Tag: MiDavies

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how his Department defines a vulnerable and intimidated witness; and what processes are in place to support such witnesses when giving evidence.

Mike Penning

Vulnerable witnesses are defined under section 16 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 as all child witnesses (under 18 years), or any witness whose quality of evidence is likely to be diminished because they are suffering from a mental disorder (as defined by the Mental Health Act 1983), have a significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning, or a physical disability or disorder.

Under section 17 of the 1999 Act, a witness is considered ‘intimidated’ if they are giving evidence in a case involving a sexual, knife or gun, human trafficking or modern slavery offence, or if the court is satisfied that the quality of evidence given by the witness is likely to be diminished by reason of fear or distress on the part of the witness in connection with testifying in the proceedings.

Vulnerable and intimidated witnesses are eligible for special measures to support them to give their evidence. Measures include the use of intermediaries to help communication, allowing witnesses to give evidence by way of pre-recorded video and /or live video links from outside the courtroom, screening the witness from the accused, removing people from the public gallery whilst the witness gives evidence and the removal of gowns and wigs.

The full list of special measures available can be found in sections 23 to 30 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/part/II/chapter/I/crossheading/special-measures

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans she has to ensure appropriate arrangements are made available to safeguard vulnerable women who participate in criminal justice proceedings.

Dr Phillip Lee

I am committed to making the process of going to court simpler, easier, and more sympathetic to victims. My department’s court reform programme will make sure victims and witnesses, both male and female, continue to be treated with respect throughout the process. For example, the digitisation of the courts services is having a positive impact on victims by providing the ability to give video evidence rather than facing the trauma of attending court.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will ensure the adequacy of provision of screens for use as a special protection measure for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.

Mike Penning

There are many provisions already in place to help victims and witnesses give evidence in court.

Children are automatically eligible to receive special measures – such as giving evidence from behind a screen or pre-recording their evidence or giving it via video link – and these are available to other vulnerable victims and witnesses at a court’s discretion.

We continue to work with criminal justice partners (particularly the police and the CPS) to further increase awareness and ensure the consistent use of special measures for vulnerable and intimidated victims and witnesses.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of land in England is covered by an adopted local plan.

Gavin Barwell

244 of 338 local planning authorities (72%) have an adopted Local Plan, compared to 58 (17%) in May 2010. Approximately 69% of England’s land area is covered by adopted Local Plans. In order to ensure areas get plans in place the Government has tabled an amendment to the Neighbourhood Planning Bill to place a statutory duty on every local planning authority to have a development plan document and to give the Secretary of State power to direct the relevant county council to produce a plan if a local planning authority in a two-tier area has failed to do so.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce avoidable mortality in hospitals.

Jane Ellison

This Government is strongly committed to improving patient safety, including encouraging greater transparency about the performance of hospitals against key indicators for safety.

We are leading an ambitious programme of work to help trusts understand and act on their own mortality rates: the focus of this work is to support improvement at local level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many enterprise zone bid applications have been received in each region.

James Wharton

I am delighted to confirm that we received 54 applications in the new Enterprise Zone bidding round by the closing date of Friday 18 September. The breakdown of applications is as follows;

Area	Number of bids received
East of England	6
East Midlands	9
North East	2
North West	9
South East	9
South West	8
West Midlands	6
Yorkshire & Humber	5
TOTAL	54

In view of the number of applications received, it will be a very competitive process and only the strongest bids will be selected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of new houses was built on brownfield land between May 2010 and May 2015.

Brandon Lewis

Statistics for 2013/14 were published in August 2015. These statistics showed that in 2013/14, 60 per cent of new residential addresses, including conversions to residential use, were created on previously developed land.

The figures in the 2013/14 publication are the first in the new series and so are not directly comparable to the previous Land Use Change Statistics which last published data covering the year 2011.

The Land Use Change Statistics provide the Department’s official source for estimating the proportion of new residential development on previously developed land (brownfield). They were historically collected from 1985 to 2011. The previous data collection was expensive to run. By switching to an innovative new methodology the Department has made significant savings whilst providing a statistical series more suitable for detailed statistical and spatial analysis than before.

Historical Land Use Change statistics are available on the Department’s website https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/land-use-change-statistics#archived-publications

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many confirmed cases of bovine tuberculosis there were in each of the last five years.

George Eustice

Statistics on the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle within Great Britain are published monthly on GOV.UK

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain.

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