The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Government’s policy is on members of the Service Police residing in separate living accommodation to other members of the armed forces.
Mark Lancaster
There is no Government policy concerning living accommodation for the Service Police.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons allow children to take school books in with them when visiting.
Andrew Selous
This information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Attorney General, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the application and implementation of the European Arrest Warrant.
Jeremy Wright
At the February European Council the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April 2016 to Question 32551, how many reports from the dedicated reporting channel were passed on to other investigatory bodies and prosecuting authorities.
Jeremy Wright
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is an intelligence led agency and follows the National Intelligence Model (NIM) when sharing information with law enforcement partners.
Every report made to the SFO is assessed by a member of its Intelligence Unit in conjunction with other information available. The SFO passes information on to others when it has appropriate intelligence to share. This could be information from a single report, or a collated intelligence package.
The vast majority of reports made to the SFO are not matters which it can investigate, and are more appropriate for the police or other agencies. Action Fraud is the UK’s national fraud reporting centre. Individuals are asked to report matters directly to them so that Action Fraud can make best use of their information. They will also be given a crime report number for future reference.
The table below shows the minimum number of intelligence referrals made by the SFO to other agencies which are directly referable to reports made through the dedicated reporting channel(1) since these statistics have been recorded. It also shows the number of SFO investigations opened since 2012 where the initial report to the SFO came through its online reporting system.
|
Year |
Number of referrals |
SFO investigations that originated through online reporting system |
|
2012 |
Not recorded |
1 |
|
2013 |
Not recorded |
2 |
|
2014 |
144 |
3 |
|
2015 |
154 |
3 |
1. The SFO does not record statistical information about all types of referrals that it makes to other agencies that are directly referable to reports made through the dedicated reporting channel, so the total number may be higher.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to introduce independent oversight of the Service Police.
Mark Lancaster
The Service Police are already subject to independent oversight by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabularies and their reports are placed in the public domain. We also remain committed to the introduction of independent oversight of complaints made against the Service Police and work continues in order to identify the most appropriate means of achieving that.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons have children’s play areas.
Andrew Selous
This information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Attorney General, if he will place in the Library data gathered by Crown Prosecution Service Business Area of prosecutions and convictions for (a) rape-flagged offences, (b) domestic violence, (c) child abuse and (d) human trafficking for each year since 2013.
Jeremy Wright
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of prosecutions and convictions in each CPS business area flagged as rape, domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking.
The attached tables show the volume of defendants prosecuted and convicted in flagged cases for each CPS business area over the last three financial years for which data is available. These also include a number of caveats and explanatory notes which should be observed when reviewing the data. Data for 2015/16 will be published later this year and will be placed in the House of Commons library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April 2016 to Question 32551, how many reports from the dedicated reporting channel were deemed to have enough information to warrant opening an investigation in each year since 2012.
Jeremy Wright
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is an intelligence led agency and follows the National Intelligence Model (NIM) when sharing information with law enforcement partners.
Every report made to the SFO is assessed by a member of its Intelligence Unit in conjunction with other information available. The SFO passes information on to others when it has appropriate intelligence to share. This could be information from a single report, or a collated intelligence package.
The vast majority of reports made to the SFO are not matters which it can investigate, and are more appropriate for the police or other agencies. Action Fraud is the UK’s national fraud reporting centre. Individuals are asked to report matters directly to them so that Action Fraud can make best use of their information. They will also be given a crime report number for future reference.
The table below shows the minimum number of intelligence referrals made by the SFO to other agencies which are directly referable to reports made through the dedicated reporting channel(1) since these statistics have been recorded. It also shows the number of SFO investigations opened since 2012 where the initial report to the SFO came through its online reporting system.
|
Year |
Number of referrals |
SFO investigations that originated through online reporting system |
|
2012 |
Not recorded |
1 |
|
2013 |
Not recorded |
2 |
|
2014 |
144 |
3 |
|
2015 |
154 |
3 |
1. The SFO does not record statistical information about all types of referrals that it makes to other agencies that are directly referable to reports made through the dedicated reporting channel, so the total number may be higher.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the exclusion of sexual assault, voyeurism, exposure and sexual activity in a public lavatory from the schedule of offences that are subject to the mandatory referrals process on the ability of victims to report such acts.
Mark Lancaster
A person who believes they have been a victim of crime may report the matter to the Service or civilian Police, or to their chain of command. Commanding Officers are under a statutory duty to ensure that all allegations which indicate that a service offence may have been committed – including the offences of sexual assault, voyeurism, exposure and sexual activity in a public lavatory – are properly investigated. The Ministry of Defence has undertaken to review the existing provisions whereby Commanding Officers can decide how best to investigate those allegations of sexual offences which do not fall to be automatically referred to the Police. We expect the review to be complete by the end of the year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training was provided to the people who assessed bids for legal aid duty solicitor contracts in administering and assessing such contracts.
Mr Shailesh Vara
13 temporary staff were employed through the Brook Street Agency and a Crown Commercial Services Recruitment framework and were selected by the Legal Aid Agency and interviewed by permanent members of staff to ensure their suitability. These individuals made up 19% of the overall assessment team. In addition contracts were entered into with legal practices to provide additional resource.
The key criteria for employment were analytical skills and the ability to conduct a qualitative assessment. A legal or procurement background was considered an advantage but not essential, given that they would be supervised by permanent staff from the Legal Aid Agency.
The procurement was undertaken in line with the Public Contract Regulations and applicant organisations were required to pass a number of stages of assessment in order to be considered suitable to hold a duty provider contract. The criteria against which organisations were assessed is set out in the Information For Applicants which govern this procurement process.