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1130932

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Cyprus: Turkey
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government's policy is on recent diplomatic relations between Turkey and Cyprus.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
	tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
	uin	262337
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text ​The UK is a strong supporter of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Cyprus issue. We have therefore been following recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean with concern and would like to see the situation de-escalated. The UK has made it clear to Turkey, both privately and publicly, that we oppose their plans to drill. We continue to recognise the sovereign right of the Republic of Cyprus to exploit the oil and gas in its internationally agreed Exclusive Economic Zone. We believe it is critical for stability in the Mediterranean, and for the integrity of the Rules-Based International System, that disputes such as this are resolved through dialogue and in accordance with international law. We will continue to work with the Republic of Cyprus, Turkey and the wider region to that end. We also continue to suppot a just and lasting settlement in Cyprus as the best means of resolving the difficulties caused by the division of the island. answering member constituency Rutland and Melton answering member printed Sir Alan Duncan question first answered 13/06/2019 14:07:40 answering member 343 label Biography information for Sir Alan Duncan
	tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1131072

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Employment and Support Allowance: Cancer
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken is for an award of employment support allowance to be made to an applicant suffering from cancer.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Helen Jones
	uin	262244
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 13/06/2019 12:12:54 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	432 label Biography information for Helen Jones

1130450

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Cryptocurrencies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	261180
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text The Government established the Cryptoassets Taskforce – comprised of HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England – in 2018 to explore the risks and potential benefits of cryptoassets and the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT). The Taskforce’s final report<sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup> concluded that benefits associated with the use of cryptoassets may arise in the future, but that the most immediate priorities for the authorities are to mitigate the risks posed by cryptoassets to consumers and markets, and to prevent the use of cryptoassets for illicit activity. As part of this, the Government will consult on its approach to cryptoassets this year. In addition, the authorities continue to encourage the responsible development of legitimate DLT and cryptoasset-related activity in the UK.<p> </p><p>[1] Full version of the report is available at: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/752070/cryptoassets_taskforce_final_report_final_web.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/752070/cryptoassets_taskforce_final_report_final_web.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 13/06/2019 13:40:32 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

1131020

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Sudan: Politics and Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Sudanese authorities on its response to pro-democracy protesters in that country; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Riverside
	tabling member printed	Dame Louise Ellman
	uin	262254
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text As we made clear alongside Troika partners (US and Norway) on 4 June, we condemn the violent attacks by Sudanese security forces against peaceful protestors in Sudan last week, which left many civilians dead or injured. The Foreign Secretary reiterated this in his statement on 6 June, which also called for the full restoration of the internet and freedom of the media. The UK has called for the human rights of all Sudanese people to be respected and for the resumption of the political process with the protestors and the opposition, and an agreed transfer of power to a civilian-led government, as demanded by the Sudanese people, in a swift, orderly and peaceful manner. On 6 June, I summoned the Sudanese Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to express the grave concerns of the United Kingdom at the use of violence against civilians by the Sudanese authorities. answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin question first answered 13/06/2019 14:05:13 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	484 label Biography information for Dame Louise Ellman

1129828

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) availability and (b) quality of education for adult prisoners.
	tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
	tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
	uin	259892
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>We set out our intentions to reform prison education in the Education and Employment Strategy, published in May last year. Our new education programme, designed to improve the quality of prison education and give prisoners a better chance of gaining employment on release, commenced on 1 April. Prison governors are responsible for education provision in their prisons. They control the education budget, decide the curriculum, and have helped to choose the main providers. In addition, our prison education Dynamic Purchasing System allows governors to commission specific, short-term education provision to meet specialised learning needs of individual prisoners, and to commission training to address employers’ particular requirements. This will help prisoners to take full advantage of employment opportunities on release. The new contracts, and increased local and national management of the education providers, will provide better and more immediate information on the quality of the service being delivered and provide a better mechanism for governors to manage performance. We do not hold data on re-offending outcomes in relation to education engagement in the form requested, and could not obtain it without incurring disproportionate cost.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland grouped question UIN 259893 question first answered 12/06/2019 16:47:34 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
	tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett

1129829

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Reoffenders
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of former prisoners who (a) attended and (b) did not attend education programmes in prison reoffended after release in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
	tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
	uin	259893
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>We set out our intentions to reform prison education in the Education and Employment Strategy, published in May last year. Our new education programme, designed to improve the quality of prison education and give prisoners a better chance of gaining employment on release, commenced on 1 April. Prison governors are responsible for education provision in their prisons. They control the education budget, decide the curriculum, and have helped to choose the main providers. In addition, our prison education Dynamic Purchasing System allows governors to commission specific, short-term education provision to meet specialised learning needs of individual prisoners, and to commission training to address employers’ particular requirements. This will help prisoners to take full advantage of employment opportunities on release. The new contracts, and increased local and national management of the education providers, will provide better and more immediate information on the quality of the service being delivered and provide a better mechanism for governors to manage performance. We do not hold data on re-offending outcomes in relation to education engagement in the form requested, and could not obtain it without incurring disproportionate cost.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland grouped question UIN 259892 question first answered 12/06/2019 16:47:34 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
	tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett

1130704

	registered interest
	date	07/06/2019
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Rape: Prosecutions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, what the average number of days taken from a report of rape to a decision to charge was in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Ashfield
	tabling member printed	Gloria De Piero
	uin	261501
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a record of the average number of days taken from a report of rape to the police through to a decision to charge. Data is, however, held on the average number of days from submission of a rape case by the police to the CPS through to the date of the decision to charge. The CPS works closely with police colleagues to ensure that where individuals are charged, cases have been thoroughly investigated and individuals are properly charged and prosecuted so that the interests of both victims and perpetrators are protected and cases do not collapse mid-trial. The figures provided in the table below include the end to end timeliness from submission to the date of the decision to charge. This comprises of the time when the case was with both police and the CPS. <table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong> <strong>Average Number of Calendar Days </strong> <strong>Receipt to Decision to Charge</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Average Consultations per Suspect</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2010-2011</strong></p></td><td><p>32</p></td><td><p>1.71</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2011-2012</strong></p></td><td><p>33</p></td><td><p>1.74</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2012-2013</strong></p></td><td><p>34</p></td><td><p>1.69</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2013-2014</strong></p></td><td><p>40</p></td><td><p>1.66</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2014-2015</strong></p></td><td><p>55</p></td><td><p>1.65</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2015-2016</strong></p></td><td><p>53</p></td><td><p>1.66</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2016-2017</strong></p></td><td><p>67</p></td><td><p>1.80</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2017-2018</strong></p></td><td><p>78</p></td><td><p>1.97</p></td></tr></tbody></table></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>There are a number of reasons for the steady increase in the average number of days and average number of consultations per case since 2010/11. The number of consultations between CPS prosecutors and police investigators is important. Consultations allow for a close examination of the evidence thus ensuring the case is strong. Clearly, the more consultations that take place, the longer the time between receipt of the case and the decision to charge.</p><p> </p><p>Police are now encouraged to seek early investigative advice more often and in particular in rape and serious sexual offences cases. Early investigative advice helps to ensure that cases are thoroughly investigated and the evidence to be brought before the court is strong. As a result, fewer cases are dropped after the defendant has been charged. With the increase in early investigative advice, CPS is more often involved at an earlier stage in proceedings and this will invariably impact on the average number of consultations and overall timeliness.</p><p> </p><p>There has also been an increase in the complexity of rape cases investigated by the police. Investigations often involve large amounts of electronic material (social media, emails, text messages, video and photographs) which needs to be reviewed by prosecutors before a charging decision can be made. This also impacts on the average number of consultations and timeliness of the pre-charge stage of the case.</p><p> </p><p>CPS prosecutors work closely with police colleagues to build strong cases which can be brought before the courts. Increased complexity has been evidenced over time by the rise in the average number of consultations with the police. Since 2010/11, the number has increased from 1.71 to 1.98 consultations per case, a rise of 16%.</p><p> </p><p>Changes have now been made to the Casework Management System to provide for a more sophisticated level of reporting. In future, CPS will be able to report the timeliness for each individual consultation.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 13/06/2019 08:28:06 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	3915 label Biography information for Gloria De Piero

1129853

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Homelessness
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals serving custodial sentences were released homeless in 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Swansea East
	tabling member printed	Carolyn Harris
	uin	260063
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe and secure to live. Having somewhere stable to live acts as a platform for ex-offenders to be able to access the services and support needed to turn their back on crime for good. In 2017/18, 2,690 prisoners were released to rough sleeping and 8,139 were released to other forms of homelessness, together accounting for 15.8% of the total number of releases (68,632).<strong> <br> </strong>Published statistics for 2017/18 showing the accommodation status for offenders released during this period can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-march-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-march-2018</a><br> <br> Statistics covering 2018/19 will be published on 25 July 2019<strong>.</strong> As part of the Government initiative to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping across England, we are investing up to £6.4 million over two years in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. The pilots will focus on male prisoners who have served shorter sentences, who have been identified as having a risk of homelessness. Contracts have now been awarded in the three areas and, following a mobilisation period, we expect services to commence in Summer of this year. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 12/06/2019 16:42:13 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
	tabling member	4480 label Biography information for Carolyn Harris

1130066

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Drugs
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has commissioned research into the effects of second-hand intoxication of prison staff by new psychoactive substances; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	260706
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>Her Majesty’s Prison &amp; Probation Service has commenced research into the effects of second-hand exposure of prison staff to psychoactive substances. Initial research is focused on post-exposure testing of staff across ten prisons and it has been agreed that the testing programme will be expanded to include a further 10 prisons.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 13/06/2019 11:53:20 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1129851

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Custodial Treatment: Location
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who started their custodial sentences in England and Wales in 2018 are in prisons which are over 30 miles from their previous address.
	tabling member constituency	Swansea East
	tabling member printed	Carolyn Harris
	uin	260062
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>HMPPS is committed to ensuring, where practicable, that prisoners are accommodated as close as possible to their resettlement communities and families. Whilst this is a priority, it is not always possible due to a variety of factors including wider population pressures, or where individuals have specific sentence planning needs which can only be met at certain establishments. Closeness to home is particularly important for those on short sentences or nearing release, where they need to build family ties, secure housing and health services and look for work. These prisoners are prioritised for being held in prisons local to home. As at 31st March 2019, the number of sentenced prisoners who commenced their custodial sentence in 2018 and are located more than 30 miles from their origin location was 8,911. Around 97% of prisoners have an origin location, which is an address that is recorded in our central IT system. If no address is given, an offender’s committal court address, next-of-kin or discharge address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident. Those with no recorded origin are typically foreign nationals or those recently received into custody. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of all offenders. These figures are excluded from the answer provided. For the purposes of this answer we have identified all prisoners that had commenced their custodial sentence in 2018. Prisoners held on remand, non-criminal prisoners and those that commenced their custodial sentence prior to 2018 (or since in 2019), have been excluded. Recalled prisoners that commenced their original sentence in 2018, and were released and subsequently recalled, and were held in custody on 31 March 2019 have been included. All data are based on the straight line travelling distance between each prisoners current location and their recorded origin location.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 12/06/2019 16:37:54 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
	tabling member	4480 label Biography information for Carolyn Harris