Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which sub-contractors are providing (a) security and (b) welfare services to people accommodated on the Bibby Stockholm.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Corporate Travel Management (CTM) is responsible for managing the services on the barge. CTM, who managed two Scottish vessels used to accommodate Ukrainian refugees, has a strong track record of providing this kind of accommodation, and we are confident that they have the ability to manage the vessel and its supporting services. CTM has worked closely and successfully with local authorities and other public and voluntary organisations in Scotland.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2024 to Question 8608 on Aiding and Abetting, what consideration the Crown Prosecution Service gives to a suspect’s level of (a) intention to assist or encourage and (b) contribution to the commission of an offence when making charging decisions using joint enterprise laws.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance on secondary liability (Secondary Liability: charging decisions on principals and accessories | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk)) provides guidance to CPS prosecutors on what needs to be proved in respect of the secondary party’s participation in an offence.
The secondary party, by words or conduct, must encourage or assist the commission of the offence by another person, and must intend to do so.
Mere accidental presence at the scene of an offence or mere association with the principal offender or a group or gang will not alone be sufficient to prove that a secondary party participated in the offence.
If the offence requires a particular intent, the secondary party must intend to assist or encourage the other person to act with that intent.
The CPS guidance provides a number of scenarios to demonstrate the type and level of participation that may amount to assistance or encouragement.
The guidance also contains a section on intent (see “Mens rea – Intent”) that explains in detail how intent may be proved in practice, in relation to various types of scenarios.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2024 to Question 8608, Aiding and Abetting, if she will direct the Crown Prosecution Service to clarify in future guidance that joint enterprise only applies where persons intentionally assist or encourage another to commit a crime.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance is issued in accordance with the law as it currently stands.
The law on joint enterprise is a common law doctrine and is not currently governed by statute. A decision to legislate in this area (if deemed appropriate) is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Justice.
The current guidance covers the main principles of joint enterprise, as clarified in the lead case of R v Jogee. It is clearly stated in the guidance that a secondary party to an offence must intend to encourage or assist the commission of the crime by another person.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will undertake a review of all animal procedures to (a) identify and (b) remove (i) redundant, (ii) duplicate and (iii) wasteful methods of animal testing.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office Regulator reviews every project licence application to use animals in scientific procedures. A licence will only be granted when the Regulator is satisfied that there are no practicable alternatives, that the number of animals used is the minimum needed to achieve the scientific benefit, and that any harm to animals is limited to that needed to achieve the scientific benefit.
The National Centre for the 3Rs, which receives core funding from UK Research and Innovation, supports these aims by working to accelerate the replacement, reduction and refinement of the use of animals in research.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which public authorities are responsible for investigating the death of Leonard Farruku on the Bibby Stockholm barge on 12 December 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
This tragic incident is subject to an ongoing investigation by the police and the Coroner. It is right that the facts surrounding this are established in the appropriate legal manner.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the contract between his Department and Corporate Travel Management includes penalties for (a) fatalities among and (b) injuries sustained by people accommodated on the Bibby Stockholm.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at:
Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will review the performance criteria of the contract between his Department and Corporate Travel Management for the Bibby Stockholm.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at:
Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the charter agreement between his Department and Bibby Shipping for the Bibby Stockholm.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at:
Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers were being accommodated on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland on 8 December 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Bibby Stockholm can accommodate around 500 people. The number of asylum seekers onboard the vessel at any one time is likely to vary due to a number of factors.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Gambling-related harms evidence review: quantitative analysis, updated on 11 January 2023, what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the evidence used in that analysis.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In September 2019, Public Health England published the Gambling-related harms Evidence Review. No further assessment has been made of the quantitative analysis since its original publication. The Health Survey for England conducted in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2018 was used as the primary dataset for this review and analysis was carried out on this four-year combined and weighted dataset. Information on methods for data collection is available at the following link:
In January 2023, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities published a review and update of the economic and social costs of harms analysis.