Tag: Philip Davies

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the police on (a) dog theft and (b) dog fighting.

George Eustice

Defra officials have regular discussions with the police on the operation of law on dog control and welfare. The police are very supportive of the new provisions on compulsory dog microchipping and are fully aware of the measures in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to tackle dog fighting.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many officials in his Department are currently employed to work on the sentence calculation helplines.

Jeremy Wright

The Department employs two officials whose principal function is to answer queries on the sentence calculation helpline. The main purpose of the helpline is to provide advice to prison establishments as to the correct way to calculate the key release dates for sentences in complex cases. It also provides advice to courts, probation, the public, solicitors and other government departments on the effect of the legislation governing release on key sentence dates.

In the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, the government made changes to the release and recall provisions in order to simplify the previous, often incomprehensible and complex legislation, making it easier for sentencers and prison staff to administer, and the public to understand the sentence.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the sex was of the complainant and the accused in each case of stalking reported after the implementation of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012; and what proportion of such cases which were investigated resulted in the accused being (i) charged with the offence and (ii) cautioned.

Lynne Featherstone

The Home Office does not hold this information centrally. The Home Office has received data on the number of stalking offences recorded in England and Wales since April 2014 as a separate offence category but these data do not contain
information on the sex of the victim or the perpetrator. Prior to April 2014, stalking offences under Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 were included within the harassment offence classification.

The latest available statistics show that between April and June 2014 there were 695 stalking offences recorded by the police in England and Wales.

The Ministry of Justice hold separate data for the number of cautions that have been issued for stalking. Between the implementation of the Protection of Freedoms Act in January 2013 and 30 June 2014 there were 57 cautions given for
stalking. This comprised of 49 given to males, 7 given to females and 1 where the gender was not stated.

Neither the Home Office nor the Ministry of Justice hold information on the number of individuals charged.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to tackle (a) dog theft and (b) dog fighting.

George Eustice

Any allegations of criminal behaviour should be reported to the police in the first instance, so that they can decide whether to instigate a criminal investigation.

We have also been working with the Pet Advertising Advisory Group who have been lobbying operators of internet sites to adopt minimum standards for the advertising of pet animals. This work includes identifying adverts for dogs used in organised dog fighting by spotting certain key or code words and removing the offending notices.

The introduction of compulsory microchipping for all dogs from April 2016 will help to reduce the chances of dogs being displaced, including through being stolen. It is already best practice for vets, re-homing centres, dog wardens etc. to scan strays and they have a duty of care to do so. Our guidance will emphasise this. But we also recognise that scanning all dogs can have significant costs and practical implications.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the marginal cost was of one extra prisoner being accommodated in each prison in England and Wales when each prison is functioning at its operational capacity in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not have information on the marginal cost of a prisoner for each prison. The calculation of a marginal cost would normally apply where a permanent change to a prison’s operational capacity is taking place.

Prisons are not expected to operate above their operational capacity and ensuring that this capacity is set to reflect the provision of safe and decent accommodation and the operation of suitable regimes ensures that levels of crowding in prisons are carefully managed.

Sensible measures have been taken to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to deal with any temporary increases in population. These include creating additional places in prisons in a safe and decent way and ensuring that prisons reflect the needs of the current population. Any short term increases in capacity will only be those sites where additional prisoners can be safely and decently accommodated and where a senior prison manager has certified that the additional prisoners will be held in safe, secure and decent accommodation.

We will end this Parliament with more adult male prison places than we inherited, more hours of work in prisons than we inherited, more education for young detainees than we inherited and a more modern, cost effective prison estate than we inherited.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) offence and (b) sentencing outcome of each terrorist-related offence dealt with in court was in the last five years.

Mike Penning

This Government takes terrorism offences extremely seriously, which is why there are tough sentences available to the courts. We are further strengthening the law in this area through the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, currently going through Parliament.

We are increasing the maximum sentence from 10 or 14 years to a life sentence for three specific terror offences – weapons training for terrorist purposes, other training for terrorism, and making or possession of explosives. We are also ending automatic early release for those convicted of a range of serious terror offences – including weapons training for terrorist purposes and directing a terrorist organisation – so that they will only be released before the end of their custodial term at the discretion of the independent Parole Board, who must be satisfied that they no longer pose a threat to society. We are also ensuring that terrorists convicted of a second very serious offence will face the ‘two-strikes’ automatic life’ sentence.

Data for terrorist related offences and sentence outcomes can be viewed in Tables C.01-C.04 at the below link:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000-quarterly-update-to-june-2014-data-tables

Findings of guilt includes crimes which have a terrorist link.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for dog fighting in each of the last five years.

Mike Penning

It has not been possible to answer the question within the timeframe as the information is being assembled from a variety of statistical sources, but I will write to the Honourable Member as soon as it is available. A copy of the letter will be placed in the House Library.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost was of each (a) prison place and (b) prisoner in the case of (i) male and (ii) female prisoners in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright

The Department routinely publishes average costs per prisoner and prison place, based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison and in summary form for the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year. This includes a breakdown of these costs by prison category and individual prison within each category, and separately by prisoner gender.

The most recently published figures are for financial year 2012-13 which give an average annual Overall cost per place of £36,808 and average annual Overall cost per prisoner of £34,766. An average annual cost per male prisoner of £34,306 and £44,746 per female prisoner, based on Overall resource costs, is also published.

The information for financial year 2012-13 is available in the Cost per Place and Prisoner and Supplementary Information files on the Department’s website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201213

Figures for 2013-14 will be published alongside the Management Information Addendums to the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts in October 2014.

Continuing to reduce prison unit costs is one of the key targets for the Department. Between 2009/10 and 2012/13 prison unit costs (based on Overall prison costs) have reduced in real terms by 16% per place and 13% per prisoner.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national prisoners from each country were convicted of each offence type from September 2013 to September 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 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will delay the commencement of regulations on the standardised packaging of tobacco products for 12 months or until any legal challenges have been concluded.

Jane Ellison

Certain parts of the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations implement the European Tobacco Products Directive are required to be brought into force in May 2016. For those regulations that introduce further requirements, it is clear that there are benefits for business if the requirements of the Directive and the further standardised packaging requirements are implemented at the same time.

The Government will keep under close review all legal challenges that are relevant to standardised packaging of tobacco products. If legal challenges are made to the regulations, then it will promote certainty, and be better for all affected parties, that such challenges are determined in courts or tribunals as soon as possible.