Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-04-29.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has been spent by HM Revenue and Customs on preparatory work for the outsourcing of Tax Credit Error and Fraud Adding Capacity to date.

    Nicky Morgan

    From April to July 2013, HMRC carried out a trial to test whether it would be feasible to increase the number of compliance checks on tax credits claims, through the use of private sector resource. HMRC will publish the evaluation of the trial and the customer research report in due course.

    It is not appropriate to place the business case in the public domain given the commercial sensitivities and the risk of prejudice to HMRC’s ability to tackle tax credits error and fraud.

    In terms of the external costs of the trial, I refer the Hon Member to the Thirty-Fourth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts [2013/14] into HMRC Tax Collection: Annual Report & Accounts 2012–13, which may be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/666/66602.htm. All internal HMRC operating costs are published annually in the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to reduce funding for hearing aids in 2014-15.

    Norman Lamb

    The level of provision of hearing aids is a matter for local commissioners and is based on the needs of the local population.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2014, Official Report, column 548W, on female prisoners, which domestic violence programmes and interventions will be delivered in which prisons in 2014-15.

    Simon Hughes

    The table below shows the recorded domestic violence programmes and interventions due to be delivered across the women’s prison estate during 2014-15.

    Programme

    Establishment

    Sexual and domestic abuse in childhood counselling

    HMP/YOI Styal

    Domestic violence-women’s abuse counselling

    HMP/YOI Askham Grange

    Women Ahead Programme

    HMP/YOI Holloway

    Power to Change Programme

    HMP/YOI Drake Hall

    HMP/YOI Bronzefield

    FOR Project

    HMP/YOI Drake Hall

    Freedom Programme

    HMP/YOI Low Newton

    HMP/YOI Peterborough

    HMP/YOI East Sutton Park

    HMP/YOI Styal

    Athena Project

    HMP/YOI New Hall

    Safe Choices

    HMP/YOI Holloway

    Thyme Project

    HMP/YOI Holloway

    Women’s Rape & Sexual & Domestic Abuse Counselling

    HMP/YOI Peterborough

    Bradford Rape Crisis counselling service

    HMP/YOI New Hall

    The Trauma Service

    HMP/YOI Low Newton

    Reducing Re-offending Intervention Fairs (All Pathways covered) supporting women who have been affected by violence

    HMP/YOI Eastwood Park

  • Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who within her Department authorised the passing of information about forthcoming proscription orders to The Sun newspaper; and whether that authorisation was agreed by a Minister or special adviser in her Department.

    James Brokenshire

    No Minister or Special Adviser at the Home Office authorised the release of information about the forthcoming proscription to The Sun newspaper.

    I have written in response to the point of order reiterating that we take Parliamentary business very seriously and always seek to follow Mr Speaker’s preference that the House is informed first of the Home Secretary’s intention to proscribe terrorist groups. This was our intent on this occasion.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many sexual assaults on prison staff there were in each prison in each of the last four years.

    Jeremy Wright

    Due to the low numbers of sexual assaults on prison staff, the information requested cannot be provided in order to protect the confidentiality of those staff involved.

  • Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Murphy on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with regional organisations in Pakistan and neighbouring countries about honour killings.

    Justine Greening

    Following the brutal murder of Farzana Parveen in Lahore on 27 May, I raised this issue at various levels in the Government of Pakistan. The Foreign Secretary and senior HMG officials in Pakistan have also publically and privately condemned the appalling crime of ‘honour killings’ and called for immediate action to bring the culprits of the 27 May attack to justice.

    HMG regularly engages with the government and civil society in Pakistan on women’s rights and violence against women, including so-called ‘honour killings’. Across DFID’s programmes in Pakistan we are helping women and girls to live healthy and secure lives.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the nationality was of (a) all people in prison and (b) people in prison who self-identified as Muslim on 1 January 2014.

    Jeremy Wright

    Data are held centrally on the prison population in England and Wales on the last day of each month, so figures have been provided for 31st December 2013 (with the exception of PQ 197068 which has been answered as at 30 June 2013 – the latest available data for criminal history information).

    For PQ 197067, Table 1 below provides the number for the sentenced prison population by sentence length for self-declared Muslim prisoners and the total for all religions.

    For PQ 197068, Table 2 provides the number of offenders in prison on 30th June 2013 who identified themselves as Muslim and all other religions by the number of previous custodial sentences received.

    For PQ 197069, Table 3 provides the prison population by nationality for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.

    For PQ 197090, Table 4 provides the prison population by age group for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.

    Please note that the religion of prisoners is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare their religion.

    These figures 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.

  • Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the treatment of child victims and witnesses within the courts system.

    Damian Green

    We do everything we can to support child witnesses and help them give their best possible evidence to bring offenders to justice.We are piloting recorded pre-trial cross-examination, allowing vulnerable witnesses for the first time to give evidence in advance of trial.

    In ‘Transforming the Criminal Justice System: Strategy and Action Plan’ (June 2013), the Ministry of Justice committed to improving the consistency and take-up of special measures for vulnerable and intimidated victims and witnesses, such as the use of live-link, screens in court and the use of an intermediary (communication specialist). We are working with other criminal justice agencies to deliver this.

    Child victims and witnesses are automatically eligible for special measures when giving evidence in court. The presumption in most cases is that they should give their evidence by video-recorded statement, and that any subsequent cross-examination is conducted by live-link with a supporter present who has been approved by the court.

    The pre-trial cross-examination pilot ends in October 2014 and the evaluation of the pilot will inform plans for any future rollout of the measure.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many prisoners reached (a) Key Stage 1, (b) Key Stage 2 and (c) Key Stage 3 qualifications in (i) English and (ii) mathematics whilst in prison in each of the last five years.

    Matthew Hancock

    We do not centrally hold information on prior attainment.

    Work is under way to introduce, this summer, mandatory education assessment by the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) provider for all newly-received prisoners. This will ensure that all offenders, not just those that go on to learning, receive a learning assessment (focused around English and maths, but also covering learning difficulties and disabilities).

    Table 1 shows Offender Learner English and Maths Achievements for the 2012/13 academic year. The data are broken down by Level rather than Key Stage as this is the appropriate measure for further education qualifications.

    Table 1: Offender Learners – English and Maths Achievements by level, 2012/13

    Level

    English

    Maths

    Entry level

    5,100

    5,250

    Level 1

    3,550

    4,020

    Level 2

    1,280

    1,930

    Total

    9,300

    10,100

    Notes

    1) The data source is the Individualised Learner Record.

    2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest ten except for the Grand Totals which are rounded to the nearest hundred.

    3) Learners undertaking courses at more than one level will be counted once for each applicable level, but once only in the Total.

    4) Offender learners are defined as offenders aged 18 or over that participated in Skills Funding Agency funded learning while in the prison system. These offenders were funded via the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) budget.

    Information on Offender Learner English and maths achievements by level for 2010/11 and 2011/12 is published as a Supplementary Table to a Statistical First Release. Data for earlier years are not available on a comparable basis.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284253/January2013_OLASS_Participation_Achievement.xls

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-further-education-and-skills

  • David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time to process a personal independence payment claim has been in each month since it was introduced.

    Mike Penning

    The information you have requested is not currently available.