Tag: Philip Davies

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of participation in out-of-court restorative justice on re-offending rates.

Mike Penning

It is vital that victims see swift and certain justice delivered to their offender. It is also vital that victims of crime get the help they need to cope with, and recover from, crime.

That is why we have protected the victims’ budget and given Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) greater flexibility to decide which services are needed in their local area. Restorative Justice can be a part of a wide range of services offered to victims of crime, and we are providing advice and guidance to help PCCs deliver it.

There has been no assessment on the impact on reoffending rates of participation in restorative justice as part of an out of court disposal.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a comparative assessment of the proven reoffending rates of the HMP Doncaster and the HMP Peterborough payment by results pilots.

Andrew Selous

We have learned important lessons from these pilots, which have informed our probation reforms. The final process evaluation reports can be found at the following links:

1) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-impact-bond-pilot-at-hmp-peterborough-final-report

2) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmp-doncaster-payment-by-results-pilot-process-evaluation-report

The PbR pilot operating in HMP Peterborough began on 9 September 2010 and results for cohort 1 of this pilot were published on 7 August 2014. The final set of results will be published in due course. The PbR pilot that operated in HMP Doncaster started in October 2011 and closed at the end of 2014. Results for cohort 1 were published in August 2014 and results for cohort 2 were published in July 2015.

The published results can be found at the following links:

3) https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/final-results-for-cohorts-1-payment-by-results-prison-pilots

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/payment-by-results-pilot-cohort-2-hmp-doncaster-results

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will conduct a review of the effect of civil court fee increases on people’s ability to enforce their legal rights.

Dominic Raab

We keep court fees under regular review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what new measures she is implementing to encourage take-up of teacher training.

Nick Gibb

The latest published figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show that teaching remains a hugely popular profession; nearly 28,000 people have been recruited to postgraduate teacher training courses in England in 2016/17, with several weeks of the recruitment cycle remaining.

Our 2017/18 teacher recruitment marketing campaign will commence in the autumn and will feature a new television advert, alongside print, online and social media advertising. Forty recruitment events will take place across the country, and teaching will be promoted also at over thirty graduate fairs where our advisors will meet students, setting out the benefits of a career in teaching.

To support recruitment in 2017/18, we will also be announcing a new package of financial incentives, including bursaries and scholarships to attract top graduates in priority subjects such as physics and maths, in early autumn.

In addition, we are spending up to £67 million on a programme of measures to upskill the existing maths and physics teaching workforce, and increase the number of new maths and physics specialists entering teaching. This package aims to recruit up to 2,500 new teachers and upskill up to 15,000 existing teachers over the term of this parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on the self-esteem of female hospital staff of having to wear a uniform.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Department has not assessed the effect on the self-esteem of female hospital staff having to wear uniform.

There is advice available to hospitals on the NHS Employers website via the following links:

http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/plan/building-a-diverse-workforce/need-to-know/dress-codes-and-discrimination

http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/plan/building-a-diverse-workforce/need-to-know/wearing-face-veils-in-the-workplace

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of proposals set out in January 2016 by Lord Justice Jackson to set fixed costs on all personal injury claims valued up to £250,000; and what steps the Government is taking to control costs and promote access to justice in this area.

Sir Oliver Heald

On 15 September, the Government announced that it is keen to extend fixed recoverable costs to as many civil cases as possible. The senior judiciary will be developing proposals and the Government will consult in due course.

In addition, the Department of Health is currently considering the introduction of fixed recoverable costs in lower value clinical negligence claims, on which it expects to consult as soon as practicable; and the Ministry of Justice has asked the Civil Justice Council to consider and make recommendations on the possible introduction of fixed recoverable costs in noise induced hearing loss cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which regulations her Department introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015 to date; which regulations her Department expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2016 and (ii) 2017; and what estimate she has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Andrea Leadsom

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to Question 15037:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-11-05/15037/.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 12657, if he will commission an independent review into the procedures followed by the Tobacco Control policy team within his Department when awarding section 64 grants to Action on Smoking and Health.

Jane Ellison

There is no requirement to commission an independent review as the award of Section 64 grants to Action on Smoking and Health has followed the appropriate policies and procedures applicable to all Section 64 grants.

The assessment of the grant application for funding from Action on Smoking and Health is undertaken by members of the Tobacco Control policy team.

The assessment process is the same for all grants awarded under Section 64 powers. The assessment process uses standard business case criteria and consists of a Strategic Case, Economic Case, Financial Case, Commercial Case and Project Governance.

The assessment is reviewed by the Department’s Voluntary Sector Grants Hub to ensure that the grant proposal is affordable within Departmental budgets; relevant Efficiency Review Group Controls have been considered; the grant has been assessed as delivering value for money and the grant is considered to be appropriate for the Grant funding route rather than procurement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what factors were considered by HM Revenue and Customs when making its decision to locate its regional hub in Leeds rather than Bradford.

Mr David Gauke

On 12 November, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the next stage of its ten-year modernisation programme. As part of that, the department demonstrated its long-term commitment to Yorkshire and the Humber by setting out that it would establish a Regional Centre in Leeds.

A number of factors were considered by HMRC when deciding where to locate its new Regional Centres. In addition to cost, it considered local and national transport links, the local labour market, supply of future workforce and the retention of current staff and skills.

HMRC modelled the impact of locating the Regional Centre for Yorkshire and the Humber in both Bradford and Leeds. For both scenarios, it took into account the potential loss of jobs for staff expected to be outside of reasonable daily travel (defined as approximately 1 hour from home to work, though dependent on individual circumstances).

HMRC first shared its transformation plans with its employees 18 months ago. Since then has held more than 2,000 events across the UK, setting out how and why it is changing. The department is committed to continuing to support all of its employees who are affected by these changes.

Staff in Yorkshire attended a number of face-to-face events, providing feedback on the potential location of the regional centre. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their personal circumstances in one-to-one meetings with their manager.

This transformation programme will ultimately enable HMRC to deliver better public services at lower cost to the taxpayer. It will generate estate savings of £100 million a year by 2025.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders were given a fixed term recall for (a) breaching the terms of their licence, (b) committing a further offence, (c) a combination of breaching their licence and reoffending and (d) any other reason in the latest year for which information is available.

Andrew Selous

Any offender who is believed to have committed further offences whilst on licence is liable to be arrested and charged and, if convicted, given a further sentence. If the offence is serious, they can be remanded into custody until trial. Offenders on licence who are charged with further offences are also liable to be recalled, potentially to serve the rest of their sentence in prison, as they will be in breach of the requirement of their licence to be of good behaviour. If the offender is assessed as not presenting a risk of harm to the public they can be assessed as suitable for a shorter, fixed term recall. Those who have been charged with serious sexual or violent offences will not be considered suitable for a fixed term recall.

In 2014, 7,486 determinate sentence offenders were given a fixed term recall for breaching one or more of their licence conditions. Of these, 3,166 had been charged with a further offence. We do not hold centrally data on the total number of these offenders who were subsequently convicted of these further offences.