Tag: Lord Beecham

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the total cost, by 2020, of the discounts available under the starter homes scheme created by the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The 2015 Conservative manifesto had the clear objective to build affordable homes, including Starter Homes to support young people into home ownership. They will be sold at a minimum 20 per cent discount on open market value and for no more than the price cap of £250,000 (£450,000 in London). The amount of discount will vary according to local property prices.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Freud on 20 October (HL2620), how much they expect to save in particular in housing benefit payments from the reductions in social rent levied by housing associations.

Lord Freud

Estimates of the total benefit savings due to the reductions in social rent announced in the 2015 Summer Budget were presented in the associated policy costing publication.

The table below shows the amount of the total benefit savings which relates to housing association tenancies. This includes both Housing Benefit and Universal Credit.

Estimated reduction in benefit payments to housing association tenants, £millions, cash terms

	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21
Benefit savings relating to Housing Associations	145	425	790	1190	1305

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government under what circumstances and with what conditions access to any prison by a journalist would be permitted.

Lord Faulks

The External Communications team at the Ministry of Justice receives a significant number of requests by local and national media for access to prisons. For operational reasons and resource implications it is not possible to facilitate all requests.

Each request is considered on its own merit, with careful thought over the subject area, resource and security implications, victim impact, and value to the taxpayer. In a similar way to the police or the NHS, there are operational considerations to be made when filming or reporting in prisons. When facilitating media access we must ensure that the needs of victims are met, which may involve concealing identities, carrying out relevant checks and liaising directly with victims about the access request. We must also ensure that media access does not breach any security restrictions, for example filming keys or locks. Consideration is also given to protecting the identities of prisoners and staff.

We are committed to providing open and transparent access to prison and regularly provide access to journalists for news items, features and documentary programmes. We aim to provide a range of access to different journalists covering both print and broadcast media, local, national and online media.

Since the beginning of January 2015 we have provided access to a range of media outlets, a few examples are listed below:

• The Guardian were given access to HMP New Hall – http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/30/new-hall-womens-prison-inmates-equals
• BBC and the Sun were giving access to HMP Coldingley
• Regional BBC were giving access to HMP Northumberland (Sodexo run prison)
• Telegraph and Heart Radio were giving access to HMP Drake Hall
• Evening Standard and regional BBC were giving access to HMP Thameside (Serco run prison)
• BBC Radio 4 were giving access to HMP Prescoed/HMP Cardiff
• Sky Sports were giving access to HMP Feltham
• National BBC, regional ITV and the Manchester Evening News were giving access to HMP Styal
• Evening Standard and London Live were giving access to HMP Isis
• East Anglia Daily Times and regional BBC radio were giving access to HMP Hollesley Bay
• Sky News were given access to HMP Ranby
• ITV were given access to HMP Norwich

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many lay magistrates were recruited in the last year for which figures are available, and what was the breakdown by ethnicity and gender.

Lord Faulks

A total of 403 magistrates were appointed in England and Wales between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015. A breakdown of those appointments can be found in the tables below:

Gender

Male	Female
158 (39%)	245 (61%)

Ethnicity

White	Mixed	Black	Asian	Chinese	Other
333 (83%)	15 (4%)	24 (6%)	22 (5%)	3 (>1%)	6 (2%)

Age

18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-65
24 (6%)	75 (19%)	97 (24%)	154 (38%)	53 (13%)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many lay magistrates were recruited in the last year for which figures are available for each decile by age.

Lord Faulks

A total of 403 magistrates were appointed in England and Wales between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015. A breakdown of those appointments can be found in the tables below:

Gender

Male	Female
158 (39%)	245 (61%)

Ethnicity

White	Mixed	Black	Asian	Chinese	Other
333 (83%)	15 (4%)	24 (6%)	22 (5%)	3 (>1%)	6 (2%)

Age

18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-65
24 (6%)	75 (19%)	97 (24%)	154 (38%)	53 (13%)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to divert part or all of the £160m JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to medium Enterprises) 2 fund, succeeding the Finance for Business North East fund, to other Northern areas described as part of the Northern Powerhouse; and if so, what proportion of funding will be diverted, and why they are taking such action.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government has no intention of imposing any arrangements for the next round of ERDF ‘JEREMIE’ style Access to Finance funds that do not carry local support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they instructed local authorities not to disclose the contents of their submissions for the Comprehensive Spending Review; and, if so, why.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Her Majesty’s Government has not instructed local authorities on the matter of disclosing the contents of their submissions for the Comprehensive Spending Review. Local authorities are free to publish the contents of their submissions and many have chosen to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in relation to the decision to award MTCNovo the contract to run Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre, what assessment they have made of the experience that company has in running residential establishments that care for vulnerable children; and whether MTCNovo, including its partners or significant subcontractors, has been found to have breached human rights or equality legislation in the last three years, either in the United Kingdom or abroad.

Lord Faulks

MTC and their main partner Amey were subject to robust and rigorous assessment at the pre-qualification stage of the competition. This included a thorough examination of health and safety, equalities, human rights and discrimination policies, and a requirement to demonstrate their experience of managing children and young people.

There were no findings of a breach in human rights or equality legislation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-09-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 15 September (HL2049) which committed to helping to protect taxpayers from the rising cost of subsidising rent, what steps they are taking to achieve this commitment.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

We have included provisions in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill currently before Parliament to reduce social rents in England by one percent a year for four years from April 2016. We estimate that by 2020/21 there will be an in-year saving to the tax payer of some £1.4 billion, so helping to protect taxpayers from the rising cost of subsidising rents through housing benefit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of report writers and court staff have received training arising from the implementation of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014.

Lord Faulks

All staff have received comprehensive guidance on the implementation of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014.

A cadre of staff received central training to enable them to train other staff, as required, in the Act’s provisions. We do not hold statistics for the total number of staff who have been trained under this system.