Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department had made with the River Severn Partnership on (a) reducing flooding and (b) protecting homes and businesses from flood risk.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency is working with partners in the River Severn Partnership (RSP) including local authorities, water companies, Natural Resources Wales, Natural England and environmental organisations on a long-term, whole-catchment scale view of planning for the future in response to climate change: Severn 2100+.
Under Severn2100+ work, the RSP is developing a Climate Resilience Strategy including an options appraisal of the flood risk adaptation actions needed in the River Severn catchment.
The work includes an ‘Adaptation Pathways Plan’ to help the Environment Agency understand how to sequence those actions, who can help and when.
The Environment Agency is working with partners on the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme to examine how a suite of flood risk interventions in the upper catchment of the River Severn can reduce flood risk. A demonstrator programme is underway delivering a series of 8 projects to test concepts and ideas that will support the future roll-out of the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, if she will publish the number of cases awaiting charging decisions by the Crown Prosecution Service, broken down by (a) whether they are (i) summary only, (ii) either way and (iii) indictable only offences and (b) by Crown Prosecution Service region.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Management information is held showing the number of cases with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which are awaiting a pre-charge decision.
The table below shows the overall number of cases which were awaiting a charging decision or administrative triage (completed on files sent by the police to the CPS for a charging decision) as of 25 March 2024. This data is provided in line with the last quarterly data release in March 2024.
25/03/2024 | |
Cymru Wales | 1,354 |
East Midlands | 1,107 |
East Of England | 868 |
London North | 803 |
London South | 833 |
Merseyside and Cheshire | 733 |
North East | 852 |
North West | 1,088 |
South East | 912 |
South West | 1,167 |
Thames & Chiltern | 759 |
Wessex | 631 |
West Midlands | 1,571 |
Yorkshire & Humberside | 1,019 |
Total | 13,697 |
Data Source: CPS Pre-Charge Decision Workload Report | |
These figures do not include cases that have been referred to the CPS but that are currently with the police to action, having been sent back to them with a request for further information.
This count is of the number of cases, not suspects. A single case may cover one suspect or several.
No data is available in the report showing whether the alleged offences are summary, either-way or indictable only. To obtain this information would require a manual review at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many sitting days Telford Magistrates Court rooms were not used (a) at all and (b) in part in each of the last three years.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS records the availability of courtroom in ‘sessions’. A ‘session’ represents the time that court/hearing room space is available, with up to two sessions available each day. Available and unavailable sessions are recorded for all jurisdictions.
Telford Magistrates Court had the following number of sessions recorded as available and then confirmed as used during the enquired period:
Period | Total Sessions | Confirmed Sessions |
Jan-Dec 2021 | 1,518 | 878 |
Jan-Dec 2022 | 1,500 | 754 |
Jan-Dec 2023 | 1,080 | 717 |
Jan- Mar 2024 | 252 | 198 |
Data relating to total sessions is extracted from HMCTS Courtroom Planner database, data relating to Confirmed Sessions is extracted from the Rota database. The data relating to session availability and confirmed sessions are from different source systems and are therefore not directly comparable. Please note all data provided is internal and subject to data quality issues inherent in any large-scale manual system.
HMCTS records a session being unavailable for a number of reasons, including important alternative uses. For example:
box work
case-related unavailability
community engagement
where the room is connected to chambers which are in use
court closures due to severe weather or security incidents, holidays (not public holiday) or formerly due to COVID
external meetings (e.g., Court User Group)
use for external organisations (e.g., Coroner)
maintenance work
mediation (parties present)
overspill (in support of a hearing taking place elsewhere)
staff meetings and/or training
video link being used for other matter
The amount of time we use our available estate for hearings is also connected to the funded number of sitting days in any one year, and the availability of key participants such as judiciary and legal professionals.
It should be noted that Courtroom 6 in Telford Magistrates has been out of operation since March 2023 owing to the need to replace the roof. This has progressed through the required government approvals process and building work is due to be instructed shortly on the roof replacement.
Replacement of the roof will enable the room to be brought back into operation.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time is for a trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have interpreted waiting time to refer to the time between the date of sending a case to the Crown Court and the start of the substantive “main” Crown Court hearing.
The average (median) waiting time at Shrewsbury Crown Court in 2023 was 42 days, compared to 40 days nationally.
The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice system. We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve, and we are committed to reducing the caseload and bringing waiting times down.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to allow Courts to impose cost orders on those who (a) plead and (b) are found guilty in order to recover the costs of (i) investigating the offence, (ii) bringing the case to Court and (iii) legal aid.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Courts have wide ranging powers to impose cost orders on defendants and to recover some of the costs of investigating the offence and bringing the case to court. All such orders are at the discretion of the court, ensuring that they are just and reasonable, taking into account the means of the offender. The Legal Aid Agency is responsible for recovering contributions towards defendants’ legal aid costs from their income during the case and from their capital if they are convicted. Income contributions are returned to defendants who are acquitted.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide councils with powers to recover the full cost of (a) investigations, (b) prosecutions, (c) clean up and (d) prevention of fly tipping when issuing fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities can issue fixed penalty notices of up to £1,000 to fly-tippers. The income from these fixed penalty notices must be spent on enforcement and clean-up specifically. The department has not yet made an assessment of this policy, which was introduced under the previous Government, or how it might be changed.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what weighting (a) his Department and (b) the Environment Agency give to world heritage site status when determining funding for flood defences.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The impacts of coastal erosion and flooding on heritage assets are included in the economic impacts assessment for flood and coastal erosion schemes. Last year, the Environment Agency published the Environment and Historic Environment Outcomes Valuation Guidance which contains specific arrangements for the valuation of heritage assets such as religious buildings.
Flood schemes protecting world heritage sites attract funding through the Government’s Partnership Funding Policy. The amount of funding a project can attract will depend on the damages it will avoid and the benefits it will deliver, including those to heritage assets.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure the long-term (a) funding and (b) sustainability of hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people, and their loved ones, at the end of life.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by ICB area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth and range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
The Government is going to shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community, and we recognise that it is vital to include palliative and end of life care, including hospices, in this shift.
The Department, alongside NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many proposed homes have received planning permission to be built but have not been built after (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four, (e) five and (f) six years or more.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Estimates of how many homes received planning permission in each year are published by the department as part of its quarterly statistics on Planning Applications in England and can be found here: Planning applications statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We do not hold information on how many of these had not been built after one, two, three, four, five, six years or more.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the performance of (a) Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, (b) Shropshire Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board and (c) NHS Shropshire Telford and Wrekin with respect to (i) waiting times, (ii) value for money and (iii) CQC reports
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has been clear that National Health Services are currently not meeting the high standards that patients should expect, and is committed to supporting the NHS to return to the standards set out in the NHS Constitution. As a first step, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has appointed the Professor Lord Darzi to lead an independent investigation of NHS performance, which will report this month.
NHS England holds integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS providers to account for delivery of national priorities and statutory functions and oversees them via the NHS Oversight Framework, which assesses the effectiveness of each NHS system across five themes: quality of care, access, and outcomes; preventing ill-health and reducing inequalities; people; finance and use of resources; and leadership and capability. More information is available at the following link:
NHS England has allocated the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB to segment four of the NHS Oversight Framework segmentation. As a result, both are receiving national mandated support with NHS England’s Recovery Support Programme. They are also subject to NHS England’s regulatory undertakings.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB are currently in Tier 1 for urgent and emergency care, electives, and cancer, which means they receive intensive and significant national and regional support and oversight. The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust's overall rating from the Care Quality Commission, published in May 2024, is ‘requires improvement’.