Tag: Philip Davies

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of those convicted of a knife crime offence were sentenced to prison for (a) up to six months, (b) up to and (c) over 12 months in the last 12 months.

Mike Penning

Knives on our streets are a social scourge. Unlawful possession of a knife or offensive weapon is already a serious criminal offence (which carries a maximum 4 year custodial sentence). We are building on that to send a clear and unequivocal message that those who use a knife or offensive weapon to threaten another person are behaving in a wholly unacceptable manner and can expect an automatic custodial sentence.

This Government introduced the offences of threatening with a knife or offensive weapon in public or in a school. And last year, the Government made changes to the Simple Cautions Guidance issued to police to restrict the use of cautions for certain offences, including knife possession, in all but exceptional circumstances. The Ministry of Justice is also legislating on these changes within the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, to make it absolutely clear that cautions should no longer be used for serious offences such as those involving a knife or offensive weapon.

Within the sentencing framework, it is for judges and magistrates to decide the appropriate sentence in individual cases taking account of the harm the offence caused and the culpability of the offender. Under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, there is an obligation on courts, when sentencing for offences, to follow the guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council, unless it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold information disaggregating crimes committed using a knife, as opposed to violent offences committed via other means. However, detailed figures relating to knife and offensive weapon possession are published on a quarterly basis, the latest version of which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/knife-possession-sentencing-quarterly-brief-july-to-september-2014

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contact his Department had with Action on Smoking and Health on the Tobacco Control Strategy 2011 before publication of that strategy.

Jane Ellison

Health Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England, states that the plan was developed in collaboration with local government representatives, public health advocacy groups, academics, clinicians, professional bodies and retailers.This included Action on Smoking and Health.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many successful matches there have been between DNA profiles taken from crime scenes and those stored on the National DNA Database in each of the last two years.

Karen Bradley

The requested data are as follows:

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the ratio of prison officers to inmates in prisons in England and Wales was, by category of prison, in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous

Staffing levels are being reviewed prison by prison as part of a ‘benchmarking approach’. Benchmarking has been agreed with the unions and the NAO has commented that the wider strategy for the prison estate is the most coherent and comprehensive for many years. It delivers efficiencies while ensuring that public sector prisons operate safely, decently and securely. Benchmarking optimises the skills of staff by introducing new ways of working and puts all prison officers in prisoner facing roles.

The information requested has been placed in the library and extends the table provided to the honourable member for Tooting on 4 Mar 2014, Official Report, 805W. The tables include both public and private sector establishments. Figures are not however comparable across public and private sector establishments. There is no comparison within Private Sector Prisons for Prison Officer Specialists. Functions carried out by badged officers vary, particularly across private prisons, relating to whether functions are civilianised, contracted out, or performed by badged officers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2014 to Question 214859, how many foreign national prisoners from each country were convicted of each offence in the violence offence group from April 2013 to March 2014.

Andrew Selous

International prisoner transfer arrangements may enable non-nationals to apply to transfer to their state of normal residence or to the state to which they have close ties. There is no requirement on a state to accept the transfer of a non-national resident. Since 2010, no such transfers have taken place to England and Wales. Prisoner transfer is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the relevant Minister in Scotland and in Northern Ireland.

The numbers of foreign national prisoners from each country convicted of each offence in the violence offence group from April 2013 to March 2014 are in the attached table 1.

The numbers of foreign national prisoners from each country, convicted of each offence type from 1 October 2013 to 31 March 2014 are at the attached table 2. Prison receptions data for April to June 2014 is not available by offence group due to problems with data quality. Figures for this period will be published in due course subject to the result of ongoing investigations. Prison receptions data for July to September 2014 is currently not available and is due to be published on 29 January 2015.

The number of foreign national offenders in our prisons has reduced since 2010, compared to that number doubling between 1997 – 2010.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2015 to Question 2761, if he will place in the Library a copy of the grant application received by his Department from Action on Smoking and Health.

Jane Ellison

The Department has received a request for grant funding from Action on Smoking and Health for the 2015-16 financial year. This proposal is currently under assessment and a decision on funding has not yet been made.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of DNA profiles on the DNA database which had been previously removed.

Karen Bradley

No record is kept of profiles which have been removed from the National DNA
Database. It is not, therefore, possible to ascertain whether the profile has
been reloaded.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the ratio of prison officers to inmates in prison in England and Wales was, by prison establishment, in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous

Staffing levels are being reviewed prison by prison as part of a ‘benchmarking approach’. Benchmarking has been agreed with the unions and the NAO has commented that the wider strategy for the prison estate is the most coherent and comprehensive for many years. It delivers efficiencies while ensuring that public sector prisons operate safely, decently and securely. Benchmarking optimises the skills of staff by introducing new ways of working and puts all prison officers in prisoner facing roles.

The information requested has been placed in the library and extends the table provided to the honourable member for Tooting on 4 Mar 2014, Official Report, 805W. The tables include both public and private sector establishments. Figures are not however comparable across public and private sector establishments. There is no comparison within Private Sector Prisons for Prison Officer Specialists. Functions carried out by badged officers vary, particularly across private prisons, relating to whether functions are civilianised, contracted out, or performed by badged officers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will commission research to establish the main reasons foreign offenders commit offences in the UK.

Andrew Selous

Whereas the number of foreign national offenders in our prisons have more than doubled between 1997 – 2010, that trend has been reversed by this Government.

We already collect data on offence types per nationality and have good understanding of the types of offences committed by foreign national offenders. We are not planning further research into the reasons foreign offenders commit offences in the UK.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what procedures are in place in his Department to consider the implications of a decision by the Court of Appeal that a sentence has been unduly lenient; and what steps his Department takes in relation to the judge in the case concerned as a result of such a ruling.

Mike Penning

Whether or not a judge has correctly applied the law is a matter for the Court of Appeal alone. It is the responsibility of the Government to uphold the independence of the judiciary and that includes the judicial decision making process.

The unduly lenient scheme currently allows anyone to ask for a Government Law Officer to consider referring a sentence to the Court of Appeal for consideration that it was unduly lenient. The scheme applies to all indictable-only offences and a specified selection of either-way offences sentenced at the Crown Court.