Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report entitled Celebrating Marriage: A New Weddings Law published by the Law Commission on 18 July 2022, HC 557, what steps the Government is taking to implement the changes proposed to permit weddings to take place under the law of England and Wales on board cruise ships registered in the UK.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Law Commission report on weddings contains 57 recommendations for legislative reform which we are currently considering, including recommendations in relation to cruise ships.
Marriage will always be one of our most important institutions, and we have a duty to consider the implications of any changes to the law in this area very carefully. We will set out our position on the Law Commission’s recommendations relating to weddings reform in due course.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, by what measure the rates in the tariff of fixed compensation for soft tissue injury have been determined.
Answered by Rory Stewart
In setting the figures published in draft regulations alongside the Civil Liability Bill, the Government considered a number of factors including both the suggested guidelines for compensation set by the judiciary and the average levels of whiplash compensation paid, as well as the overall Government objectives to control costs and benefit consumers through reduced premiums. The tariff amounts have been up-rated to reflect changes in the recently published 14th Edition of Judicial College Guidelines. The final figures will be set by regulations which will be debated by Parliament through the affirmative resolution procedure, subject to the successful passage of the Bill.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of increasing the small claims track from £1,000 to £5,000 for soft tissue injury on claimants' access to justice.
Answered by Rory Stewart
A full legislative stage impact assessment including analysis of the impacts of increasing the small claims track from £1,000 to £5,000 for all road traffic accident personal injury claims has been published on the Parliamentary website and can be downloaded here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2017-2019/0090/civil-liability-IA3.pdf.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost is of preparing and serving a meal in prisons.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) does not hold information on the average cost of preparing meals in prisons. This could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2016 to Question 57404, on Ministry of Justice: translation services, which authority sets the quality threshold; and what score is required to reach that threshold.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The MoJ set the quality threshold in line with Public Procurement Regulations (December 2015). The score required to reach that threshold and proceed to the final stage of evaluation was 80.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how her Department assesses the quality of service provided to it by The Big Word Ltd; and with what frequency such assessments take place.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The Ministry is committed to ensuring the justice system is supported by a suite of high quality language services that meet the needs of all those that require them.
The new language service contracts which began on 31 October 2016 and are subject to robust governance arrangements.
These include monthly meetings with suppliers and stakeholders to monitor and discuss, in detail, the quality of the services being provided and performance against contractual performance indicators. The contracts also provide for the Ministry to audit the suppliers to verify the accuracy of contractual payments, management information, and compliance with contractual obligations.
In addition, the Ministry has awarded a contract to 'The Language Shop' (part of the London Borough of Newham) to provide independent quality assurance of the services provided under the other contracts, including those awarded to the thebigword Ltd. The Language Shop undertakes this assurance in a number of ways, including managing the Ministry’s register of interpreters, conducting an annual audit of supplier processes for introducing new linguists, and a programme of 'spot checks' of interpreters undertaking assignments.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many personal independence payments appeal cases have been successful since the introduction of that benefit.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The numbers of personal independence payment appeals found in favour of the appellant in each year since the benefit was introduced are available in national statistics on gov.uk.
The most recent statistics for the period July to September 2016 can be viewed at:
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the selection criteria were for the contract to provide translation and transcription services for her Department, awarded to thebigword in May 2016.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The selection criteria for the contract awarded to Thebigword for translation and transcription services was:
Service Delivery (35% of the total score);
Booking Service and Data Security (25% of the total score);
People and Resources (20% of the total score);
Mobilisation, Transition and Contract Management (10% of the total score); and
Legal, Commercial and Financial (10% of the total score).
The quality and financial criteria were evaluated separately. The Authority set a Quality Threshold and all bids which met or exceeded this threshold proceeded to the final stage of evaluation.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what powers his Department has to block access to social media sites for people awaiting sentencing.
Answered by Andrew Selous
An extensive programme of work is underway to prevent prisoners having access to mobile phones. As the Prime Minister said on 8 February 2016, we are working with the mobile network operators to challenge them to do more, including developing new technological solutions, so we can block mobile phones’ signals in prisons.
Although there are no rules to prevent prisoners on remand from passing on passwords for social media platforms, prisoners, including those on remand in custody, are not allowed access to social media platforms either directly or via a third party.
It is a criminal offence for a person to take or transmit any image or sound from within a prison and send it outside the prison and where a link between a prisoner and content posted on social media is identified, the case will be referred to the police. A sentence of up to two years can be given if those charged are found guilty. If the police decide not to pursue a criminal investigation, a prisoner can be punished under the prison disciplinary system, for example, by having privileges removed or additional days added to their time in prison.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether measures are in place to prevent people remanded in custody from distributing passwords for social media platforms for use by people not in custody.
Answered by Andrew Selous
An extensive programme of work is underway to prevent prisoners having access to mobile phones. As the Prime Minister said on 8 February 2016, we are working with the mobile network operators to challenge them to do more, including developing new technological solutions, so we can block mobile phones’ signals in prisons.
Although there are no rules to prevent prisoners on remand from passing on passwords for social media platforms, prisoners, including those on remand in custody, are not allowed access to social media platforms either directly or via a third party.
It is a criminal offence for a person to take or transmit any image or sound from within a prison and send it outside the prison and where a link between a prisoner and content posted on social media is identified, the case will be referred to the police. A sentence of up to two years can be given if those charged are found guilty. If the police decide not to pursue a criminal investigation, a prisoner can be punished under the prison disciplinary system, for example, by having privileges removed or additional days added to their time in prison.