Tag: Shabana Mahmood

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many referrals were made to coroners in England in respect of people who died in a care home or hospital and were subject to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in 2015.

Caroline Dinenage

The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for coroner services, as they are funded and run by local authorities. The level of funding for the Birmingham and Solihull, Black Country and Coventry coroner services is a matter for the relevant local authorities and the Ministry of Justice holds no information on this.

Statistics for deaths reported to coroners, including deaths in state detention and those subject to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coroners-and-burials-statistics.

We do not have information on the number of deaths in state detention reported to coroners in 2010 as this information has only been gathered centrally since 2012. The statistics for 2015 will be published in due course.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that there are sufficient resources at a local level to manage the needs of (a) asylum seekers and (b) local residents using the same services as asylum seekers in Birmingham.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Home Office maintains active partnerships with local authorities across the UK and funds regional Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMPs) to plan the dispersal of asylum seekers across the regions. The partnerships consider the impact on communities and local services so that adjustments can be made where appropriate. This ensures that community cohesion, social welfare and safety issues are properly considered.

SMPs act as a focal point, allowing the sharing of expertise and vital information between the Home Office, its asylum accommodation providers, local government, health, education and the police. This coordinated planning ensures leadership on asylum dispersion and assesses its impact on the requirements of local government duties towards the resident population.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-02-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has had discussions with Muslim charities on a possible restriction of banking facilities for such charities.

Harriett Baldwin

There are no general restrictions on providing banking facilities for Muslim groups. Ministers and officials hold discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public, private and third sectors. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on Treasury departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria have been used to determine how many asylum seekers could be managed in Birmingham, Ladywood constituency without causing significant disruption to the local community.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The UK Government has been coordinating the dispersal of asylum seekers for many years. Existing policies are aimed at ensuring an equitable distribution of asylum seekers across the country so that no individual local authority bears a disproportionate share of the burden.

We work closely with local authorities and Strategic Migration Partnerships, who act as a focal point for the sharing of expertise and vital information between the Home Office, its asylum accommodation providers, local government, health, education and the police, to ensure consultation with local authorities is consistent and coordinated across all dispersal areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pathologists qualified to conduct post-mortems there were in (a) 2010 and (b) 2015.

Caroline Dinenage

The Department does not hold this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) appropriateness and (b) implications for safeguarding of children of private contractors using hotels to accommodate asylum seekers in Birmingham for periods of over 19 days.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Home Office takes its responsibility towards all asylum seekers in their care seriously, ensuring their welfare and safety is at the heart of every decision made.

The statement of requirements within the accommodation providers’ contract is clear: asylum seekers must be managed with sensitivity, treated in a polite and courteous manner and their safety and security is of absolute importance and must not be jeopardised.

These principles apply to all accommodated asylum seekers (including families with children) regardless of whether they are accommodated in more regular initial accommodation premises or contingency hotel accommodation.

As with all accommodation that is provided for asylum applicants, contingency accommodations are inspected to ensure that they are safe and fit for purpose.

Additionally the Home Office monitors the length of time all applicants spend in initial and contingency accommodation and works closely with its contracted providers to ensure that family applications are prioritised in recognition of the family’s needs and in accordance with our duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act of 2009.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pathologists qualified to conduct post-mortems there were in (a) 2010 and (b) 2015.

Caroline Dinenage

The Department does not hold this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of the conclusions and recommendations in the Hutton review of forensic pathology in England and Wales, submitted to the Minister of State for Crime and Prevention in March 2015.

Brandon Lewis

Since the completion of Professor Hutton’s review the Home Office Forensic Pathology Unit has been consulting with stakeholders on a range of options for implementing the Review’s recommendations. This includes an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of various options to take forward the main recommendation of establishing a ‘National Death Investigation Service’.

Recommendations on the preferred option will be presented to Home Office Ministers in October 2016. In parallel, the Pathology Delivery Board, chaired by the Home Office, assessed all the recommendations and established a programme of work to address them individually. This programme has progressed to completion and is set to be formally signed-off at the next meeting of the Pathology Delivery Board, chaired by the Home Office, in November 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many new jobs have been created in each region and constituent part of the UK since 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government has taken to improve forensic pathology services in England and Wales other than those based on the Hutton review of forensic pathology since the General Election in 2015.

Brandon Lewis

The Home Office Forensic Pathology Unit has worked alongside the forensic pathology profession, National Police Chief’s Council, Chief Coroner, the Royal College of Pathologists and other senior stakeholders towards continuous improvement of the service. Improvements include the delivery of a robust system of annual appraisal and revalidation, an annual audit of pathology reports and ongoing oversight of standards through monitoring individual pathologist’s workload and quality.

Together this package of improvements ensures that forensic pathologists’ work is now quality assured in order to protect the Criminal Justice System. The Home Office continues to support and fund trainee forensic pathologists to maintain long-term capability.

Furthermore, the Home Office Pathology Unit identified a shortage of sub-speciality pathologists who support forensic pathologists in complex cases. To resolve the capability gap a recruitment and training programme has been established that has resulted in greater resilience in paediatric, bone, eye and neuro-pathology support to the service.