Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders have been convicted of a serious further offence of murder, by type of index sentence in each year between 2010 and 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The table below sets out the total number of convictions, where an offender subject to probation supervision was charged with a serious further offence (SFO), which resulted subsequently in a conviction for murder, for all cases notified to what is now HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015.
Index Sentence | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Community Supervision | 33 | 45 | 32 | 27 | 23 | 23 |
Determinate Prison Sentence | 16 | 26 | 19 | 23 | 23 | 17 |
Life Licence | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
IPP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Total | 50 | 73 | 51 | 53 | 48 | 43 |
1. Time period for conviction data relates to the date of SFO notification to HMPPS not the date of conviction.
2. Index sentence refers to the sentencing disposal imposed by the court which led to probation services supervision of the offender.
3. The data only includes convictions for serious further offences of murder that have been notified to the national SFO Team, HMPPS.
4. Conviction data also includes cases where the offender committed suicide or died prior to the trial, where the judicial process concluded that they were responsible.
5. The data for January 2010 to December 2015 has been updated and may differ to any original publication due to data cleansing, re-categorising and re-grouping.
6. Data Sources and Quality. We have drawn these figures from administrative IT systems which, as with some large-scale recording systems, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Serious further offences are incredibly rare, with fewer than 0.5% of offenders supervised by the Probation Service going on to commit serious further offences but each one is investigated fully so we can take action where necessary. We have also injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year into the Probation Service to deliver tougher supervision, reduce caseloads and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safer.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to section 5.3 of his Department's pre-tender market engagement document relating to the tender for provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities, reference CPD4124050, published on 1 September 2022, whether the contract has been extended.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The contract referenced provides for the provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities in support of DLUHC's role as steward of the local government sector and Local Government Accountability Framework. Since the contract award, it has been used to deliver reviews where councils have sought Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from Government or engaged with the Department where there may be evidence of significant local financial risks. The Government has been transparent about the outcome of reviews and, for example, published previous reviews linked to EFS requests on gov.uk.
The referenced number of reviews, a minimum of six and maximum of 32, as per the referenced document CPD4124050 was an anticipated requirement to enable prospective bidders to submit a bid in the absence of being able to provide an exact figure due to the demand led nature of the work.
The contract award notice is published here. Spend against the contract is published here as part of normal Departmental transparency requirements.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department’s tender for the provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities, notice reference 2022/S 000-024515, published on 1 September 2022, which local authorities have been reviewed since this contract was assigned.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The contract referenced provides for the provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities in support of DLUHC's role as steward of the local government sector and Local Government Accountability Framework. Since the contract award, it has been used to deliver reviews where councils have sought Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from Government or engaged with the Department where there may be evidence of significant local financial risks. The Government has been transparent about the outcome of reviews and, for example, published previous reviews linked to EFS requests on gov.uk.
The referenced number of reviews, a minimum of six and maximum of 32, as per the referenced document CPD4124050 was an anticipated requirement to enable prospective bidders to submit a bid in the absence of being able to provide an exact figure due to the demand led nature of the work.
The contract award notice is published here. Spend against the contract is published here as part of normal Departmental transparency requirements.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to section 4.5 of his Department's pre-tender market engagement document relating to the tender for provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities, reference CPD4124050, published on 1 September 2022, whether additional unexpected risks have been uncovered in any of the reviews undertaken since this contract was assigned.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The contract referenced provides for the provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities in support of DLUHC's role as steward of the local government sector and Local Government Accountability Framework. Since the contract award, it has been used to deliver reviews where councils have sought Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from Government or engaged with the Department where there may be evidence of significant local financial risks. The Government has been transparent about the outcome of reviews and, for example, published previous reviews linked to EFS requests on gov.uk.
The referenced number of reviews, a minimum of six and maximum of 32, as per the referenced document CPD4124050 was an anticipated requirement to enable prospective bidders to submit a bid in the absence of being able to provide an exact figure due to the demand led nature of the work.
The contract award notice is published here. Spend against the contract is published here as part of normal Departmental transparency requirements.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to section 4.2 of his Department's pre-tender market engagement document relating to the tender for provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities, reference CPD4124050, published on 1 September 2022, which local authorities were the minimum six and maximum 32 for which it was forecast that a review might be required.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The contract referenced provides for the provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities in support of DLUHC's role as steward of the local government sector and Local Government Accountability Framework. Since the contract award, it has been used to deliver reviews where councils have sought Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from Government or engaged with the Department where there may be evidence of significant local financial risks. The Government has been transparent about the outcome of reviews and, for example, published previous reviews linked to EFS requests on gov.uk.
The referenced number of reviews, a minimum of six and maximum of 32, as per the referenced document CPD4124050 was an anticipated requirement to enable prospective bidders to submit a bid in the absence of being able to provide an exact figure due to the demand led nature of the work.
The contract award notice is published here. Spend against the contract is published here as part of normal Departmental transparency requirements.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to his Department’s tender for the provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities, notice reference 2022/S 000-024515, published on 1 September 2022, what the cost to the public purse of that contract has been as of 10 November 2023.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The contract referenced provides for the provision of external assurance reviews of local authorities in support of DLUHC's role as steward of the local government sector and Local Government Accountability Framework. Since the contract award, it has been used to deliver reviews where councils have sought Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from Government or engaged with the Department where there may be evidence of significant local financial risks. The Government has been transparent about the outcome of reviews and, for example, published previous reviews linked to EFS requests on gov.uk.
The referenced number of reviews, a minimum of six and maximum of 32, as per the referenced document CPD4124050 was an anticipated requirement to enable prospective bidders to submit a bid in the absence of being able to provide an exact figure due to the demand led nature of the work.
The contract award notice is published here. Spend against the contract is published here as part of normal Departmental transparency requirements.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to assess the safety of (a) university and (b) other higher education buildings.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The higher education (HE) sector is independent from Government and it is therefore for individual providers to determine and address any estate issues. The Government has liaised with a number of HE sector representative groups to communicate with HE providers about the relevant guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant for 2024-25 will be ring-fenced.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In June 2023, NHS England confirmed that it would be renewing the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million grant funding for children’s hospices in England. NHS England will communicate further details regarding the process for the grant allocations later this year.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to expand the eligibility criteria for covid-19 vaccinations as part of the seasonal booster programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The primary aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme continues to be the prevention of severe disease, involving hospitalisation and mortality, arising from COVID-19. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended a targeted approach focussed on those vulnerable to serious outcomes from COVID-19 including older individuals and individuals with specified existing clinical conditions.
On 8 August 2023, the Government accepted advice from the JCVI on who should be offered a COVID-19 vaccine in the autumn 2023 booster programme. This includes residents in a care home for older adults, all adults aged 65 years and over, persons aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group, frontline health and social care workers, persons aged 12 to 64 years who are household contacts, and persons aged 16 to 64 years who are carers.
Currently, there are no plans to expand the eligibility criteria for the autumn campaign. The JCVI will continue to review evidence and will provide further advice regarding future vaccination programmes in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the safety of persecuted religious communities.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), Fiona Bruce, as chair of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, is working to bolster international action on FoRB and seeking to improve the safety of persecuted religious minorities. At the UK-led Ministerial Conference on FoRB last year, we announced funding to support FoRB defenders, and provide expertise to assist countries with legislative changes to protect FoRB. In June we secured language in a Security Council resolution which directly addresses the persecution of religious minorities. We continue to use our position at the UN to highlight FoRB violations and abuses and help improve the lives of those affected.