Tag: Parliamentary Question

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 proven re-offending rate was of (a) those released from prison and (b) those released from prison who self-identified as Muslim in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright

The latest proven re-offending rates for those offenders released from prison can be found in tables 1 and 2 below. Table 1 provides overall proven re-offending rates for offenders released from prison and has been taken from the Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin series. Table 2 provides proven re-offending rates for Muslim offenders released from prison.

A proven re-offence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period resulting in a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year follow-up, a further six month waiting period is allowed for the offence to be proven in court.

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. A prisoner’s religion is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare.

1. A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders

1. A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders.

2. Data on offenders’ religious beliefs are not available for 2010 due to data quality issues following the introduction of a new prison IT system.

01/11/2022
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 adequacy of the provisions available to support child victims and witnesses within the courts system; and if he will make a statement.

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.

01/11/2022
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 did not have (a) Key Stage 1, (b) Key Stage 2 and (c) Key Stage 3 qualifications in (i) English and (ii) mathematics when they entered 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

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01/11/2022
Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve the personal independence claims and decision making process.

Mike Penning

We are committed to driving up PIP performance, and I am in regular contact with providers to do this – as you would expect. Unlike DLA, PIP involves a face to face consultation for most applicants. Around 80% of claimants will see a health professional instead of around 6% of DLA.

We acknowledge that claims are currently taking too long and we have taken steps to improve performance. So far we have introduced:
- A dedicated phone service;
- An electronic transfer of information between claimant’s health professional, DWP and assessment providers.
- A new process to enable SRTI decisions to be made in-house with support from health care professionals.
- A streamlined Assessment Report form.
01/11/2022
Tim Farron – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many tenancy relations officers are currently employed by each local authority.

Kris Hopkins

This information in not centrally held.

01/11/2022
Biography information for Robert Halfon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Robert Halfon on Health.

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Norman Lamb

The Care Act will require local authorities to ensure all assessors are appropriately trained to carry out assessments. This builds on the statutory guidance Implementing Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives which followed the 2010 Adult Autism Strategy for England, and which required autism awareness training to be available to all staff working in health and social care and specialist training for those in key roles that have a direct impact on access to services for adults with autism. The Department is currently consulting on the regulations and statutory guidance that will support the implementation of the Care Act, and we will remind local authorities through this of this requirement in Implementing Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives.

Due to the complexities of assessing people who are deafblind, regulations under the Care Act will require their assessments to be carried out by a specialist assessor. One of the questions in the consultation document is whether specialist assessors should be required to carry out the assessment of people with other conditions, such as autism, and to explain why this should be the case. Based on the evidence we receive through the consultation we will consider if this requirement should be extended to other conditions.

01/11/2022

Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 414W, on pre-school education, who the 43 early years providers are who have been granted full or partial exemptions from the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.

Elizabeth Truss

Local authorities have a statutory duty to secure free early years provision for eligible children in their area. Local authorities determine which providers should receive early education funding in accordance with statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education. Since September 2013, local authorities have been expected to base their decision on whether to fund providers to deliver early education places solely on a provider’s most recent Ofsted judgement.

Exemptions to the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) can only be made in one of two circumstances:

When the provider is a good or outstanding independent school.
When the provision is governed by established principles relating to learning and development and those cannot be reconciled with an element or elements of EYFS, for example in Steiner schools.

Exempt providers remain subject to inspection and any independent school which subsequently falls below ‘good’ loses their exemption. The first exemption was introduced in 2012. The second exemption was in place under the previous Government.

The Answer of 10 April 2014 (Official Report, col 414W, on pre-school education) explained that Departmental records showed there were 43 early years providers with full or partial exemptions from the learning and development requirements of the EYFS, that were in receipt of local authority funding for early education at the time the exemption was granted to the provider.

34 of these are still in receipt of local authority funding for early education. A further five providers with a full or partial exemption are now in receipt of early education funding but were not at the point their exemption was granted. One further provider has received an exemption since the previous PQ was answered and is in receipt of early education funding. Of these 40 providers, 33 are exempt under the exemption in place under the previous Government, only 7 are exempt under the exemption introduced in 2012. These 40 providers are listed below.

Providers who were in receipt of local authority funding for early education at the time their exemption was granted and continue to receive such funding:	Reasons for Exemption
1. Apple Star Early Years (Community Interest Company), Reading	Steiner – established principle route
2. AZBUKA Russian Nursery, London	Language – established principle route
3. Beechtree Steiner Kindergarten, Leeds	Steiner – established principle route
4. Botton Village School, North Yorkshire	Steiner – established principle route
5. Brighton Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route
6. Bromsgrove (Pre-Prep and Nursery) School, Worcestershire	Independent – Good
7. Buttercups Little Kindergarten, Cambridgeshire	Steiner – established principle route
8. Calder Valley Steiner School, Calderdale	Steiner – established principle route
9. Cambridge Steiner School Kindergarten	Steiner – established principle route
10. Children of One End Street, Gloucestershire	Steiner – established principle route
11. Children’s Garden, Exeter	Steiner – established principle route
12. Children’s Garden, Richmond	Steiner – established principle route
13. Children’s Garden, University of East London	Steiner – established principle route
14. Cobnuts Steiner Kindergarten, Kent	Steiner – established principle route
15. Elmfield Rudolf Steiner School, Dudley	Steiner – established principle route
16. Falkner House, London	Independent – Outstanding
17. Greenwich Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route
18. Hoathly Hill Kindergarten, West Sussex	Steiner – established principle route
19. Kingsley School, Bideford	Independent – Good
20. Lancaster Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route
21. Laurel Farm Kindergarten, Bath	Steiner – established principle route
22. Michael Hall School Kindergarten, East Sussex	Steiner – established principle route
23. Michael House a Steiner Waldorf School, Heanor	Steiner – established principle route
24. North London Rudolph Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route
25. Rowan Tree Kindergarten, Bristol	Steiner – established principle route
26. Rudolph Steiner School, Kings Langley	Steiner – established principle route
27. St Albans Steiner Kindergarten	Steiner – established principle route
28. St Michael Steiner School, London	Steiner – established principle route
29. St Paul’s Steiner School, London	Steiner – established principle route
30. Sunlands Kindergarten, Gloucestershire	Steiner – established principle route
31. The Ryleys School, Cheshire	Independent – Outstanding
32. Waldorf Steiner of South West London	Steiner – established principle route
33. Willow Tree Steiner School, Bristol	Steiner – established principle route
34. York Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route

The following five providers are now in receipt of early education funding, but were not at the point their exemption was granted:	Reasons for Exemption
1. Elysia Children’s Garden	Steiner – established principle route
2. James Allen’s Preparatory School, London	Independent – Outstanding
3. Oswestry School (Bellan House), Shropshire	Independent – Outstanding
4. The Linden Kindergarten, Gloucestershire	Steiner – established principle route
5. Wynstones School, Gloucestershire	Steiner – established principle route

One further provider has received an exemption since the previous PQ was answered and is in receipt of early education funding:	Reasons for Exemption
1. Finton House, London	Independent – Outstanding

01/11/2022

Biography information for Caroline Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Caroline Lucas on Home Office.

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Karen Bradley

To date 50 refugees have arrived in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons
Relocation scheme (VPR). We will continue to bring groups here on a regular
basis, and envisage that several hundred people will be helped over the next three
years. The VPR scheme does not form part of the UN quota but runs in parallel
with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees’ (UNHCR) own Syria
Humanitarian Admission Programme. The Government has been clear that this is a
crisis of international proportions and needs a fitting response from the
international community. The UNHCR is best placed to comment on the policies of
other countries regarding Syrian refugees. With 2.9 million refugees now in Syria’s
neighbouring countries, we continue to believe that prioritising humanitarian aid is
the best way to ensure that the UK’s help has the greatest impact.

01/11/2022
Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what progress the Government has made on implementation of the Scottish rate of income tax; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Alistair Carmichael

The UK and Scottish Governments continue to work closely together on the implementation of the Scotland Act 2012 which significantly increases the Scottish Parliament’s financial powers.

The Government’s second annual report on the Act was laid in Parliament yesterday and provides a full update on implementation of the fiscal powers.

01/11/2022
Biography information for Iain McKenzie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Iain McKenzie on Business, Innovation and Skills.

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Jenny Willott

The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have 173 staff dedicated to the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage.

The Government is already taking tougher action on employers that break minimum wage law. We have made it simpler to name and shame employers that don’t pay the national minimum wage and increased the financial penalty that employers pay for breaking the law.

01/11/2022

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