Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police stations has reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete been identified in.
Answered by Chris Philp
The police are operationally independent and therefore it is the individual responsibility of each police force to manage their estate and ensure it is compliant with the relevant legislation. This includes duties to maintain a safe workplace, as set out in relevant health and safety legislation.
Last year the National Police Estates Group, working with Home Office officials, conducted a stocktake of all police forces in England and Wales regarding the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) across their respective estates. This identified a small number of forces with instances of RAAC, most relating to single building locations. All have reported that remedial action has been taken to mitigate potential risk.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with which airlines his Department has held discussions on the Rwanda scheme in the last six months.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Department engages with commercial partners where required to deliver on its responsibilities. The details of any such discussions are commercially sensitive and therefore we will not be providing a running commentary on them.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many court buildings in England and Wales reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete has been identified.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) has been identified in 10 court buildings out of 329 operational court and tribunal buildings.
Five are deemed safe and remain fully operational, three have temporarily closed whilst work is taking place to remove RAAC. Two sites in Blackpool, will not reopen and their work has been relocated to other sites in Lancashire until the new court centre in Blackpool opens in 2026.
The safety of staff, judiciary and court users is our top priority, and we will continue to regularly monitor and survey our estate and take action where necessary based on professional advice.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the operators of helicopter search and rescue services on response times.
Answered by Anthony Browne
As the Rt Hon Member will be aware, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency manages the contract for search and rescue helicopter services on behalf of the Department for Transport, and the ongoing activity related to the future of these services, including response times. Analysis of recent incident data is underway which will be concluded later this year, after which the MCA will provide further updates.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the High Court judgement on the Law Society’s judicial review against the Ministry of Justice, [2024] EWHC 155 (Admin), handed down on 31 January 2024.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the right honourable Member to the answer I gave on 20 February to Question 14863
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid, published on 29 November 2021.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
On 30 November 2022, we published our full response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR) and consultation on policy proposals. This followed our interim response, which was published on 20 July 2022.
Based on CLAIR’s emphasis on swift resolution of criminal matters, we increased fees for solicitors by 15% in the police station and magistrates’ court and uplifted the basic elements of the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS) by 15%.
An additional £21.1 million has been allocated towards reform of the police station fee scheme and the Youth Court fees, subject to a consultation which is ongoing. If allocated, this will result in an overall increase of 11% for solicitors once these reforms are in place.
We also uplifted fees for defence advocates by 15%. In addition, we introduced new fees for advocates who undertake s.28 hearings (pre-recorded cross-examination of vulnerable witnesses) and allocated additional funding for special and wasted preparation (work done outside of the ordinary, in specified circumstances, or work done by an advocate but where they are unable to conduct the trial for good reason).
We anticipate that these investments will increase criminal legal aid spending by up to £141 million a year in a steady state, and take total criminal legal aid spend to £1.2 billion per year.
We also established the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board in October 2022, following Sir Christopher Bellamy’s CLAIR recommendation that an Advisory Board be created to take a wider view and encourage a more joined-up approach to criminal legal aid within the criminal justice system. It is chaired by former judge HH Deborah Taylor.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 156 of the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid published on 29 November 2021, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost to his Department of increasing legal aid for criminal defence solicitors by 15% above 2021 spend.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In responding to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR), we increased fees for solicitors by 15% in the police station and magistrates’ court, and uplifted the basic elements of the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS) by 15%. We chose not to uplift the pages of prosecution evidence and trial length elements of the LGFS, because we were considering reforms aimed at removing any perverse incentives.
An additional £21.1 million has been allocated towards reform of the police station fee scheme and the Youth Court fees, subject to a consultation which is ongoing. If allocated, this will result in an overall increase of 11% for solicitors once these reforms are in place. We expect these reforms will increase investment in the solicitor profession by £85 million every year.
In considering our response, we made estimates of the costs of these changes, and alternative options. Based on the forecasted case volumes for 2024/25, as estimated at the time of CLAIR, we assessed it would cost an additional up to £27 million per year in steady state to deliver the recommended 15% increase to criminal solicitors.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to implement the recommendations of the review entitled The process of police officer dismissals, published by his Department in September 2023, which do not require secondary legislation.
Answered by Chris Philp
In August 2023, the Government announced a series of reforms to the police misconduct, vetting and performance systems, following conclusion of the review into police officer dismissals.
Legislative changes are being delivered in three tranches, with the aim to implement amendments to secondary legislation in the spring and summer, as well as a clause within the Criminal Justice Bill. These changes will be accompanied by strengthened statutory guidance
It remains essential that the dismissals system is fair and transparent for the public, forces and all police officers and staff. That is why the Government, with the policing sector, continue to improve data collection to better understand and tackle disparities across the disciplinary system.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to implement the recommendations of the review entitled The process of police officer dismissals, published by his Department in September 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp
In August 2023, the Government announced a series of reforms to the police misconduct, vetting and performance systems, following conclusion of the review into police officer dismissals.
Legislative changes are being delivered in three tranches, with the aim to implement amendments to secondary legislation in the spring and summer, as well as a clause within the Criminal Justice Bill. These changes will be accompanied by strengthened statutory guidance
It remains essential that the dismissals system is fair and transparent for the public, forces and all police officers and staff. That is why the Government, with the policing sector, continue to improve data collection to better understand and tackle disparities across the disciplinary system.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing more integration support for Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Local authorities will continue to receive the £5,900 per person tariff payment to support our Ukrainian guests. We are also working across Government to identify other ways to unblock barriers, helping Ukrainians access employment, commensurate with their skill set, liaising with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who encourage their employer and the Refugee Employment networks to advertise job vacancies. In addition, Job Centre Plus teams also help guests with much needed CV Writing and Interview skills courses.
Ukrainians with work related qualifications are directed to the UK National Information Centre (UK ENIC) for the recognition and evaluation of international qualifications and skills, as well as signposting to the relevant professional regulators, all of which is available as comprehensive guidance on GOV.UK.
For specific healthcare and education roles, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education (DfE) have provided pathways for Ukrainians, to help them understand what they need to do to work in these sectors, also available on GOV.UK.
We recognise through engagement with guests, other Government departments, local councils, VCS organisations and sponsors that English language skills is one of the main barriers to employment, and wider integration. The UK Government is funding STEP Ukraine which is a completely free, virtual 12-week English language and employment support programme for Ukrainians in the UK. Thousands of Ukrainians have already benefited from STEP Ukraine, achieving improved job prospects and English language skills whilst here in the UK.