Tag: Mark Pritchard

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to expand the role of the National Crime Agency in (a) West Africa and (b) the Sahel region.

Mike Penning

The National Crime Agency (NCA) engages with a range of overseas partners in the both West Africa and the Sahel Region to tackle serious and organised crime threats to the UK, including drugs trafficking, money laundering, organised immigration crime and child sexual exploitation and abuse. This engagement is subject to continuous review by the NCA and is being expanded to enable the UK to respond to changing or emerging threats such as organised immigration crime. The Prime Minister announced the creation of a new multi-agency Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) Taskforce in June to tackle people smuggling in June and as part of this Taskforce the NCA has expanded its coverage in West Africa from where it also covers the Sahel.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will simplify the fishing licence regime to expand fishing as a sport.

George Eustice

The Environment Agency is currently undertaking a number of activities to modernise the current rod licence service. This includes a proposal to change the licence structure and associated charges. The proposed new licence structure includes a number of changes such as a full year rolling licence rather than a fixed single season; a licence for a maximum of three rods rather than the current two and a free junior licence for anglers under the age of 16. The Environment Agency will consult on these proposals in the spring.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will conduct research on the potential effect on the cost of legal aid of encouraging early guilty pleas by defendants in serious criminal trial cases.

Mr Shailesh Vara

We currently have no plans to do so. It has long been the practice to encourage early guilty pleas by offering reductions in sentence, and this is governed by the guideline Reduction in Sentence for a Guilty Plea, first issued by the Sentencing Guidelines Council in 2005. The Sentencing Council (as it now is) last month published for consultation a revised guideline, the purpose of which is stated to be ‘to encourage those defendants who are aware of their guilt to enter a plea as early in the court process as possible’. Increasing the incidence of early guilty pleas would be expected to result in savings in legal aid, as well as in other benefits.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to expand education in prisons to reduce reoffending rates and improve life chances for offenders returning to their communities.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Prisons should be places of safety and reform. I am determined to make sure that we achieve better outcomes for prisoners in employment, education and health. Fewer than half the people entering prisons have basic standards of English and Maths and around a third have identified learning difficulties or disabilities. This is a huge problem because we know that low levels of education can prevent people from securing jobs on release and leading law abiding lives.

On 15 September the Prime Minister announced the transfer of adult prison education in England to the Ministry of Justice from the Department for Education from 1 October. I would like to see governors having more responsibility for delivering education and being held to account for the outcomes prisoners achieve.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to encourage more online platforms to carry prominent age ratings and content advice for music videos classified by the British Board of Film Classification; and what steps he is taking to link such age ratings to parental control.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Government is committed to working with music labels and platforms towards seeing age ratings on all online music videos. Under the industry’s voluntary ratings scheme for online music videos,which is an initiative that I started,more than 150 music videos have been age rated by the BBFC to date and the ratings appear alongside them on YouTube and Vevo.

Work is continuing with industry to encourage them to further develop the online ratings scheme, including making the ratings more visible on online platforms and ensuring the ratings work as effectively as possible with parental controls.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his counterparts in the government of (a) Jamaica and (b) Trinidad and Tobago on the abolition of the death penalty.

Mr David Lidington

It has been a long-standing aspiration of this and previous Governments to persuade Caribbean countries, including Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, to abolish the death penalty. Both Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have refrained from executing any prisoners for some years. We hope that the final steps necessary to abolish the death penalty permanently will be taken. We formally recommended that Jamaica should abolish the death penalty during its last United Nations Universal Periodic Review. The UK is working with the new government in Trinidad and Tobago to improve judicial processes, including effective sentencing. We are also funding an abolitionist project in the Caribbean, which is designed to turn public opinion against the injustices and cruelties that come with use of the death penalty.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce medical experimentation on live animals in England.

Karen Bradley

The Home Office is responsible for regulating the use of live animals in scientific research under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). The principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (the 3Rs) are at the core of project authorisation under this legislation. Furthermore, these principles also extend to breeding, accommodation and care of protected animals.

Animals can only be used where no scientifically satisfactory, non-animal alternative exists which has been suitably validated. The number of animals used must be reduced to the minimum needed to achieve the results sought. For those animals which are used, procedures must be refined as much as possible to cause the minimum pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm.

In addition the Home Office also works with the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs) who work towards replacing, reducing and refining the use of animals in research. This has included projects such as CRACK IT which to date has invested over £15million with the aims to accelerate the availability of technologies which will deliver i) measurable 3Rs impacts, ii) new marketable products and iii) more efficient business processes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure more members of the Commonwealth abolish the death penalty.

Alok Sharma

The Government supports a global moratorium on use of the death penalty as a step towards eventual abolition. Since 2010 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has funded a number of projects promoting reform of the death penalty in individual Commonwealth countries. We also continue to engage diplomatically and urge Commonwealth countries to support the United Nation’s resolution on a global moratorium on the death penalty later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the safety and speed of evacuation from Virgin (a) Pendolino and (b) Voyager trains in the event of an emergency.

Claire Perry

The procedures for evacuation in an emergency are a matter for train operating companies. As the relevant safety duty holders they are best placed to identify any risks or hazards arising from the services they offer with oversight from the Office of Rail and Road as the independent railway safety regulator.

The UK already has one of the safest railways in Europe and the conditions which might necessitate a train evacuation are extremely rare. However, we must not be complacent and are working with the industry to further improve safety performance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department will publish its consultation on verification mechanisms to restrict under 18 access to pornographic websites.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is currently preparing a consultation on the Government’s manifesto commitment requiring age verification for access to all sites containing pornographic material. This will be published in due course.