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1359595

registered interest
date	15/10/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Pregnancy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners for all or part of their custodial sentence have been pregnant in each of the last five years; how many of those prisoners have given birth whilst in custody; how many have given birth at an external hospital; how many have given birth at a HMP facility; how many have given birth at a HMP facility without professional medical support; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	56756
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2021 answer text <p>On 20 September the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a new policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, which contains a range of reforms for improving the care of pregnant women. As part of the new policy, we have increased central data collection on self-declared pregnancies in women’s prisons. We will be publishing annual snapshots in the HMPPS Annual Digest. The first publication, covering July 2020-April 2021, shows that on average 26 women self-declared as pregnant each week. During this period, 31 births took place. Out of these, 28 were in hospital, two in transit to hospital, and zero in a prison.</p><p>Women in prison should have access to the same range and quality of healthcare services as they would have access to in the community, including midwifery, obstetric and health visiting services. These services are commissioned through the health sector. Care is driven by individual care plans, including birth plans where women are due to give birth during their time in custody. These are developed by specialist midwives, prison staff and other relevant agencies dependent on individual needs.</p><p>The death of Baby A was a tragedy and a range of steps have been taken to prevent it from happening again. Immediate steps were taken locally at HMP Bronzefield to safeguard women in children, including a review of commissioning arrangements and provision of additional information resources on support services. In addition, measures were put in place in all women’s prisons to ensure immediate estate wide improvements, including free access to local NHS Pregnancy advice services and additional welfare checks for all pregnant women in the third trimester.</p><p> </p><p>Centrally, officials have responded directly to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) recommendations with a comprehensive action plan detailing the work that is underway to address learning. This work is being assured by a Project Board jointly chaired by Executive Director level SROs in HMPPS and NHS England and NHS Improvement, to ensure whole system improvement.</p><p>The new HMPPS policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, published 20 September, forms an important part of our national response to the learning from Baby A. This contains requirements which directly address PPO recommendations.</p><p> </p><p>Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary. However, we recognise the additional physical, emotional and practical challenges experienced by pregnant women in prison and we are taking steps to ensure sentencing decisions are more informed. Since the publication of the Female Offender Strategy in 2018, we have made improvements to the preparation of pre-sentence reports (PSRs) through a PSR checklist for women and a Pre-Sentence Pilot that includes the targeting of fuller reports for female offenders. These take into account individual circumstances relating to pregnancy and caring responsibilities and the impact that imprisonment has on these.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins grouped question UIN 56757 56758 question first answered 26/10/2021 12:57:34 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1359596

registered interest
date	15/10/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Bronzefield Prison
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps HM Prison Service has taken in response to the death of baby born to an 18 year old inmate in September 2019 at HMP Bronzefield in order to prevent that situation arising again; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	56757
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2021 answer text <p>On 20 September the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a new policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, which contains a range of reforms for improving the care of pregnant women. As part of the new policy, we have increased central data collection on self-declared pregnancies in women’s prisons. We will be publishing annual snapshots in the HMPPS Annual Digest. The first publication, covering July 2020-April 2021, shows that on average 26 women self-declared as pregnant each week. During this period, 31 births took place. Out of these, 28 were in hospital, two in transit to hospital, and zero in a prison.</p><p>Women in prison should have access to the same range and quality of healthcare services as they would have access to in the community, including midwifery, obstetric and health visiting services. These services are commissioned through the health sector. Care is driven by individual care plans, including birth plans where women are due to give birth during their time in custody. These are developed by specialist midwives, prison staff and other relevant agencies dependent on individual needs.</p><p>The death of Baby A was a tragedy and a range of steps have been taken to prevent it from happening again. Immediate steps were taken locally at HMP Bronzefield to safeguard women in children, including a review of commissioning arrangements and provision of additional information resources on support services. In addition, measures were put in place in all women’s prisons to ensure immediate estate wide improvements, including free access to local NHS Pregnancy advice services and additional welfare checks for all pregnant women in the third trimester.</p><p> </p><p>Centrally, officials have responded directly to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) recommendations with a comprehensive action plan detailing the work that is underway to address learning. This work is being assured by a Project Board jointly chaired by Executive Director level SROs in HMPPS and NHS England and NHS Improvement, to ensure whole system improvement.</p><p>The new HMPPS policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, published 20 September, forms an important part of our national response to the learning from Baby A. This contains requirements which directly address PPO recommendations.</p><p> </p><p>Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary. However, we recognise the additional physical, emotional and practical challenges experienced by pregnant women in prison and we are taking steps to ensure sentencing decisions are more informed. Since the publication of the Female Offender Strategy in 2018, we have made improvements to the preparation of pre-sentence reports (PSRs) through a PSR checklist for women and a Pre-Sentence Pilot that includes the targeting of fuller reports for female offenders. These take into account individual circumstances relating to pregnancy and caring responsibilities and the impact that imprisonment has on these.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins grouped question UIN 56756 56758 question first answered 26/10/2021 12:57:34 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1359597

registered interest
date	15/10/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Pregnancy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reassessing the requirement for women in their third trimester of pregnancy to be in custody; whether he has made an assessment of the appropriateness of other punitive measures outside of custody for all but violent inmates; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	56758
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2021 answer text <p>On 20 September the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a new policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, which contains a range of reforms for improving the care of pregnant women. As part of the new policy, we have increased central data collection on self-declared pregnancies in women’s prisons. We will be publishing annual snapshots in the HMPPS Annual Digest. The first publication, covering July 2020-April 2021, shows that on average 26 women self-declared as pregnant each week. During this period, 31 births took place. Out of these, 28 were in hospital, two in transit to hospital, and zero in a prison.</p><p>Women in prison should have access to the same range and quality of healthcare services as they would have access to in the community, including midwifery, obstetric and health visiting services. These services are commissioned through the health sector. Care is driven by individual care plans, including birth plans where women are due to give birth during their time in custody. These are developed by specialist midwives, prison staff and other relevant agencies dependent on individual needs.</p><p>The death of Baby A was a tragedy and a range of steps have been taken to prevent it from happening again. Immediate steps were taken locally at HMP Bronzefield to safeguard women in children, including a review of commissioning arrangements and provision of additional information resources on support services. In addition, measures were put in place in all women’s prisons to ensure immediate estate wide improvements, including free access to local NHS Pregnancy advice services and additional welfare checks for all pregnant women in the third trimester.</p><p> </p><p>Centrally, officials have responded directly to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) recommendations with a comprehensive action plan detailing the work that is underway to address learning. This work is being assured by a Project Board jointly chaired by Executive Director level SROs in HMPPS and NHS England and NHS Improvement, to ensure whole system improvement.</p><p>The new HMPPS policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, published 20 September, forms an important part of our national response to the learning from Baby A. This contains requirements which directly address PPO recommendations.</p><p> </p><p>Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary. However, we recognise the additional physical, emotional and practical challenges experienced by pregnant women in prison and we are taking steps to ensure sentencing decisions are more informed. Since the publication of the Female Offender Strategy in 2018, we have made improvements to the preparation of pre-sentence reports (PSRs) through a PSR checklist for women and a Pre-Sentence Pilot that includes the targeting of fuller reports for female offenders. These take into account individual circumstances relating to pregnancy and caring responsibilities and the impact that imprisonment has on these.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins grouped question UIN 56756 56757 question first answered 26/10/2021 12:57:34 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1349476

registered interest
date	22/07/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Lugano Convention
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government plans to take as a result of the European Commission's rejection of the UK's application to join the Lugano Convention; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	38131
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2021 answer text <p>The Government is aware of the European Commission’s notification that it is not in a position to give its consent to UK accession to the Lugano Convention 2007. However, we understand that member states have not yet been given an opportunity to vote formally on that position.</p><p>We are committed to ensuring cross-border legal disputes can be resolved smoothly, in the interests of families, consumers and businesses both in the UK and across Europe. We maintain that we meet the criteria for accession – it is open to countries outside the EU; all non-EU parties to Lugano support UK membership.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 10/09/2021 11:11:43 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1306979

registered interest
date	12/04/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Office of the Public Guardian: Staff
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff are employed by the Office of the Public Guardian (a) in total and (b) to investigate powers of attorney and safeguarding; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	178685
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/04/2021 answer text <p>OPG currently employs 1,462 people. 93 of these people currently work within the LPA Investigation unit and 11 work in the deputyship’s investigations team. 28 currently work within the Investigations, Triage and Support Team (ITAS) – giving a total of 132 people working within this area.</p><p> </p><p>This information was taken from SOP, the Ministry of Justice’s HR system. The figures include all OPG employees, including those who are currently off strength, for example those out on loan or on secondment to other organisations, sick or parental leave or on career breaks. They do no include contractors or temporary clerical workers provided by employment agencies.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 20/04/2021 14:13:42 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1304678

registered interest
date	22/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Powers of Attorney
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many spot check investigations his Department has carried out to check Lasting Powers of Attorney are in line with the wishes of those in whose names an application is made, in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	172854
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/03/2021 answer text <p>The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) is the registering authority for Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) and has a statutory duty to maintain a register of Powers of Attorney and Deputyship orders. OPG has authority under Section 58 of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) to investigate concerns that are raised about the circumstances surrounding the execution of an LPA, either before or after registration.</p><p>While OPG does not conduct spot checks, the creation of an LPA requires witnessing and in addition a Certificate Provider must attest that the person making the LPA understands and consents to its contents.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 30/03/2021 13:45:12 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1302384

registered interest
date	15/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Powers of Attorney: Complaints
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints his Department has received on the use, including fraudulent use, of powers of attorney in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	168820
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2021 answer text <p>The OPG does not have the data available to answer the specific question. Below is the number of overall safeguarding referrals received by OPG in the last five years, along with the number of those referrals that were accepted for investigation but these cover referrals in relation to both LPAs and Deputyship cases</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Safeguarding referrals</p></td><td><p>Accepted for investigation</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>2,681</p></td><td><p>876</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>5,327</p></td><td><p>1,266</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>5,245</p></td><td><p>1,886</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>6.740</p></td><td><p>2,883</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019-20</p></td><td><p>7,118</p></td><td><p>2,810</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020-21</p></td><td><p>6,476</p></td><td><p>1,893</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The rise in safeguarding referrals and investigations reflect the increase in LPAs and deputyships being registered each year – but the percentage of investigations as a total remains low (less than 1% of the number of registered LPAs and deputyships result in investigations).</p><p>In addition to the above, OPG have received 9 concerns related to potential fraud involving LPAs so far in 2020-21. OPG record a case as potential fraud if either the donor didn’t sign the LPA forms and/or the attorneys are not known to the donor. Most of the concerns OPG receive involve financial misappropriation, however OPG also receive concerns where it’s claimed the donor signed the form but didn’t understand what they were signing.</p><p>The OPG does not have the data available to answer the specific question. Below is the number of overall safeguarding referrals received by OPG in the last five years, along with the number of those referrals that were accepted for investigation but these cover referrals in relation to both LPAs and Deputyship cases</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Safeguarding referrals</p></td><td><p>Accepted for investigation</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>2,681</p></td><td><p>876</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>5,327</p></td><td><p>1,266</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>5,245</p></td><td><p>1,886</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>6.740</p></td><td><p>2,883</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019-20</p></td><td><p>7,118</p></td><td><p>2,810</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020-21</p></td><td><p>6,476</p></td><td><p>1,893</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The rise in safeguarding referrals and investigations reflect the increase in LPAs and deputyships being registered each year – but the percentage of investigations as a total remains low (less than 1% of the number of registered LPAs and deputyships result in investigations).</p><p>In addition to the above, OPG have received 9 concerns related to potential fraud involving LPAs so far in 2020-21. OPG record a case as potential fraud if either the donor didn’t sign the LPA forms and/or the attorneys are not known to the donor. Most of the concerns OPG receive involve financial misappropriation, however OPG also receive concerns where it’s claimed the donor signed the form but didn’t understand what they were signing.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 23/03/2021 15:22:00 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1302390

registered interest
date	15/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Powers of Attorney: Prosecutions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions there have been for misuse of powers of attorney in the most recent period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	168821
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2021 answer text <p>The number of prosecutions involving misuse of powers of attorney is not centrally held in the court proceedings database as this specific offence is not separately identified in legislation. Identifying this offence separately would require a manual search of court records, incurring disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p><p>Published figures do provide the number of prosecutions for the following offences that may include misuse of powers of attorney amongst other offences:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Committing fraud by dishonestly abusing one's position</li><li>Ill-treatment or neglect of a person lacking capacity by anyone responsible for that person’s care</li></ul><p> </p><p>The number of prosecutions can be found by searching the above offences in the ‘detailed offence’ filter of the following data tool:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938554/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2019.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938554/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2019.xlsx</a></p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 23/03/2021 15:23:25 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1302423

registered interest
date	15/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Powers of Attorney: Complaints
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints he has received on powers of attorney being improperly agreed by solicitors; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	168824
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2021 answer text <p>OPG is the registering authority for LPAs and has a statutory duty to maintain a register of Powers of Attorney and Deputyship orders.</p><p>OPG does not, however, record whether a solicitor was involved in the creation of the LPA so cannot provide the data requested.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 23/03/2021 15:24:19 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1256000

registered interest
date	26/11/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: Credit Unions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to require his Department and its agencies to provide a payroll deduction service to allow staff to save more easily with a credit union; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	121136
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2020 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice does not actively promote the use of Credit Unions to staff.</p><p> </p><p>However, any promotion of credit union schemes is generally publicised by the Trade Unions for staff to access.</p><p> </p><p>Although the Ministry does not currently provide such a facility, it does offer financial wellbeing support and advice, as part of its wider employee benefits offer to staff and will continue to explore options to support staff and raise awareness of financial wellbeing.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 04/12/2020 13:34:42 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas