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78077

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Abduction: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases of child abduction where no attempt has been made to take the child out of the UK have reached court in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	205826
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. Centrally held data does not indicate which defendants proceeded against under Section 2 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 were not taking the child out of the UK. This information may be held by the individual courts in England and Wales but as such it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 21/07/2014 11:26:56 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

78081

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Custody
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of times fathers have had access to their children restricted in each of the last five years for which figures are available; what the reasons were for the restrictions; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	205810
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p>Details of the number of times fathers have had access to their children restricted in each of the last five years and the reasons for those restrictions are not held centrally and can only be obtained by manually checking every case file at disproportionate costs.</p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 21/07/2014 10:53:55 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

78082

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether courts link maintenance and contact with respect to children following the separation of the parents; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	205811
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p>The payment of child maintenance and the operation of children arrangements are two separate issues which are both vitally important for separated parents. Children have a right to care and support and parents have a responsibility to provide it, regardless of whether they are separated. There is also great benefit to most children of continued contact with both parents, regardless of the financial circumstances. A dispute about child maintenance should not therefore deprive a child of meaningful contact with the other parent and vice-versa.</p><p> </p><p>The purpose of the child maintenance scheme is to make sure that parents fulfil their financial obligations to make provision for children with whom they no longer live. The Government believes that this is something parents should be able to manage for themselves through a family-based arrangement (in the vast majority of cases). The Department for Work and Pensions provides support to help them do so through the Child Maintenance Options Service (contactable on 0800-988-0988 or via www.cmoptions.org).</p><p> </p><p>The family courts deal with arrangements for children where parents have been unable to come to an agreement themselves. Here again, parents are encouraged to resolve their differences themselves. The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced, from April 2014, a legislative requirement on those who seek to issue certain family proceedings to first attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) to find out about family mediation. The other party is also expected to engage in the process.</p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 21/07/2014 10:49:56 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

78214

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Contact Orders
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what restrictions are placed on fathers who visit their children in contact centres.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	205865
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p>Contact centres are intended to be enabling and supportive environments for fathers and mothers, which have children as their focus. Beyond the limitations of opening times, their volunteer nature and the facilities available, there are no intrinsic limits on what a contact centre can offer. Courts may place limits on the type of contact through court orders in which case the contact centre will encourage compliance with the order.</p><p> </p><p>The National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC) operates separate Standards for supervised and supported contact and these are published on their website at <a href="http://www.naccc.org.uk/standards" target="_blank">http://www.naccc.org.uk/standards</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 21/07/2014 10:59:53 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

77211

registered interest
date	10/07/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Parole
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he last intervened in a decision taken by a parole board; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	204994
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p>The Parole Board is an independent body with the statutory power to direct the release of recalled prisoners, indeterminate sentence prisoners whose tariff has expired and those determinate sentence prisoners who are subject to discretionary release arrangements.</p><p> </p><p>Once the Parole Board has directed release, the Secretary of State must give effect to the direction. Exceptionally, the Secretary of State can apply to the High Court to have a Parole Board release direction quashed if he considered it to be irrational although to date he has not sought to do so.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 01/09/2014 07:48:58 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

65778

registered interest
date	03/07/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Service
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of (a) staff morale, (b) sickness rates, (c) turnover and (d) training in prisons; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	203911
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2014 answer text <p>Management of the NOMS Agency reports to Ministers on these issues on a regular basis.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>(a) Staff Morale:</strong> Staff attitudes are measured in the annual Civil Service staff engagement survey, the most recent of which was run in October 2013. Action plans to improve engagement and morale are produced by every prison and headquarters group. The Highlight Report from the survey conducted in NOMS can be found at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-people-survey-results-2013" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-people-survey-results-2013</a>. Information on staff engagement in contracted out prisons is not available.</p><p> </p><p><strong>(b) Staff Sickness Rates: </strong>Reducing levels of sickness in sustainable way is a high priority for NOMS and the agency is working through an improvement plan. Actions include improvements to policy, targeted management interventions and support for staff.</p><p>Sicknessrates in adult prisons have fallen over the last ten years and remain below the rate of 14.8 days lost, across public sector adult prisons, in 2002/03.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Figures on staff sickness absence in contracted out prisons can be found at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225231/prs-data-12-13.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225231/prs-data-12-13.xls</a>.</p><p> </p><p><strong>(c) Staff Turnover: </strong>Leaver numbers, other than through voluntary early departure schemes (VEDS), expressed as a proportion of average staff in post, have remained consistent and sustainable over the past five years.</p><p> </p><p>Information on staff turnover in contracted out prisons is not available.</p><p> </p><p><strong>(d) Staff Training: </strong>The Ministry provides training and education for all civil servants in line with the commitment set out in the Civil Service Reform Plan “to provide at least five days a year targeted at the skills most needed for their roles”. In light of the anticipated demand for detached duty staff over the summer months, some non-critical operational training has recently been curtailed to ensure that staff are used where they are most needed. This position is being reviewed on a regular basis.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 15/07/2014 08:55:10 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

47304

registered interest
date	07/04/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether police reports to coroners' inquests are available to the connected parties; what the cost is of supplying such reports; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	195543
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>Rules 12 to 15 of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 (<a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1616/contents/made" target="_blank">http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1616/contents/made</a>) provide for a coroner, on request, to disclose relevant documents to ‘interested persons' in the coroner's investigation, subject to specified restrictions. This may include reports that police provide to the coroner.</p><p> </p><p>Rule 16 of the Rules provides that a coroner may not charge a fee for any document disclosed before or during an inquest. Regulation 12 of the Coroners Allowances, Fees and Expenses Regulations 2013 (<a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1615/contents/made" target="_blank">http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1615/contents/made</a>) sets out the fees that coroners may charge for disclosure after an inquest.</p><p> </p><p>We do not have operational responsibility for coroners so do not hold data on the costs to coroners of supplying documents and there would be disproportionate costs for both MoJ and coroners in obtaining it. This is because we would need to approach each coroner to ask them to investigate and advise MoJ of the costs to them of disclosing police reports to interested persons.</p><p> </p><p>The Rules minimise disclosure costs for coroners by providing for electronic disclosure where appropriate, and for a coroner to disclose a bundle of relevant documents together, where this is more efficient. Paragraphs 117 to 126 of the Chief Coroner's Guide to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (<a href="http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/coroners/guidance/chief-coroners-guide-to-act-sept2013.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/coroners/guidance/chief-coroners-guide-to-act-sept2013.pdf</a>) explain this in more detail.</p><p> </p><p>The coroner provisions in the 2009 Act were implemented in July 2013 and we have undertaken to review their impact after 18 months.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 10/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson