Tag: Andy Slaughter

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Israeli counterpart on settlement activity in the West Bank.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a statement on 16 March condemning the Government of Israel’s decision to expand settlements in the West Bank.

On 18 February, during my visit to Israel, I discussed the issue of settlements with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reiterating the UK’s position. Our Embassy regularly raises this issue with the Israeli authorities, making clear the UK’s firm and consistent opposition to illegal construction of settlements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to investigate the findings of the report by HM Senior Coroner, Mary Hassell on the death of Mr Sivaraj Tharmalingham, that Serco fabricated the number of checks that its staff made on Mr Tharmalingham at Thames Magistrates’ Court.

Andrew Selous

Following the inquest into the tragic death of Mr Tharmalingham, a prevention of future deaths report has been sent to Serco by HM Senior Coroner for Inner North London under Regulation 28 of the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has received a copy of the report. Serco are currently considering the report and will respond in accordance with the Regulations. NOMS manages all contracts with third party providers robustly and will work closely with Serco to ensure that the matters of concern identified by the Coroner are examined and appropriately addressed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many tribunals relating to (a) sexual discrimination and (b) each other matter have been brought against employers in each of the last five years; and how many such claims have been successful.

Mr Shailesh Vara

Information on the number of tribunal claims relating to sexual discrimination and other matters brought against employers and the proportion of successful claims in each of the last five years can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics#employment-tribunal-and-employment-appeal-tribunal-statistics-gb.

“

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 applied for legal aid under the Exceptional Case Funding Scheme in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15 and (iii) 2015-16.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The purpose of the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme is to provide funding where it is legally needed. It does not provide a general power to fund cases which fall outside the scope of legal aid. Legal aid is a vital part of our justice system, but we cannot escape the continuing need to reduce the deficit. We still have a very generous system – last year we spent £1.6bn on legal aid, around a quarter of the department’s expenditure. Every ECF application is carefully considered by the Legal Aid Agency on an individual basis.

Applications to the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, by age of applicant, April 2013 to December 2015

FY application received	Under 18	18-24	Unknown
Apr 2013 – Mar 2014	55	86	6982
Apr 2014 – Mar 2015	27	116	67
Apr 2015 – Dec 20151	31	82	78

¹ Statistics for Jan-Mar 2016 are exempt for future publication on 30 June 2016

² Please note: Age data for Exceptional Case Funding were collected from October 2013 onwards, hence the greater proportion of unknowns in 2013-14 compared to the other years.

Applications to the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, which were granted³, by age of applicant, April 2013 to December 2015

FY application received	Under 18	18-24	Unknown
Apr 2013 – Mar 2014	1	4	132
Apr 2014 – Mar 2015	8	20	3
Apr 2015 – Dec 20151	12	40	23

¹ Statistics for Jan-Mar 2016 are exempt for future publication on 30 June 2016

² Please note: Age data for Exceptional Case Funding were collected from October 2013 onwards, hence the greater proportion of unknowns in 2013-14 compared to the other years.

³ Granted by 29 February 2016

Applications to the Exceptional Case Funding scheme for immigration cases, by age of applicant, April 2013 to December 2015

FY application received	Under 18	18-24	Unknown
Apr 2013 – Mar 2014	–	12	1332
Apr 2014 – Mar 2015	14	39	16
Apr 2015 – Dec 20151	11	33	25

¹ Statistics for Jan-Mar 2016 are exempt for future publication on 30 June 2016

² Please note: Age data for Exceptional Case Funding were collected from October 2013 onwards, hence the greater proportion of unknowns in 2013-14 compared to the other years.

Applications to the Exceptional Case Funding scheme for immigration cases, which were granted³, by age of applicant, April 2013 to December 2015

FY application received	Under 18	18-24	Unknown
Apr 2013 – Mar 2014	–	–	12
Apr 2014 – Mar 2015	4	8	1
Apr 2015 – Dec 20151	10	22	12

¹ Statistics for Jan-Mar 2016 are exempt for future publication on 30 June 2016

² Please note: Age data for Exceptional Case Funding were collected from October 2013 onwards, hence the greater proportion of unknowns in 2013-14 compared to the other years.

³ Granted by 29 February 2016

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many whales, dolphins and other aquatic mammals have been beached on British shores in each of the last 10 years.

George Eustice

Defra, in conjunction with the Devolved Administrations of Scotland and Wales, fund the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), which investigates the causes of cetacean strandings around the UK.

Between 2006 and 2014 a total of 4838 cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) were stranded around the UK (English, Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Ireland) coast. 147 of these were successfully refloated. The 2015 data has not yet been published. This will be available in due course on the CSIP website, where the annual reports for preceding years are already available.

The published annual strandings data, shown below, may also be subject to change where additional strandings information is reported after publication.

Although not part of its formal remit, data on stranded seals has been collected by CSIP in recent years. Since 2010 2185 dead stranded seals have been recorded.

Year	No. of UK Cetacean Strandings	No. of UK Cetacean Live Strandings	No. of UK Cetaceans Refloated
2006	718	31	9
2007	536	41	14
2008	566	83	24
2009	422	39	14
2010	277	27	6
2011	600	86	29
2012	562	75	15
2013	595	38	9
2014	562	55	27
Total	4838	475	147

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39933, how much funding has been allocated to anti-beaching initiatives; and which countries have been identified as containing beaching hotspots.

George Eustice

The UK Government does not fund ‘anti-beaching’ initiatives. However, it does fund the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, the work of which is crucial in providing us with a better understanding of the general health of cetaceans in UK waters and the issues that affect them.

We are not aware of any countries identified as having ‘beaching hotspots’.

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 evidence his Department has received in support of allegations that the Bahrain Ombudsman’s investigation into Mohammad Ramadan’s has not met international minimum standards for a torture investigation; and what assessment he has made of that evidence.

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, whether he plans to take steps in response to recent allegations made by a former employee of the Legal Aid Agency about irregularities regarding the staffing and process in assessing duty tender bids.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The individual making these allegations was a member of temporary staff employed in a junior role. Tenders were awarded following a rigorous and fair process

Assessors received comprehensive training, which included a face-to-face instructor-led interactive workshop, undertaken by a permanent member of staff with specific experience of the tender process. This also included undertaking practical exercises in tender evaluation and bid-comparison processes, such as consideration of model answers to assure consistency in assessment. Furthermore, the entire process was subject to careful moderation and management.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners undergoing a transition from male to female gender have been placed in the female estate prior to receiving legal recognition of that change of gender.

Caroline Dinenage

This information is not held centrally and as my Honourable Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation, committed to the House on 20 November, my Department will publish data on the number of trans people in prison in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of proposals to revise the costs capping scheme for environmental legal challenges on the UK’s ability to meet the requirement in the EU Public Participation Directive for claimants to have prior certainty in relation to costs protection.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Government’s proposals to revise the costs capping scheme for environmental legal challenges in England and Wales have been brought forward in light of recent developments in case law. Following those judgments the Government has made an assessment and considers there to be scope for introducing measured adjustments to the current regime within the framework of EU law, including the Public Participation Directive.