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 propriety of his Department overseeing the consultation on a fixed recoverable cost regime in clinical negligence cases when it is the defendant in most such 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 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the rate of compliance on routes from (a) Hull and (b) in the North Sea with lower sulphur dioxide emission limit for merchant vessels which came into force on 1 January 2015.

Mr Robert Goodwill

There are no figures for 2015.

However, since 1 January 2016 the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has inspected 34 ships within the North Sea Sulphur Emission Control for compliance with the lower 0.1 per cent sulphur limit. Eleven of these ships had fuel samples taken and analysed, and one ship was found to be marginally non-compliant.

The one ship that was inspected and had its fuel sampled at the port of Hull was found to be within the limit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Attorney General, how many cases of alleged (a) rape, (b) sexual assault and (c) domestic violence where the alleged offence took place in the UK were prosecuted by the Services Prosecuting Authority in (i) 2013, (ii) 2014 and (iii) 2015.

Robert Buckland

Figures for all prosecutions by the Services Prosecuting Authority of Rape, Sexual Assault & Domestic violence covering the period 2013 to 2015 where the alleged offence took place in the UK are contained in the following table.

Year	Rape Prosecutions	Sexual Assault Prosecutions	Domestic Violence Prosecutions
2013	2	8	0
2014	2	11	5
2015	3	14	6 (1 case yet to go to trial)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to encourage the Turkish government to protect citizens’ rights after the attempted coup in that country.

Sir Alan Duncan

The Government has firmly condemned the attempted coup in Turkey on 15 July. Britain stands firmly in support of Turkey’s democratically elected government and institutions.

We are aware that on 21 July Turkey introduced a state of emergency. It is important that measures under the state of emergency be proportionate, justified and in line with its democratic principles and its international human rights obligations. I emphasised the need for Turkey to respect human rights including press freedom and the rule of law during my visit to Ankara on 20-21 July. We continue to engage with the Turkish Government at all levels on these issues, and to monitor the situation closely.

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 incentives for defendants in clinical negligence cases to encourage early admissions and settlements.

Ben Gummer

Admissions should be made and compensation paid to those who are entitled to it based on the evidence. The proposed scheme will also apply to defendants and incentives for early resolution are included in the consultation. NHS Litigation Authority data shows that on average clinical negligence claims resolve within 1.31 years of the claim being made, and those valued under £25,000 are resolved in less than 12 months.

Following the pre-consultation process, the Department is currently working with the Civil Procedure Rule Committee on the rules to support the Fixed Recoverable Cost work before an open public consultation is undertaken.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of lower sulphur dioxide emission limits for merchant vessels in force from 1 January 2015 on (a) seafarer employment and (b) passenger and freight services (i) from Hull and (ii) in the North Sea.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The fall in oil prices means that the cost to the industry of complying with the 0.1 per cent sulphur limit is much lower than predicted. For the time being, these environmental rules do not appear to pose any significant obstacle to growth and employment to ships operating in the North Sea.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions were commenced by the Serious Fraud Office in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

Robert Buckland

The table below shows the number of individuals or bodies corporate against whom the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) instituted proceedings in each year but does not include persons outside the jurisdiction, for whom the court has issued a warrant of arrest under section 1 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 but in respect of whom no written charge or summons has been issued.

Year	Number
2012	12
2013	30
2014	20
2015	23

The SFO started two related sets of proceedings against Alstom Network UK. One in 2014, the other in 2015. Only the first set of proceedings is included in the table above.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to encourage business owners to provide accessible toilets for customers.

Gavin Barwell

Persons carrying out building work to non domestic buildings need to comply with the requirements of Part M (Access to and use of buildings) of the Building Regulations. Statutory guidance on how to comply with these requirements is set out in Approved Document M and contains detailed guidance on accessible toilet and sanitary provision in buildings other than dwellings.

The Government also continues to support the provision of “Changing Places Toilets” which provide facilities for severely disabled people, most recently by funding the development of a website which provides detailed guidance on the location of and facilities contained in “Changing Places” toilets facilities.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that claimant lawyers can continue to pursue low-value claims in clinical negligence cases in a fixed recoverable cost regime.

Ben Gummer

Admissions should be made and compensation paid to those who are entitled to it based on the evidence. The proposed scheme will also apply to defendants and incentives for early resolution are included in the consultation. NHS Litigation Authority data shows that on average clinical negligence claims resolve within 1.31 years of the claim being made, and those valued under £25,000 are resolved in less than 12 months.

Following the pre-consultation process, the Department is currently working with the Civil Procedure Rule Committee on the rules to support the Fixed Recoverable Cost work before an open public consultation is undertaken.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 24371, how many Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) staff carried out complete checks on vessels working in all sulphur dioxide emission control areas contiguous with the UK coastline in 2015; and how many MCA staff will carry out this work in 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) Marine Surveyors carry out a full range of Port State Control (PSC) and inspection tasks including assessment of compliance with environmental requirements such as the use of low sulphur fuel forming part of their normal duties.

Surveyor resources are not dedicated to specific tasks and inspections will consider a range of safety and environmental issues so it is not possible to disaggregate staff numbers on this specific issue.

In 2015, there were 74 qualified and accredited MCA Marine Surveyors carrying out PSC inspection activity, including that related to sulphur compliance across the UK.

In 2016, there are 64 qualified and accredited MCA Marine Surveyors who have been supplemented by a further 30 trained sulphur inspectors.