Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 130 of her Department's consultation entitled, Reforming the Soft Tissue Injury Claims Process, published in November 2016, what the evidential basis is for the assertion that credit hire costs added up to £10 per policy to car insurance premiums.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The range of £3 to £10 which formed part of the call for evidence section of the consultation document was based on figures from a variety of reports and investigations carried out by the Office of Fair Trading, the Competition Commission, the Competition and Markets Authority and from industry sources.Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of staff on the payroll of her Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.
Answered by Phillip Lee
All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of her Department.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Ministry of Justice does not employ cleaning staff. Cleaning of the Ministry of Justice’s estate is outsourced. The contract requires that all contracted staff have undergone the necessary pre-employment checks and have the right to work in the UK.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate has been made of the number of criminal appeals departments in law firms that have closed since the changes to legal aid funding introduced in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 were introduced.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Ministry of Justice has not made any estimate of the number of criminal appeals departments in law firms that have closed since the changes to legal aid funding introduced in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 were introduced.
All Criminal Legal Aid Contract holders are entitled to undertake Criminal Appeals and Reviews work.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the (a) cost effectiveness and (b) level of use of the Public Defender Service.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Public Defender Service (PDS) plays a vital role in ensuring access to justice for those eligible clients who are unable to secure representation. The PDS also support positive change within the Criminal Justice System, assists the Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency colleagues and acts as a test-bed for digital working. As such, the value of the PDS is made up of many factors, not just representation of defendants. Therefore no direct assessment of cost effectiveness or level of use has been made.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many young offenders in custody (a) committed suicide and (b) self-harmed in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Selous
We are committed to protecting the safety of young people in custody. All establishments who hold young people are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support young people who are at risk of harm to themselves.
There were six self-inflicted deaths in under-18 custody between 2005 and 2014.
Statistics on self-harm in youth custody are provided in Chapter 8 of the Youth Justice Statistics publication, published annually in January. The most recent statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/youth-justice-annual-statistics-2013-to-2014).