Tag: Karl Turner

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of claims management companies on the number of unmeritorious claims brought forward in clinical negligence cases.

Ben Gummer

The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.

The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.

Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.

The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22404, when the Youth Justice Board ceased placements into Medway Secure Training Centre; and how many people were placed in that centre after 30 December 2015.

Andrew Selous

The Youth Justice Board suspended placements into Medway Secure Training Centre on 30 December 2015 as soon as it was made aware of the allegations. There have been no new placements since then.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Attorney General, how many directors of companies were disqualified as a result of a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

Jeremy Wright

In 2014-15, seven individuals were disqualified from acting as company directors following investigations by the Serious Fraud Office; and one was disqualified in 2013-14.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what data his Department collects on allegations made against service personnel accused of committing (a) sexual assault and (b) rape.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence routinely provides figures about allegations which are handled within each component part of the Service Justice System. This includes cases dealt with by the Service Police, the Service Prosecuting Authority, and the Military Court Service. As we have made very clear during the passage of the Armed Forces Bill 2015-16, we are currently looking at how to improve the way in which we gather and produce such information with the aim of producing an official statistic.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of introducing a fixed recoverable cost regime in clinical negligence cases on the number of claims brought by claims management companies and litigants in person.

Ben Gummer

The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.

The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.

Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.

The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what date the Youth Justice Board was informed of the allegations of abuse at Medway Secure Training Centre; and on what date the Youth Justice Board informed (a) youth offending teams and (b) social service departments who had children in their care in that centre.

Andrew Selous

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) was informed of the allegations on 30 December 2015 by the Chair of Medway Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and G4S. On 4 January 2016, Medway Local Safeguarding Children’s Board contacted the responsible local authorities of the 10 children and young people named in the allegations. On 8 January, the YJB contacted all youth offending teams and all Directors of Children’s Services to make them aware of the allegations.

When the Youth Justice Board were informed of the allegations, they immediately suspended placements of new children and young people into the centre and suspended the certification of the staff named in the allegations so that they cannot return to work without YJB approval. Monitoring by the YJB at the centre was increased, as was the availability of the independent advocacy service provided to children and young people by Barnados.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of all defendants charged with (a) rape, (b) sexual offences other than rape and (c) domestic violence were aged (i) 14 to 17, (ii) 18 to 24, (iii) 25 to 34, (iv) 35 to 44, (v) 45 to 54, (vi) 55 to 64 and (vii) over 65 in the last 12 months.

Jeremy Wright

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains both a central record of defendants in cases flagged as rape or domestic abuse and, additionally, the number whose principal offence at finalisation was categorised as a sexual offence other than rape.

These data can be disaggregated with reference to a series of ‘age bands’ based on the defendant’s date of birth at the time their proceeding was registered onto the CPS’ digital case management system (CMS). It is not possible to separately report the individual ages within each band.

The attached tables show the latest published data available (2014-15) on the number and proportion of defendants prosecuted, by age band, for (a) rape, (b) sexual offences other than rape and (c) domestic abuse.