Tag: Lord Beecham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many magistrates have resigned from 1 April to 1 November, and how many resigned during the same period in 2014.

Lord Faulks

The information requested is provided in the tables below:

Resignations

1 Apr. – 1 Nov. 2015	1 Apr. – 1 Nov. 2014
584	606

Percentage breakdown of resignations since 1 April 2015

Age	Ethnicity	Gender
>30yrs	31-40yrs	41-50yrs	51-60yrs	61-70yrs	White / BAME*	Male / Female
>1%	4%	11%	21%	63%	91% / 9%	52% / 48%

* BAME = Black and Minority Ethnic

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the annual savings to be achieved by imposing a residence test for legal aid.

Lord Faulks

This Government believes in the principle of the residence test. It is right that individuals should have a strong connection to the UK to benefit from the civil legal aid system.

The Government does not currently record the residence status of civil legal aid clients so cannot accurately estimate the annual savings that may be achieved by introducing a civil legal aid residence test. It is likely there will be a reduction in legal aid volumes and expenditure from imposing residence restrictions on civil legal aid, resulting in savings to the legal aid fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will require charities to take to establish that no part of their funding of lobbying activity is derived from Government grants.

Lord Bridges of Headley

Recipients of public money through grants should maintain records of how that money is spent, as required by the grant agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 1 August (HL1311), what progress has been made so far in relation to the consultation on the future of Sure Start; whether they intend to publish the result of that consultation; and if so, when.

Lord Nash

The Prime Minister has been clear that tackling poverty and disadvantage, and delivering real social reform, will be a priority for this Government. We will consider future policy on children’s centres as part of this. We will provide further detail in due course and will make clear how stakeholders and members of the public can contribute.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place between the Home Office and the Department of Health in relation to the increase in the use by the police of powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act; and with what result.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Home Office and Department of Health have been working to increase the use of alternative joint health and policing approaches and interventions that reduce the need for the police to use their formal powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act. Whilst overall police use of section 136 has increased, from just under 15,000 in 2011/12 to 19,410 in 2014/15, the use of police cells has reduced from just under 9,000 in 2011/12 to 2,100 in 2015/16.

As a result of joint work with the Department of Health those suffering a mental health crisis are more likely to be offered alternative support. The introduction of initiatives such as street triage schemes and community based places of safety provide an alternative to the use of police cells. These types of interventions are proving successful and the Home Office is seeking to promote their use nationally using the £15m funding made available by the Department of Health to increase the availability of alternative places of safety.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the percentage of magistrates resigning since 1 April broken down by (1) age, (2) ethnicity, and (3) gender.

Lord Faulks

The information requested is provided in the tables below:

Resignations

1 Apr. – 1 Nov. 2015	1 Apr. – 1 Nov. 2014
584	606

Percentage breakdown of resignations since 1 April 2015

Age	Ethnicity	Gender
>30yrs	31-40yrs	41-50yrs	51-60yrs	61-70yrs	White / BAME*	Male / Female
>1%	4%	11%	21%	63%	91% / 9%	52% / 48%

* BAME = Black and Minority Ethnic

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provisions the contract with Concentrix regarding child tax credits and other benefits makes concerning the time within which decisions must be made about the eligibility for such benefits once they have been withdrawn, and what assessment they have made of how the company has performed against any such requirements in respect of the number of cases in which that period has been exceeded.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix UK Limited, signed in May 2014, provides additional capacity to review and correct tax credit claims that are potentially based on incorrect information.

Full details of the contractual arrangements, including agreed performance indicators put in place in respect of the intervention service, can be found on gov.uk.

HMRC regularly monitors the performance of contractors but, due to the commercially sensitive nature of this information, it does not disclose such information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 27 October 2015 (HL2390), what steps they have taken to satisfy themselves as to the appropriateness of the award of the contract for the management of Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre to MTCNovo in the light of the failure of the Youth Justice Board, in its response to a letter from Article 39, the Howard League for Penal Reform, and INQUEST, to address issues concerning that company’s limited experience of dealing with the provision of custodial care for young offenders, and legal cases in the USA that raise questions about its suitability.

Lord Faulks

MTCnovo is a joint venture between Management Training Corporation (MTC) and Novo Community Ltd, owned by Amey. The capability of MTC and Amey, were robustly assessed at the pre-qualification stage of the competition.

There are two current legal cases brought against the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDCO) in relation to two correctional facilities in the USA where MTC is now the operator. Both these cases are brought against the commissioning authority MDOC and relate to conditions that existed when the facilities were operated by a different provider.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have received an evaluation of the Troubled Families programme from the consultancy firm Ecorys; when they received that evaluation; whether they plan to publish it; and if so when.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

I can confirm we have received a draft evaluation of the original Troubled Families Programme from Ecorys. The original draft report was received last autumn. The evaluation comprises several different strands. The evaluation is not yet ready to publish as there have been methodological issues with one of the strands. We expect the contractors to complete the reports shortly and in line with protocol, the Government will publish them soon after.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reported growth in reliance on the employment of locum doctors in GP practices and the extent, if any, to which the employment of full-time doctors in GP practices has declined.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The latest statistics, published on 27 September, as at 31 March 2016, show that the total full time equivalent general practitioners (GPs), including locums was 34,914, an increase of 323, compared to September 2015.

The same statistics showed that on 31 March 2016, there were 601 locums recorded as working in GP practices on that one day. On the day of 30 September 2015, 537 locums were recorded working in GP practices.

Locum doctors cover a variety of roles, including vacancies and absences such as maternity, training and annual leave. Not all practices completed returns or provided detailed information on the type of GP that was working in the practice, on either 30 September and/or 31 March, which means that it is not possible to compare the data of September 2015 and March 2016.

The data that NHS Digital publish on the general practice workforce is labelled provisional, experimental statistics, as they use a new methodology/data set and collection vehicles. These statistics replace the traditional GP census. The new data set, introduced in September 2015, collected information on locum doctors for the first time.