Tag: John Hemming

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the opening of the airport on St Helena does not lead to the development of child sex tourism in that territory.

Mark Simmonds

Safeguarding children in St Helena is a critical priority for the St Helena Government and the UK. Whilst Territory Governments have the principal responsibility for ensure the safeguarding of children in the Overseas Territories, the UK provides practical assistance and support. DFID and the FCO have been supporting child safeguarding initiatives in the OT’s for the last nine years, most recently through the Safeguarding Children in the Overseas Territories (SCOT) programme (2013-2016), which followed on from an earlier SCOT programme (2009-2013) and a regional Child Protection Programme (CPP, 2005-2008). This new programme will focus on gaining a deeper understanding of the problem including how to detect, prevent and address child abuse.

Following recent further allegations relating to child abuse in St Helena, the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs agreed to establish an independent panel of experts to investigate these specific allegations and related matters. In response to these allegations the island’s Executive Council said: “We have taken great steps on St Helena to protect our children and vulnerable people against abuse of any kind. We know that there are concerns, as there are in any community, but solid progress has been made in improving our safeguarding capabilities. We know there is still more to do, and we will continue to strive for further improvements

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department has received about allegations of child abuse and police corruption on St Helena since May 2010; when that information was received; and what steps his Department took in response to that information.

Mark Simmonds

Safeguarding children in St Helena is a critical priority for the St Helena Government and the UK. There have been a number of allegations in recent years about child safety and police corruption. In response there have been several investigations and reviews into St Helena – including from independent police forces and from child safety NGO. These have resulted in detailed action plans from the St Helena Government and police service to improve their ability to protect children.

Last week, we received further allegations of a conspiracy to cover up child abuse on St Helena from former employees of the St Helena Government. We take such allegations extremely seriously. In response, the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs agreed to establish an independent panel of experts to investigate these specific allegations and related matters. We hope to be able to announce further details shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information the Governor of St Helena has received about allegations of child abuse and police corruption in that territory since May 2010; when that information was received; and what steps the Governor took in response to that information.

Mark Simmonds

The Governor and the elected government of St Helena take very seriously any allegations of child abuse and police corruption. All allegations are investigated and where evidence is available those responsible are dealt with according to the law. There have been numerous successful prosecutions over the period in question with substantial sentences awarded to those convicted of an offence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to tackle offences of child abuse on St Helena.

Mark Simmonds

Territory Governments have the principal responsibility for ensure the safeguarding of children in the Overseas Territories, for which the UK provides practical assistance and support. DFID and the FCO have been supporting child safeguarding initiatives in the OT’s for the last nine years, most recently through the Safeguarding Children in the Overseas Territories (SCOT) programme (2013-2016), which followed on from an earlier SCOT programme (2009-2013) and a regional Child Protection Programme (CPP, 2005-2008). Although tangible progress was made in earlier programmes to raise awareness and build capacity, the new programme will focus on gaining a deeper understanding of the problem including how to detect, prevent and address child abuse.

In St Helena, the SCOT programme has helped encourage revised and updated legislation to protect children, established professional protocols and procedures for those involved in child services, improved the provision of training for St Helena officials, and helped to promote local ownership of the safeguarding agenda. Support has been provided to St Helena through a Lucy Faithfull Foundation review (2013) and technical expertise to take forward a robust child safeguarding action plan arising from review recommendations.

The FCO and DFID have been working closely with the UK police who have investigated reports into child sex abuse of St Helena and continue to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what visits by UK police officers in an official capacity to St Helena have taken place since May 2010; what the purpose and cost was of each such visit; and whether the full costs of each visit were met by her Department.

Mike Penning

Under Section 26 of the Police Act (1996), the Home Office has authorised three deployments of UK police officers to St Helena to provide advice to the St Helena Police: two in 2010 and a third in 2013. The Home Office does not hold details on the costs of these deployments which are a matter for the relevant UK police force facilitating the visit, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the authorities in St Helena.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2015-01-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) UK total managed expenditure in nominal sterling, (b) gross domestic product in nominal sterling and (c) percentage total managed expenditure is expressed as a percentage of the gross domestic product; and what the reasons are for the variances from the Public Expenditure Statistical analysis published by his Department in 2014.

Danny Alexander

All these data are available from the Office for Budget Responsibility’s databank, including the Office for National Statistics outturn data (published 22^nd November 2014) and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s independent forecast (consistent with the Economic and Fiscal Outlook December 2014 and the Autumn Statement 2014).

1. UK Total Managed Expenditure in nominal sterling.

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
TME outturn (£bn)	680.6	700.9	701.2	717.9	719.9
	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
TME forecast (£bn)	737.1	746.2	746.7	751.3	765.3	779.9

1. Gross Domestic Product in nominal sterling.

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Nominal GDP outturn (£bn)	1501.7	1,576.2	1,628.5	1,663.2	1,733.0
	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Nominal GDP forecast (£bn)	1,822.0	1,888.0	1,956.0	2,038.0	2,124.0	2,215.0

1. Total Managed Expenditure expressed as a percentage of the gross domestic product.

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
TME outturn (%GDP)	45.3	44.5	43.1	43.2	41.5
	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
TME forecast (%GDP)	40.5	39.5	38.2	36.9	36.0	35.2

Variances when comparing the most up to date figures set out above against the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis (command paper) are due to these figures including the latest outturn data, incorporating the latest forecast judgement by the Office for Budget Responsibility and the latest classification changes made by the Office for National Statistics.

Since the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis was published in July 2014 the Office for Budget Responsibility has published their latest forecast in their December 2014 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. The Office for National Statistics regularly update outturn, at a various points in the year, for total managed expenditure and gross domestic product.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer on 12 February 2015 to Question 223311, what calculations were made to determine that to answer the original question would incur disproportionate costs.

Mr Shailesh Vara

In order to answer 223311 Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) would have to manually check every court log from 1 May 2013 to the present at Birmingham County Court, Birmingham Family Court and the High Court at Birmingham. Birmingham County Court and Birmingham Family Court between them heard in excess of 24,000 cases, each of which would have to be manually checked for any hearings for contempt of court.

HMCTS have been able to check records of cases heard since November 2014, and identified those where committal orders were made for imprisonment for contempt of court. The contemnors weren’t all present at court and did not necessarily begin their term of imprisonment straight away. There were none at Birmingham Family Court. Details of committal orders made for imprisonment for contempt of court at Birmingham County Court and High Court since 1 November 2014 can be found in the table below. This data has been collated specifically to answer this question and has not been checked to the standard of Official Statistics.

Court	Judge	Date	Period
Birmingham High Court	HHJ Purle QC	13-2-15	6 weeks
Birmingham County Court	DJ Rich TD	7-11-14	8 weeks
Birmingham County Court	HHJ McKenna	19-11-14	16 weeks
Birmingham County Court	HHJ McKenna	15-1-15	18 weeks
Birmingham County Court	HHJ McKenna	15-1-15	25 weeks
Birmingham County Court	DJ Ingram	30-1-15	24 weeks
Birmingham County Court	DJ Shorthose	13-2-15	26 weeks

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the contribution by the hon. Member for North West Cambridgeshire of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 625 and pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2015 to Question 217723, how many (a) ex-parte non-molestation orders were given to (i) women and (ii) men, (b) with notice non-molestation orders were given to (i) women and (ii) men, (c) non-molestation orders were applied for by each firm of solicitors, (d) non-molestation orders were given to (i) women and (ii) men by each judge, (e) ex-parte occupancy orders were given to (i) women and (ii) men, (f) with notice occupancy orders were given to (i) women and (ii) men, (g) occupancy orders were applied for by each firm of solicitors, (h) occupancy orders were given to (i) women and (ii) men by each judge in each quarter from the first quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2014 in courts in (A) Sussex and (B) the West Midlands.

Simon Hughes

Details of the gender of those receiving non molestation orders (ex-parte and with notice), and occupancy orders (ex-parte and with notice) since 2011 can only be obtained by manually checking every case file at disproportionate costs.

Figures requested for non molestation and occupancy orders applied for by each firm of solicitors in courts in a) Sussex and b) West Midlands are available and provided as extracted from the central MoJ database on family cases, in the accompanying tables.

Domestic violence and abuse is unacceptable and no one should have to experience it. It is right that the family court has the power to take swift action to protect families and children from domestic abuse. We are confident that the court procedures for making non-molestation orders are sufficiently robust and in each case the court will make a decision whether to make an order based on the circumstances of the case including the need to secure the health, safety and well-being of the applicant and of any relevant child.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter sent on 2 February 2015 to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley by HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s Performance, Analysis and Reporting Team, what the (a) name of the judge, (b) date and (c) period of committal was of each court order issued by (i) Birmingham County Court, (ii) Birmingham High Court and (iii) Birmingham Family Court for contempt of court since November 2014.

Mr Shailesh Vara

In order to answer 223311 Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) would have to manually check every court log from 1 May 2013 to the present at Birmingham County Court, Birmingham Family Court and the High Court at Birmingham. Birmingham County Court and Birmingham Family Court between them heard in excess of 24,000 cases, each of which would have to be manually checked for any hearings for contempt of court.

HMCTS have been able to check records of cases heard since November 2014, and identified those where committal orders were made for imprisonment for contempt of court. The contemnors weren’t all present at court and did not necessarily begin their term of imprisonment straight away. There were none at Birmingham Family Court. Details of committal orders made for imprisonment for contempt of court at Birmingham County Court and High Court since 1 November 2014 can be found in the table below. This data has been collated specifically to answer this question and has not been checked to the standard of Official Statistics.

Court	Judge	Date	Period
Birmingham High Court	HHJ Purle QC	13-2-15	6 weeks
Birmingham County Court	DJ Rich TD	7-11-14	8 weeks
Birmingham County Court	HHJ McKenna	19-11-14	16 weeks
Birmingham County Court	HHJ McKenna	15-1-15	18 weeks
Birmingham County Court	HHJ McKenna	15-1-15	25 weeks
Birmingham County Court	DJ Ingram	30-1-15	24 weeks
Birmingham County Court	DJ Shorthose	13-2-15	26 weeks