Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the capacity of morgues, mortuaries and funeral homes to cope with additional casualties of covid-19.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Government is putting in place a range of measures to ensure the UK is prepared to manage the impacts of a Covid-19 outbreak. Part of this planning is ensuring we are prepared for higher numbers of people dying over the period of the pandemic.
Ensuring the deceased are treated with dignity and respect whilst minimising the risks to public health is at the forefront of Government planning. Measures underway will increase capacity at a local level to manage additional demand.
The Government’s Action Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan) sets out planning principles that underpin the response to the Covid-19 outbreak. As part of this response, provisions have been included in the Coronavirus Bill which will ensure the sector can manage the impact of the pandemic.
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Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he will be taking for funerals as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Government is putting in place a range of measures to ensure the UK is prepared to manage the impacts of a Covid-19 outbreak. Part of this planning is ensuring we are prepared for higher numbers of people dying over the period of the pandemic.
Ensuring the deceased are treated with dignity and respect whilst minimising the risks to public health is at the forefront of Government planning. Measures underway will increase capacity at a local level to manage additional demand.
The Government’s Action Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan) sets out planning principles that underpin the response to the Covid-19 outbreak. As part of this response, provisions have been included in the Coronavirus Bill which will ensure the sector can manage the impact of the pandemic.
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Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of incidents of prisoners spitting at prison officers in 2016.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Annual Assaults Statistics published at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2016--2 confirm a total of 738 assaults involving spitting.
This published figure provides a total number of assaults by spitting in their entirety, including prisoner on prisoner assaults and those committed against other members of staff than Prison Officers.
I can confirm that of the 738 recorded assaults, 609 of these were assaults on Prison Officers.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many local authorities in England waive fees for children under the age of 17.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The requested information is not held centrally.
The Government is aware that the cost of a child’s funeral is of considerable concern to parents at a very difficult time. I will shortly be meeting with the Honourable Member for Swansea East to discuss these issues further.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to (a) legal aid and (b) remission from court costs to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The information requested is contained in a letter that I sent on 10 June to the Rt Hon Member for East Ham in response to his earlier Parliamentary Question on the same subject. That letter has now been deposited in the Library of the House. (Deposit Reference: DEP2014-1040)