Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12397 on Prisoners Escort, what the average time for a late delivery of a prisoner is to (a) Crown Court and (b) Magistrates Court.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Delays attributable to prisoner escort supplier failure are calculated from the point at which court proceedings are ready to commence, provided this is within the agreed court start times and the delay is greater than 15 minutes. Penalties (known as service credits) are applicable for every subsequent 15 minutes of delay, or part thereof, whereupon the supplier is penalised for a full 15 minutes.
The following information relates to application of service credits for late delivery of a prisoner to either the Crown Court or a magistrates’ court.
In 2023, out of 299,470 journeys to court undertaken by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service, 484 instances of supplier failure resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers.
In 2024, up to 31 October, out of 274,606 journeys to court, there were 228 instances of supplier failure that resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers. 99.92% of all journeys arrive on time.
As delays are recorded in periods of 15 minutes, it is not possible to calculate a precise average length of delay.
The breakdown requested between the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts is not available, and the work needed to provide it could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12397 on Prisoners Escort, how many penalties for late delivery of a prisoner to the Magistrates Court were issued in (a) 2024 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Delays attributable to prisoner escort supplier failure are calculated from the point at which court proceedings are ready to commence, provided this is within the agreed court start times and the delay is greater than 15 minutes. Penalties (known as service credits) are applicable for every subsequent 15 minutes of delay, or part thereof, whereupon the supplier is penalised for a full 15 minutes.
The following information relates to application of service credits for late delivery of a prisoner to either the Crown Court or a magistrates’ court.
In 2023, out of 299,470 journeys to court undertaken by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service, 484 instances of supplier failure resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers.
In 2024, up to 31 October, out of 274,606 journeys to court, there were 228 instances of supplier failure that resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers. 99.92% of all journeys arrive on time.
As delays are recorded in periods of 15 minutes, it is not possible to calculate a precise average length of delay.
The breakdown requested between the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts is not available, and the work needed to provide it could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12397 on Prisoners Escort, how many penalties for late delivery of a prisoner to the Crown Court were issued in (a) 2024 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Delays attributable to prisoner escort supplier failure are calculated from the point at which court proceedings are ready to commence, provided this is within the agreed court start times and the delay is greater than 15 minutes. Penalties (known as service credits) are applicable for every subsequent 15 minutes of delay, or part thereof, whereupon the supplier is penalised for a full 15 minutes.
The following information relates to application of service credits for late delivery of a prisoner to either the Crown Court or a magistrates’ court.
In 2023, out of 299,470 journeys to court undertaken by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service, 484 instances of supplier failure resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers.
In 2024, up to 31 October, out of 274,606 journeys to court, there were 228 instances of supplier failure that resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers. 99.92% of all journeys arrive on time.
As delays are recorded in periods of 15 minutes, it is not possible to calculate a precise average length of delay.
The breakdown requested between the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts is not available, and the work needed to provide it could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many offshore wind turbines were installed at locations within (a) UK territorial waters and (b) the UK Exclusive Economic Zone in each year between 2017 and 2023.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Report 2023 states there were 2,776 operational offshore wind turbines in UK waters at the end of 2023.
The Department does not hold data on the number of installed turbines over time or whether they are located in UK Territorial Waters or the UK Exclusive Economic Zone, but does publish estimates of total installed generating capacity. These show that capacity grew by 7.8GW between 2017 and 2023.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2024 to Question 7745 on Migrant Workers: Wind Power, if she will contact employers that utilised the concession to obtain data on the number of workers brought to work in UK waters between 2017 and 2023.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The offshore wind workers immigration rules concession ended on 30 April 2023. There are no plans to collect this data.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase investment in the children's mental health system to (a) reduce waiting times and (b) ensure that more (i) children and (ii) young people can access support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is unacceptable that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across both adult and children and young people’s mental health services. We are discussing our future investment in children and young people’s mental health services.
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Education to consider how to deliver our manifesto commitment of accessing a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents, and carers. This includes considering the role of existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges.
Alongside this we are working toward rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, offering open access mental health services for young people.
The Mental Health Bill currently before Parliament will deliver the Government’s commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983, so that it is fit for the 21st century. The Bill will amend the Act, which applies to England and Wales, and give patients detained under the Act greater choice, autonomy, rights, and support.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the contractual penalties are for the late transfer of prisoners to court; and at what point the penalty starts if a prisoner is transferred late to court.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The contracts for the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service set out the penalties, referred to as “service credits”, applied to suppliers found culpable for late delivery of a prisoner to court, where this has the effect of delaying the hearing. The delay is calculated from the point at which proceedings are ready to commence, provided this is within the agreed court start times and the delay is greater than 15 minutes.
Service credits are calculated using a points system. After the first 15 minutes, five service points are applied in the Crown Court for each 15 minutes of delay, or part thereof, and in magistrates courts, three service points.
A single service point is currently set at £121.53. The penalty for each applicable 15-minute delay (or part thereof) in the Crown Court is therefore £607.65, and in magistrates’ courts £364.59.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Register of licensed sponsors: workers, published on 7 October 2024, how many seafarers were sponsored to work on ships (a) in UK waters, (b) on international routes from UK ports and (c) in the offshore wind industry.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
All those who came to the UK under the concession were stamped at the Border rather than through visa routes and therefore no data was collected.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to identify the number of non-UK national workers that were brought to work on the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms within UK territorial waters under the Offshore Wind Workers Immigration Rules Concession 2017 before it expired on 30 April 2023.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
All those who came to the UK under the concession were stamped at the Border rather than through visa routes and therefore no data was collected.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to increase the volume of trade between the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government uses a range of programmes and levers to increase the volume of trade between UK and Sri Lanka. These include the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), which cuts tariffs and simplifies trading rules for Sri Lankan exporters. The Government also works in Sri Lanka to promote UK trade, investment, trade policy objectives and export finance overseas. This is spearheaded by His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) to South Asia.
These are complemented by regular Government-to-Government engagement, including the annual UK-Sri Lanka Strategic Dialogue, one of the official mechanisms for discussion of trade-related issues and promoting areas of mutual interest.