Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Kate Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prisoners were released without accommodation from each private prison in England and Wales in the most recent 12 months for which figures are available.

    Andrew Selous

    We are fully committed to the rehabilitation of offenders so as to turn their lives around and reduce the risk of their re-offending in future. Dealing with their accommodation needs on release from prison is an integral part of that.

    The table below shows the number and percentage of offenders by recorded type of accommodation on discharge from contracted-out prisons 2013-14.

    Contracted Prisons: Accommodation on Release

    Settled Accommodation on Release

    % Settled Accommodation on Release

    Not in Settled Accommodation on Release

    % Not in settled Accommodation on release

    Total Offender Releases

    2011/12

    13,775

    90.5%

    1,445

    9.5%

    15,220

    2012/13

    14,297

    84.9%

    2,537

    15.1%

    16,834

    2012/13 excluding HMP Thameside

    13,892

    90.2%

    1,506

    9.8%

    15,398

    2013/14

    16,076

    91.6%

    1,472

    8.4%

    17,548

    Notes

    Settled accommodation covers the following categories: permanent housing, supported housing, approved premises, other hostels and BASS accommodation.

    Not in settled accommodation means: transient/short term accommodation, No Fixed Address, or No Information.

    Figures for 2012/13 are shown both including and excluding HMP Thameside, whose low outcomes in their first year of operation impacted on the overall outcomes.

    The figures show that less than 5% of prisoners were recorded as being of no fixed abode upon release from contracted-out prisons in 2013-14.

    The figures in the above table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

    It should also be noted that recorded accommodation type is based on prisoner self-reporting. We are aware of the inherent limitations in relying on self-reporting and are developing alternative measures aimed at ensuring that prisons and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) managing low and medium risk offenders fulfil their respective roles in preparing prisoners for release and helping them to find suitable accommodation.

    Under the Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, all prisoners will benefit from a universal resettlement service and genuine continuity of provision ‘Through the Gate’ from custody to the community. We have established a network of Resettlement Prisons to facilitate the smooth transition from custody to community to enable the new CRCs to work with those prisoners returning to their local area.

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    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
  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which free school projects pre-approved to open in September 2014 have since been (a) cancelled or withdrawn and (b) delayed; and what the pre-opening expenditure was for each such project.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Since 2011, 174 new free schools have opened across the country and around a further 80 are on course to open in September 2014. While free school proposers will have a preferred date for opening their school, the Department for Education does not approve projects to open in any specific year.

    The projects aiming to open in September 2014 or beyond that have been withdrawn are:

    1. Inspirar Academy

    2. Marco Polo Academy

    3. Oasis Community School Walthamstow

    4. On Track Chiltern

    5. Phoenix Free School of Oldham

    6. The Advance School

    7. Transforming Lives for Good

    No project was specifically approved to open in September 2014.

    Once the costs are finalised, the Department publishes the pre-opening expenditure for each free school project on the Departmental website.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Ugandan government and (b) his EU counterparts on the Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect on Uganda of the sanctions against that country announced by the US administration on 19 June 2014 in response to the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

    Mark Simmonds

    We have consistently raised our concerns about the Act with the Ugandan Government. Most recently, the Secretary of State for International Development and the Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds MP, raised the issue with the Ugandan President on 6 May. The UK is working closely with international partners to register its concerns and to seek assurances about the protection of individuals. With our support, EU Heads of Mission in Kampala initiated strengthened political dialogue with Uganda under Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement.

    The UK shares the concerns of the US and notes the US’s recent decision to apply existing visa mechanisms, redirect some healthcare support, end support for a community policy project, and cancel a military aviation exercise in response. The UK is engaging closely with civil society groups in Uganda to consult with them about the most appropriate next steps.

  • Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the degree to which the Cayman Turtle Farm is a humane captive breeding facility.

    Mark Simmonds

    The elected government of the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, has devolved constitutional responsibility for animal welfare and conservation including for legislation and policies governing the Cayman Turtle Farm. The UK is responsible for the international relations of the Cayman Islands and for their compliance with obligations arising under international law. The UK has extended the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to the Cayman Islands. The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is providing technical support and advice to support the Cayman Islands in fully meeting its international environmental and conservation obligations. The UK CITES Management Authority has not made a recent assessment of whether the Cayman Turtle Farm is a humane facility, but did commission an independent investigation in 2002 in support of an application for registration as a captive-breeding operation under CITES, which found it was a humane facility.

  • John McDonnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John McDonnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John McDonnell on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason the NHS logo appears on the Optical Express website; what the relationship between Optical Express and the NHS is; whether NHS funding (a) is and (b) has been provided to Optical Express in order to carry out procedures on NHS patients; and how many NHS patients were referred to Optical Express by the NHS in each of the last 10 years.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The current NHS identity guidelines only allow opticians to use the NHS logo on a poster in their premises. The guidelines are available at:

    www.nhsidentity.nhs.uk/all-guidelines/guidelines/opticians/introduction

    NHS England is due to take over responsibility for managing the NHS identity from the Department shortly, and we will be carrying out a thorough review of NHS identity guidelines during 2014-15.

    Optical Express receives NHS funding from NHS England for providing NHS sight tests and optical vouchers to qualifying patients. The choice of optician is a matter for individual patients who are able to use any optician offering NHS sight tests and they can also choose where they have their glasses dispensed.

    Other eye health services, over and above the NHS sight test, are commissioned by clinical commissioning groups, formerly primary care trusts. Neither the Department nor NHS England holds data on the number of patients who have received such services from Optical Express.

  • Yvonne Fovargue – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Yvonne Fovargue – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvonne Fovargue on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have suffered complications following knee and hip operations related to osteoarthritis in the last five years.

    Norman Lamb

    This information is not available. Although some information on post-operative complications experienced by osteoporosis patients following surgery of the hip and knee is available via the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) data collection, this only covers hip and knee replacement, and not the full range of surgical interventions. In addition to this, as PROMs is a voluntary reporting system the data published does not reflect the total number of osteoporosis patients having complications for all hip and knee replacements. More information on PROMS data can be found at the following link:

    www.hscic.gov.uk/proms

    “

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will place in the Library any correspondence her Department has received from the Serious Fraud Office on what steps it is taking to investigate reports referred to it by her Department that UK aid may have been channelled via CDC Group and Energy Capital Partners into companies linked to James Ibori; and if she will make a statement.

    Justine Greening

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her by the Solicitor General on 15 July 2014, Official Report, column 592W.

  • John McDonnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    John McDonnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John McDonnell on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on fitting tags and trackers at court or prison.

    Andrew Selous

    Tags are not currently fitted at court or prisons. There is provision in the new contract for tagging at court and prison; we will explore the circumstances where this might be appropriate during the life of the contract.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will estimate the annual cost to her Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if she will make a statement.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    My Department does not hold the specific information requested.