Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any Supreme Court justices receive financial support from the EU; and if so, how many.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Supreme Court Justices receive no financial support from the EU. The Court’s activities including Justices’ salaries and expenses are financed mainly by Supply voted by Parliament,
contributions from various jurisdictions, court fees and financing from the Consolidated Fund.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the annual cost of maintaining the redundant HM Prison Reading; and what are their plans for its future use or sale to an appropriate buyer.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Parts of the former HMP Reading are listed and the level of services, such as security, routine maintenance and utilities, have been reduced to a level which is appropriate to ensure that it remains safe and secure until its final disposal. In 2015-16, the last full financial year for which figures are available, the maintenance and upkeep of the former HMP Reading, including maintenance, utilities and security was £256,798.
The Ministry of Justice and its external planning and development advisers are currently working in close collaboration with Historic England, Reading Borough Council and others to ensure that the historic integrity of the site is documented and preserved after disposal. We will prepare a planning brief for approval by Reading Borough Council during the latter half of 2017. Following this, we anticipate that the site will be marketed for sale for residential development.
The MoJ is committed to providing best value to the tax payer through maximising the financial value of the site whilst safeguarding its heritage value for future generations.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the cost to date of keeping Peter Sutcliffe at Broadmoor Hospital, and what is the projected annual cost of keeping him at a category A high security prison.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Decisions over whether prisoners are to be sent back to prison from secure hospitals are based on clinical assessments made by independent medical staff.
The Department for Health advise that information quantifying the costs to date of treating Peter Sutcliffe (now known as Peter Coonan) at Broadmoor Hospital between 1984 and 2016 is not available and would vary throughout the period of detention according to the care and interventions provided to meet his clinical needs and security requirements.
The annual cost in 2014/15 of keeping a prisoner in a High Security prison was £57,000. This information can be found in the attachment.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will undertake a review of extant legislation that could be undermining the principle of free speech in the UK or rendering it conditional in some circumstances.
Answered by Lord Faulks
As set out in my answer of 20 July 2015 (HL1111), currently, there are no plans to review extant Acts of Parliament to ensure that the right of freedom of expression is not being restricted.
The Government will be bringing forward proposals for a Bill of Rights to protect fundamental human rights, but also prevent their abuse and restore some common sense to the system.