The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on treasuring commercial flights to Sharm el Sheikh.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government is continuing to work towards a resumption of direct flights as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Bahrain pressing for (a) the release of all people arrested in relation to peaceful protest and (b) reconsideration of the July 2014 amendments to the nationality laws in that country.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK encourages Bahrain to respect the rights of all peaceful opposition figures. We call on the Bahraini government to act proportionately in all such cases to protect the universal rights of freedom of expression and assembly. We also continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to meets its human rights obligations and honour all conventions to which it is a party – including on citizenship rights. We regularly discuss human rights with the Government of Bahrain. I most recently raised human rights with the Bahraini Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, on 8 March.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times Capita Translation and Interpreting has met its key performance target since it has been contracted to provide courtroom interpreting services; and how many fines that company has incurred for missing those targets over that period.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The key performance target under the Language Services contract relates to successful completion of service requests for the provision of interpreters. The contract sets out a 98% target completion rate. The success rates for the first six months of the last financial year 2015/16 are 96.4 percent (Q1) and 97.3 percent (Q2). In addition the rate of complaints over this period was at its lowest level at just over 1 per cent.
Service credits can be imposed on Capita in line with the terms of the contract when performance falls below the contractual level of 98% success rate. From the beginning of the contract in January 2012 until September 2015 Capita TI has paid Service Credits on 44 occasions.
We are absolutely committed to further improving performance to ensure a standard of language services that meets the needs of all those who use the service in the justice system.
The contract has delivered significant improvements so far and we now have a system that is robust, sustainable and able to deliver a quality service at an affordable level. Since we introduced a new interpreting contract in 2012 we have spent £38m less on language service fees.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have had employment tribunal fees waived or reduced in each year since the introduction of such fees.
Mr Shailesh Vara
This information is published and available within the Ministry of Justice Official Tribunal Statistics and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) children under 18 years of age and (b) young people aged 18 to 24 received (i) social welfare, (ii) family, (iii) immigration, (iv) debt and (v) housing legal aid funding in each year since 2009-2010.
Mr Shailesh Vara
This information is due to be released as part of the pre-announced annual statistics bulletin for the LAA on the 30th June 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38441, what additional resources have been allocated to the management of prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection in the last 24 months.
Andrew Selous
The sentence of IPP was introduced in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 for offences committed after April 2005. They were abolished in 2012 by the Coalition Government.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not disaggregate spending on IPP prisoners from spending on all prisoners.
It is a priority for us to help remaining IPP prisoners progress towards release, when it is safe to do so, including by giving them opportunities to complete relevant interventions and work to reduce their risk of harm and risk of reoffending.
The ongoing work to improve progression opportunities is continuing to achieve results, with 512 IPP releases approved by the Parole Board in 2015, the highest number of annual releases since the sentence became available in 2005.
The release dates of prisoners serving IPP sentences, once they have completed their tariff, is entirely a matter for the independent Parole Board. The Board will direct release only if prisoners’ risks have been reduced to a level that may be safely managed in the community.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse was of replacement prison cell doors because of damage by prisoners in each of the last five years.
Andrew Selous
The Information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether the Bahrain Ombudsman’s investigation into the case of Mohammad Ramadan has complied with international minimum standards for torture investigations.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The United Nations Convention Against Torture requires all states to conduct prompt and impartial investigations into allegations of torture within their jurisdiction. We therefore welcome the Ombudsman’s decision to conduct an investigation into the complaints regarding Mohammad Ramadan, and await the outcome of the investigation. Since the announcement of the Ombudsman’s investigation, we have received non-governmental organisation representations regarding these allegations, and are aware of similar representations made to the Ombudsman. We take all such allegations seriously. It is therefore important that investigations into allegations of torture are prompt and impartial, and we are encouraging the Ombudsman to carry out a swift investigation.
The Bahraini Ombudsman is an independent oversight institution, and we will continue to follow and support its work. I raised the case of Mohammad Ramadan with the Bahraini Ambassador on 8 March, and our Embassy Manama officials have raised the progress of the investigation several times directly with the Ombudsman’s office, the most recent being 4 August.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many firms have written to the Legal Aid Agency indicating an intention to challenge a decision not to award them a contract in the Criminal Duty Tender; and how many firms have issued legal proceedings in respect of that decision.
Mr Shailesh Vara
Over 1000 bids were received for 527 contracts under this process. Some unsuccessful bidders are challenging the decision not to award contracts to them. 115 claims have been issued by 97 firms. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) continues to consider the legal proceedings issued by unsuccessful bidders in the crime duty tender.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many homophobic assaults were recorded in (a) male and (b) female prisons in the last 12 months.
Andrew Selous
Centrally held records do not record data identifying homophobic assaults. This information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.