found guilty so no punishment is permitted. They cannot be imprisoned, fined or disqualified from driving without a court case and a finding or acceptance of guilt.

    The police do have the power under the the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and Bail Act 1976 to prevent someone from driving as a condition of police bail but I understand that this is rarely used.

  • Baroness Pinnock – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Pinnock – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why former foster children cannot claim for criminal injuries compensation against foster parents who have been abusive.

    Lord Faulks

    Former foster children can apply to the publically funded criminal injuries compensation scheme if they have suffered serious physical or mental injury as the direct result of a violent crime. Awards made under the scheme are paid for by tax payers and not the perpetrator of the violent crime.

    If former foster parents were convicted of an offence that resulted in personal injury, loss or damage, when sentencing the court would consider making an order for compensation in favour of the victim which would be paid by the perpetrators.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to publish responses to the Government’s consultation entitled, Changes to the Investment Regulations following the Law Commission’s report, Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries, published on 26 February 2015.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government plans to publish these responses shortly. They will be available on the Gov.Uk website.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what work his Department has commissioned to identify the profile of customers with exchange-only lines on the telecom network that are incompatible with fibre to the cabinet broadband technology.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The vast majority of phone lines across the UK connect to the nearest telephone exchange via a street cabinet, which can be upgraded to deliver fibre broadband. Estimates are not available of the number of premises served by exchange only lines which connect directly to the local exchange rather than via one of BT’s street cabinets. There are a variety of reasons why exchange only lines are created. For example, for rural exchanges serving few premises where there was no need for cabinets, or for urban exchanges where it may have been a more cost-effective. Exchange only lines present a greater engineering challenge to deliver fibre broadband than those connected via street cabinets but technical solutions are available. One solution is to rearrange the existing network, lay new cables to reroute lines to new cabinets. This technique was developed as part of the BDUK Superfast Broadband Programme, and the number of exchange only lines is reducing all the time as roll out under the programme continues.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take to ensure that a proper distinction is made between the role of the contractor appointed by the local authority to enable local healthwatches to be established and run, and that of the local healthwatch organisation itself.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department currently has no plans to undertake an investigation in to the performance of local Healthwatch organisations. In March 2015 the Department published a report commissioned from the King’s Fund – Local Healthwatch: Progress and promise – which set out the progress that local Healthwatch have made since being established in 2013. Transparency about the performance of local Healthwatch organisations is provided through the annual reports which they are required to publish. Reports on how the local Healthwatch network as a whole is operating and the nature of the support needed to deliver their activities effectively are discussed at quarterly public meetings of the Healthwatch England Committee.

    Arrangements for ensuring local Healthwatch statutory activities are delivered in each area are a matter for local authorities. The Local Government Association has published guidance to support local Healthwatch and local commissioners in putting in place good governance arrangements, which includes clarity about the roles of all parties involved.

    Neither the Department nor Healthwatch England are aware of local Healthwatch contractors refusing to engage with the public in their area. Where Healthwatch England is made aware of concerns in relation to local Healthwatch around governance or local relationships with specific individuals or organisations, it seeks to provide support to resolve these where appropriate. Members of the public are able to raise concerns though the complaints process of the local Healthwatch or the commissioning local authority.

  • Peter Grant – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Peter Grant – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Grant on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions in each of the last five years officials of his Department have contacted representatives of a foreign government to ask for an account of private meetings or discussions held between representatives of that government and Scottish Government ministers.

    Matthew Hancock

    Details of discussions with foreign governments are not usually disclosed.

  • Lord Palmer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Palmer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which contracts awarded by the Department of Health have conditions within them relating to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and in each case, whether legal advice was taken before the issuing of that tender.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government takes its obligations as a Party to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) very seriously, including the obligation to protect public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry.

    The Department considers the detail of Invitation to Tender (ITT) and contract documentation, including the legal aspects, on a case by case basis. The standard documentation includes a requirement to declare actual or potential conflicts of interest and some ITTs make specific reference to FCTC obligations.

    This issue is considered as part of the evaluation process and through the contract monitoring process as appropriate.