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Reviews initiated by Ministry of Justice (MoJ) since 27 June 2007 Notes

Review of the use of restraint in juvenile secure settings

Independent joint review commissioned by MoJ and Department for Children, Schools and Families

Lord Goldsmith QC Citizenship Review

Independent review commissioned by the Prime Minister not MoJ; Review staff and funding provided by MoJ (Governance of Britain)

Lord Carter’s Review of the Prison System in England and Wales

Independent review initiated in early June 2007. Lord Carter’s report was published on 5 December 2007 in ‘Securing the future Proposals for the efficient and sustainable use of custody in England and Wales’.

Fulton Review of the Forum For Preventing Deaths in Custody

Robert Fulton was appointed by MoJ to conduct this independent review

Sentencing Commission Working Group

‘Sentencing Guidelines in England and Wales: an evolutionary approach’ report published

Review of Voting Systems: the experience of the new voting systems in the United Kingdom since 1997

Part of ‘Governance of Britain’ programme

Review of Prison-Based Drug Treatment Funding

Independent joint review commissioned by Department of Health and MoJ

Data-sharing review

Review of the scope for sharing personal information and the protections that apply when personal information is shared in the public and private sectors. Conducted by Richard Thomas, Information Commissioner and Dr. Mark Walport

Review of the 30 year rule on when government records are made available to the public/opened for inspection in The National Archives

Independent review chaired by Paul Dacre appointed by the Prime Minister

Review of how more offenders with severe mental health problems can be diverted away from prison and into more appropriate facilities

Conducted by Lord Bradley who will report jointly to Department of Health and MoJ

Review of the Law of Homicide

As part of this review, a consultation exercise on proposals for reform on: partial defences to murder of diminished responsibility and provocation; the law on complicity in relation to homicide; and infanticide was published on 28 July 2008

Review of failure to appear warrants withdrawn at Leeds magistrates court

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Courts Administration and Chief Inspectors for the Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service were asked by MoJ to conduct a thorough inspection and prepare a report to Ministers into the resulting and warrant processes at Leeds magistrates court.

Review of the Civil Justice Council

Independent review conducted by Dr. Jonathan Spencer in accordance with Cabinet Office Guidance for Public Bodies

Claims Management Regulation Annual Review 2007-08

Review of first year of formal regulation of the claims management sector

Review of measures to disrupt the supply of illicit drugs to prisons

David Blakey was commissioned to conduct the review by the Director General of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS)



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Domestic Violence

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what representations his Department has received relating to the risk of domestic violence arising in cases involving end of custody licence. [220869]

Mr. Straw: The Department has received two representations, both from the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO).

Electoral Commission

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with the Electoral Commission on the transfer of the Commission's responsibilities for electoral boundaries to a separate body; and if he will make a statement. [221417]

Bridget Prentice: My officials and I have regular and frequent meetings with the Electoral Commission where we have discussed a range of issues, including the eleventh report of the Committee on Standards on Public Life in which this appeared as a recommendation.

Electoral Register: Sales

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his Department's response is to the recommendations of the Information Commissioner on the sale of electoral roll data. [221267]

Bridget Prentice: The Government are carefully considering Recommendation 19 of the Thomas-Walport Data Sharing Review relating to sale of the edited version of the electoral register, together with the other recommendations made by the review.


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Electorate: Overseas Residence

Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many British expatriates resident in each country outside the UK were registered to vote in UK elections at the most recent date for which figures are available. [223174]

Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 10 September 2008:

Fines: Surcharges

Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what expenditure his Department incurred in administering the victims’ surcharge in 2006-07. [221684]

Maria Eagle: None. The victims’ surcharge has only been levied since 1 April 2007. Furthermore, there is no separately identifiable cost for victims’ surcharge receipts.

Fixed Penalties

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 22 April 2008, Official Report, columns 2023-25W, on fixed penalties, whether additional data are available for subsequent months. [221016]

Maria Eagle: For the most recent information on PNDs issued from 2004 to 2006, I refer the hon. Member to my answer to him on 18 December 2007, Official Report, columns 1287-88W.

Of the categories of fixed penalty notices collected by my Department, information is available for penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) and fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for motoring offences.

Data on the number of penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) issued and paid by police force area for each month from 2004 to 2006 are provided in tables, which have been placed in the Libraries of the House. The PND scheme began in all 43 police forces in England and Wales in 2004.

Motoring offences fixed penalty notices data are submitted to my Department on a calendar year basis from police forces. The data do not contain a month by month breakdown.

Available annual information on motoring fixed penalty notices can be found in the Ministry of Justice statistical publication “Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales, Supplementary tables”—tables 20(a) to 20(c) refer. Copies of the publication are available in the
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Libraries of the House. The publication going back to 1980 can be accessed from the Ministry of Justice website at:

Data are collected on the disposal (i.e. paid, fine registration certificate issued etc.) and published in the following year’s annual volume covering motoring offences.

Information on PNDs issued by month in 2007 will be available in November 2008. Data on FPNs issued do not contain a month by month breakdown.

George Kelly

Mr. O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to ensure that sufficient staff resources are applied to mediation in the case concerning George Kelly to achieve a resolution in the week commencing 28 July 2008. [220887]

Maria Eagle: Treasury Solicitors continue to liaise with the representative of the estate of the late George Kelly about possible mediation in relation to some of the issues that have been raised.

Governance of Britain White Paper

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost of the consultation on the Governance of Britain White Paper has been since 3 July 2007. [220492]

Mr. Wills: The Governance of Britain (CM 7170) Green Paper was published on 3 July 2007. Since then five consultation papers have been published. Their production costs were:

In addition a series of events to support the Governance of Britain programme as a whole is currently under way. Final costs will be available once the events are complete.


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