Asked by: Simon Reevell (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the future of criminal advocacy and the implementation of the recommendations of the Jeffrey Report.
Answered by Chris Grayling
The Jeffrey Review clearly identifies a number of challenges for criminal advocacy services. The Government is committed to working with the profession in the first half of 2015 to make progress on reforms that will ensure the legal aid advocacy market operates competitively, sustainably and in such a way as to optimise quality. In particular, the Government proposes to take steps to ensure that defendants in criminal cases always have an informed and effective choice of the advocate who is to represent them. The Government also proposes to take measures to strengthen the current ban by the Legal Aid Agency on the payment or receipt of referral fees and to address any potential conflicts of interest. We want to make sure that defendants are fully aware of the choices available to them and that only advocates who are sufficiently qualified by their training and experience represent defendants in cases in the Crown Court.
Asked by: Simon Reevell (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2014, Official Report, column 611W, on abortion, how many of the forms returned to registered medical practitioners are pending completion; and what steps he plans to take to ensure that evidence of breaches of the Abortion Act 1967 is referred to the relevant authorities.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department has recently issued guidance to help clinicians comply with the requirements of the Abortion Act, including their obligations with regard to the completing of HSA4 forms.
Incorrectly filled in HSA4 forms are returned to the terminating practitioner by the Department of Health until such information is corrected. Establishing the number of forms returned between 2009 and 2013 still pending completion can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Simon Reevell (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that evidence of breaches of the Abortion Act 1967 arising from incomplete abortion notification HSA4 forms is referred to the relevant authorities; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department has recently issued guidance to help clinicians comply with the requirements of the Abortion Act, including their obligations with regard to the completing of HSA4 forms.
Incorrectly filled in HSA4 forms are returned to the terminating practitioner by the Department of Health until such information is corrected. Establishing the number of forms returned between 2009 and 2013 still pending completion can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Simon Reevell (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what evidence there is of contamination of the bacterial pathogen, Melissoccocus plutonius, from countries within the EU.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Melissococcus plutonius is the causative agent of European foulbrood. In 2012 the Dutch reported the results of a survey that used sensitive detection methodologies to suggest a 35 percent apiary prevalence of Melissococcus plutonius across the Netherlands.
But a 2012-13 pan-European epidemiological study on honey bee colony losses found a low prevalence of European foulbrood across 15 Member States:
http://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/live_animals/bees/docs/bee-report_en.pdf.
Asked by: Simon Reevell (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the geographical spread in the UK of the bacterium melissococcus plutonius.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The bacterium is widespread across England and Wales. A recently completed two-year random survey of 4,600 apiaries estimated Melissococcus plutonius as being present in 1.6% in Year 1 (2009/10) and 1.3% in Year 2 (2010/11).