Results 1-20 of 1,584 for speaker:Paul Holmes

Coroners and Justice Bill: Removal of limitation on warrants under Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (12 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: The amendments are variously technical, minor and consequential, and we support them. I add my thanks to everybody who has taken part in this process over the past year. The only group that we have forgotten is the humble parliamentary researchers, including mine who did all the work earlier in the year, and my new one who has done all the work to prepare for the debate in the past week....

Coroners and Justice Bill: Clause 35 — Contents of injunctions: supplemental (12 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: Although we welcome amendments 30 to 39 as a partial step forward in the right direction, we need to remember the background. The courts rejected the experiment in Birmingham on the grounds that other measures, such as ASBOs, could be used instead, and that there was not enough evidence from police and councillors in Birmingham to justify the imposition of such injunctions. Many people have...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Clause 96 — Retention and destruction of samples etc: England and Wales (12 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: Lords amendments 40, 41 and 42 are very welcome, because they remove the Government's attempt to give themselves a blank cheque to act on such a controversial issue, whereby in light of the European ruling on DNA, they would say, "We'll go away and come up with suggestions in private. We'll write them into law. We'll put them through a Statutory Instrument Committee. There'll be no debate in...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Clause 27 — Increase in penalty for offence (12 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: The right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, observed that it was good to see constructive engagement between Government and Opposition. Over the past year I have probably seen more give and take, with the Government listening to suggestions and adopting them, than I have seen in the case of most other Bills with which I have been involved...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Clause 27 — Increase in penalty for offence (12 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: The hon. Gentleman's comments bring me on to the point that I was about to make. I recommend that the Minister and his colleagues also look to take more proactive action. Let me give the example of something I witnessed when on patrol in Chesterfield with Derbyshire police this summer. On one evening, I went out in the van that undertakes what the police there call the Be Safe programme. They...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Clause 13 — Paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc: England and Wales (12 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: Does the hon. Lady agree with my earlier comment that we need to hear from the Minister exactly how the Government envisage the consultation by those local authorities that do not adopt the legislation taking place? If that consultation consists of an advert in the local paper that nobody responds to, it will be toothless. However, if it is to be a proper consultation, those constituents who...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Authorisations of covert human intelligence sources: conditions (12 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: I agree with the points that have just been made. These are very straightforward technical arrangements to facilitate co-operation between two forces working across force boundaries so that they can have a controller from one force area and a handler from another force area, if that is relevant to an operation in progress. We support these amendments. Lords amendment 1 agreed to. Lords...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Clause 13 — Paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc: England and Wales (12 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: As the Minister said, Lords amendments 6 to 10 improve the definition of how we establish that a sex worker has been coerced into that line of work. They use the words "exploitative conduct", which allow for a wider definition that includes things such as deception and threats—for example, the withdrawal of accommodation—rather than the earlier definition, which relied much more...

Written Answers — Justice: Prisons: Discipline (11 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many prisoners have been involved in incidents of disorder of each type in each year since 1997; (2) how many prisoners at each prison were found in possession of a sharp instrument in each year since 1997.

Written Answers — Children, Schools and Families: Faith Schools: Finance (11 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what grants his Department has made to independent faith schools in the last 12 months.

Written Answers — Children, Schools and Families: Home Education: Special Educational Needs (10 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department has provided to each local authority in England and Wales for children with special educational needs who are educated at home in each of the last five years.

Written Answers — Cabinet Office: Civil Servants: Compensation (9 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what representations her Department has received in response to the proposals for the Civil Service Compensation Scheme contained within Fairness for All; and if she will make a statement; (2) what account she took of other severance arrangements in the public sector when proposing changes to severance arrangements in the Civil Service...

Written Answers — Children, Schools and Families: Academies: Sponsorship (9 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the monetary value is of sponsorship funds provided by his Department for united learning trusts, broken down by (a) year of funding and (b) academy school in receipt of the funds in the last three years.

Written Answers — Children, Schools and Families: United Learning Trust (9 Nov 2009)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will place in the Library copies of each contract or agreement made between his Department and united learning trusts.