Tag: Andrew Stephenson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 8612, on female offenders, if he will publish the updated membership and terms of reference of the Advisory Board on Female Offenders.

Caroline Dinenage

The Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board on Female Offenders and its updated membership are set out below.

Board members have considerable understanding of and expertise in addressing factors underlying women’s offending, including domestic abuse, and will take full account of these as the Board takes forward its programme of work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 8612, on female offenders, what steps he is taking to ensure that addressing domestic abuse as a factor associated with offending by women remains a core part of the work of the Advisory Board on Female Offenders.

Caroline Dinenage

The Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board on Female Offenders and its updated membership are set out below.

Board members have considerable understanding of and expertise in addressing factors underlying women’s offending, including domestic abuse, and will take full account of these as the Board takes forward its programme of work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the recovery of court fines; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Penning

This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and to trace those who do not pay. This is why there has been a year on year increase in the total amount of financial penalties collected over the last three years. The amount of money collected reached an all time high of £290 million at the end of 2013/14 and collections continue to rise. In 2013/14 the total outstanding balance of financial impositions reduced by £26.7m (5%) in the year.

To build on improvements made in recent years in fine collection HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is embarking on an ambitious programme of reform. When developing and implementing the Criminal Compliance and Enforcement Services Blueprint we identified a number of areas where fundamental change was necessary in order to increase fine collection and better serve the public by delivering value for tax payers’ money.

To meet these challenges HMCTS is looking to work with an external provider for future provision of the service. This will bring the necessary investment and technology HMCTS needs to achieve its aspirations for compliance and enforcement services in the future. It will enable the automation of many of the manual administrative processes and in turn decrease the cost of providing fine enforcement and increase the amount of fines that are paid. The innovation this will bring and the use of automated administrative processes will free up staff time to be more pro-active in pursuing offenders to ensure they comply with their court order.

The competition to identify an external provider commenced in July 2013; the contract is expected to be awarded in early 2015.

HMCTS has also started to pilot the use of data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in fine collection in July 2014, albeit for a number of specifically targeted cases. Early indications are that data from HMRC has enabled HM Courts & Tribunals Service to increase the number of attachment of earnings orders it can make. At present, it is not possible to provide a meaningful estimate of the impact on collection rates; however HMCTS is exploring ways to assess the impact of receiving the data over coming months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department is providing for security in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID’s Peacebuilding Support Programme supports the provincial Government to deliver improved security and justice to 250,000 citizens in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). It focuses on strengthening civilian security (police, prosecutions, prisons) and the formal and informal justice sectors. DFID also contributes to a Multi Donor Trust Fund supporting areas of KP affected by militancy and conflict. It helps improve state-citizen trust and reduce the root causes of insecurity through improved infrastructure, economic development and service delivery.

UK aid to Pakistan also addresses the conditions that might breed violent extremism by reducing poverty, meeting basic needs, increasing economic opportunities and promoting inclusion. It supports the government to build an effective state that is more able to respond to violent extremism through strengthening democratic processes and institutions, delivering better services and improving access to justice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-09-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to offer support to the World Health Organisation to ensure that it is transparent, accountable and better able to respond to emergencies such as the ebola crisis.

Jane Ellison

We are working with other relevant Departments across Government, and as members of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board to drive the reform process. We want to ensure that WHO focuses on what it can do best and is better equipped to address the increasingly complex challenges of the 21^st Century.

In response to the Ebola crisis, we have committed up to $10million to the WHO Contingency Fund, to help finance the rapid scaling up of the WHO’s initial response to outbreaks and emergencies with health consequences. We are supporting the establishment of the Global Health Emergency Workforce and are developing plans to establish a United Kingdom rapid response team that would complement this mechanism. Linked to this we are working with WHO to ensure the establishment of a new emergency response platform which will unite and direct all WHO outbreak and emergency response operations within its mandate.

We are also contributing to the member state driven governance reform process, to support ambitious reform of these aspects; including the establishment of a clear and accountable leadership across all levels of the organisation. As members of the Programme Budget and Administration Committee, we are pressing WHO to improve aspects of compliance controls, transparency and delivery of results.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-09-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that health facilities in countries affected by ebola are strengthened to ensure that they can prevent or contain a future outbreak.

Grant Shapps

The UK has committed £240m over two years in support of the Government of Sierra Leone’s Ebola Recovery Strategy, including major investment in health. Our interventions will aim to increase the capacity of district and national structures to identify and respond swiftly to future outbreaks of Ebola or other communicable diseases. We will build on the surveillance, command and control systems established during the response.

In Liberia, DFID has committed £6 million to the Health Sector Pool Fund over two years, to support access to safe, quality health services. The UK indirectly supports Guinea’s recovery through its contributions to WHO and other multilateral organisations. Globally, DFID and the Department of Health are seeking greater commitment from countries to implement the International Health Regulations, the internationally-agreed framework for national systems to prevent and respond to public health crises.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-09-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help developing countries to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 on good health and wellbeing and to promote universal health coverage.

Justine Greening

DFID will continue to invest in health and support countries to meet SDG goal 3 and its universal health coverage target, guided by the Government’s International Development manifesto commitments. These include to: save 1.4m children’s lives by 2020, by immunising 76m children against killer diseases; lead a major new global programme to accelerate the development of vaccines and drugs to eliminate the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, while investing to save lives from malaria and working to end preventable child and maternal deaths; and work to achieve equitable access to family planning. Our commitments to improve nutrition for at least 50m people, to help at least 60m people get access to clean water and sanitation, to end FGM and to support education, will also contribute.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support UKTI is giving to British firms wishing to invest in Sri Lanka.

Anna Soubry

UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) team in the High Commission in Colombo (who cover Sri Lanka and the Maldives) provide advice to and support actual and potential UK investors. This can include advice on market opportunities, local partners and legal and regulatory requirements. They also offer the full range of UKTI services and support to British companies selling or looking for opportunities to sell goods and services in Sri Lanka. The High Commissioner regularly supports British companies, including by hosting and speaking at events and lobbying for them. The High Commission team works closely with the independent Council for Business with Britain, a trade grouping that many British investors in Sri Lanka are members of, to encourage and support continuing growth in business relations between the UK and Sri Lanka.

The UK is consistently a top ten investor in Sri Lanka, ranking 7th in 2013, the latest year for which official figures are available. These investments range widely, from financial services to education, from traditional industries to cutting edge IT development.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many official trade delegations have been to (a) India, (b) Pakistan, (c) Bangladesh and (d) Sri Lanka in each of the last three years.

Anna Soubry

The following is a list of official trade missions that have been organised by UK Trade & Investment over the past three years to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

2013/14

• Number of Outward Trade Missions to India = 10
• Number of Outward Trade Missions Pakistan = 1
• Number of Outward Trade Missions to Bangladesh = 0
• Number of Outward Trade Missions to Sri Lanka = 3

2014/15

• Number of Outward Trade Missions to India = 9
• Number of Outward Trade Missions Pakistan = 1
• Number of Outward Trade Missions to Bangladesh = 1
• Number of Outward Trade Missions to Sri Lanka = 1

2015/16

• Number of Outward Trade Missions to India = 0 (2 planned)
• Number of Outward Trade Missions Pakistan = 0
• Number of Outward Trade Missions to Bangladesh = 0 (1 planned)
• Number of Outward Trade Missions to Sri Lanka = 0 (1 planned)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department is giving to strengthen democracy and parliamentary oversight in Sri Lanka.

Mr Hugo Swire

Through our bilateral support to Sri Lanka, we are seeking to strengthen democracy, improve good governance and the rule of law. We funded a programme of voter education and support to domestic election observers during the January and August elections at a cost of £120,000. Staff from the British High Commission in Colombo were involved in the EU Election Observer Mission both in the run up to and on the day of the 17 August parliamentary elections.

We are working closely with others, including the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, on building the capacity of the new Parliament and on strengthening political parties. We welcome the involvement of UK Parliamentarians, including the recent visit of my hon. Friend, in supporting this work.

Our spending on democracy related projects this year will be around £200,000. We are also supporting a project to provide training to local media in investigative journalism techniques, which should help strengthen freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.