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1690719

registered interest
date	21/02/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been prosecuted for non-payment of TV licence fees in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	15067
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/02/2024 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice holds information on prosecutions for non-payment of TV licence fees, covering the period requested. The latest data available, until year ending June 2023, can be obtained in the following published tool: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65bd0675704282000d752143/outcomes-by-offence-june-2023.xlsx" target="_blank">Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023</a>.</p><p>In the data tool, navigate to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab. In the ‘Offence’ filter, select ‘191A Television licence evasion’.</p><p>The pivot table will now present the number of prosecutions at all courts from year ending June 2011, including the requested last five years, from year ending June 2019 to year ending June 2023.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 29/02/2024 16:45:09 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1689860

registered interest
date	19/02/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Espionage: Convictions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted of espionage offences in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	14581
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2024 answer text <p>Espionage offences dealt with under the National Security Act 2023 received royal ascent in July 2023, and are therefore not yet available in the source data.</p><p> </p><p>Convictions relating to espionage offences prior to the act (under the Official Secrets Acts 1911, 1920 and 1989), up to June 2023, will have been prosecuted under a range of offences, many of which are available in the Outcomes by <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65bd0675704282000d752143/outcomes-by-offence-june-2023.xlsx" target="_blank">Offence data tool: June 2023</a>.</p><p> </p><p>They can be accessed by navigating to the ‘<em>Prosecutions and convictions</em>’ tab and using the <em>HO Offence Code</em> filter to select the below offences:</p><p> </p><ul><li>06629 - Unauthorised use of uniforms; falsification of reports, forgery, personation, and false documents. Interfering with officers of the police or members of His Majesty’s forces. Duty of giving information as to commission of offences.</li><li>06630 - Committing an act prejudicial to the safety or the interest of the State</li><li>06631 - Knowingly harbouring spy</li><li>06632 - Serving or former member of Security or intelligence Services disclosing information relating to security or intelligence. Person notified as subject to security or intelligence provisions unlawfully disclosing secret</li><li>06633 - Former or current Crown Servant or Government Contractor making damaging disclosure relating to security or intelligence</li><li>06634 - Former or current Crown Servant or Government Contractor making damaging disclosure relating to defence matter</li><li>06635 - Former or current Crown Servant or Government Contractor making damaging disclosure of confidential matter from Foreign State or relating to international relations</li><li>06636 - Former or current Crown Servant or Government Contractor disclosing information resulting in commission of offence, facilitating escape from custody, facilitating act prejudicial to safekeeping of person in custody, impeding prevention or detection of offence or apprehension or prosecution of suspected offender etc.</li><li>06637 - Making damaging disclosure of protected information</li><li>06689 - Making damaging disclosure of information entrusted to other State or organisation.</li><li>06695 - Disclosing information which can be used to gain access to protected information</li></ul><p> </p><p>In addition to these, HO code 195/99 contains offences under s8 Official Secrets Act, which are not able to be disaggregated through published products. Bespoke analysis concluded that there was 1 person prosecuted for offences under this legislation between years ending June 2019 and 2023. There may be other prosecutions related to espionage that are prosecuted under other legislation but it is not possible to identify those from the data.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 27/02/2024 17:23:24 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1687336

registered interest
date	05/02/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Employment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to encourage newly released prisoners into employment.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	13005
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2024 answer text <p>Getting more prison leavers into employment is crucial to this government’s mission to cut crime and make our streets safer by reducing reoffending. We know that employment reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. That is why I am pleased to say that, in England and Wales, the proportion of prison leavers who were employed six months after their release almost doubled from 14% in April 2021 to over 30% in March 2023.</p><p>In England and Wales, we have completed recruitment of dedicated Prison Employment Leads, who get prisoners work ready and match them to jobs on release. They work with key partners in the prison including DWP, probation, education and Information Advice and Guidance providers to ensure joined-up working. In custody and in the community, HMPPS Creating Future Opportunities (CFO) provides tailored resettlement services in England, focusing on supporting those furthest from the labour market.</p><p>The Government will continue to progress this work to help businesses fill the nearly one million vacancies in the UK, while also cutting crime and reducing reoffending.</p><p>Prisons and Probation services are devolved in Northern Ireland, and employment support is a transferred matter and the responsibility of the Department for Communities.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 09/02/2024 16:32:06 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1685793

registered interest
date	30/01/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Offences against Children: Convictions and Prosecutions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of child cruelty offences in the latest period for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	11993
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2024 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions and convictions for a range of child cruelty offences, from the year ending June 2011 to the year ending June 2023, in the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65a7e44aed27ca001327b161/outcomes-by-offence-june-2023.xlsx" target="_blank">Outcomes by Offence data tool: June 2023</a>.</p><p>This can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code filter to select the following offences:</p><ul><li>01103 – Cruelty to or neglect of children</li><li>00407 – Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person</li><li>00411 - Causing or allowing child or vulnerable adult to suffer serious physical harm.</li></ul><p>The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 increased the maximum penalties for:</p><ul><li>Causing or allowing a child or vulnerable adult to die from 14 years’ imprisonment to life imprisonment;</li><li>Causing or allowing a child or vulnerable adult to suffer serious physical harm from 10 to 14 years’ imprisonment; and</li><li>Cruelty to a person under 16 from 10 to 14 years’ imprisonment.</li></ul><p>A consequence of increasing the maximum penalty for causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult to life imprisonment is that offenders sentenced to 7 years or more for that offence will spend two thirds of their sentence, rather than half, in custody.</p><p>Partly as a result of these measures, average custodial sentence length for child cruelty offences has increased by 79.9% since 2010.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris question first answered 07/02/2024 17:13:37 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1682392

registered interest
date	16/01/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to increase the level of support available to victims of domestic abuse who are waiting for their trials to begin.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	9822
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2024 answer text <p>We are doing more than ever to ensure victims continue to receive the support they need as we work hard to ensure swift justice.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recognises that support services play a vital role, and that Independent Domestic Violence Advisors can be critical to helping victims of domestic abuse at all stages of the criminal justice system. This includes when they are waiting for their trial to begin.</p><p> </p><p>We are quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25, up from £41m in 2009/10. The funding will allow us to increase the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisers by 300 to over 1,000, a 43% increase over this spending review period (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive).</p><p> </p><p>To ensure that there is clarity on what victims can and should expect from the criminal justice system response, on 8 November 2023 we reintroduced the Victims and Prisoners Bill, alongside a wider package of measures designed to improve victims' experiences of the criminal justice system.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris question first answered 24/01/2024 15:32:14 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1682397

registered interest
date	16/01/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Staff
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to (a) help tackle and (b) vet HM Prison staff to ensure compliance with rules on the smuggling of contraband into prisons; and whether he has had recent discussions with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on a UK-wide approach to this issue.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	9827
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated. All HMPPS prison staff are subject to pre-employment vetting checks, including social and digital media vetting checks, to assess whether candidates meet the high standards expected of them to work in HMPPS and assures a standard of resilience upon entry. This vetting is renewed every 10 years.</p><p> </p><p>HMPPS is undertaking a Vetting Reform Programme and applying the recommendations from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Police, Fire &amp; Rescue Services report of 2022: “<em>An Inspection of Vetting, Misconduct and Misogyny in the Police Service</em>” to prisons and probation.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has not held discussions with devolved administrations about vetting but will consider the merits of doing so to ensure processes remain modern and robust across the UK.</p><p> </p><p>We committed to having a zero-tolerance approach to crime in prisons. Our £100 million Security Investment Programme, aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including the smuggling of contraband, was completed in March 2022. This investment delivered airport-style enhanced gate security to 42 high-risk sites, implementing routine searching of staff. We have since gone further and installed X-ray baggage scanners at 49 sites and invested into new drug trace detection equipment across the estate.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 23/01/2024 16:56:04 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1677395

registered interest
date	12/12/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Knives: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been prosecuted for knife crime in England since January 2020.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	6559
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2023 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions for criminal offences, in the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1182043/outcomes-by-offence-2022_v2.xlsx" target="_blank">Outcomes by Offence data tool</a>. This information can be further broken down by offence group and specific offences using the appropriate filters (for knife crime offences, select ‘10D Possession of article with blade or point’ in the Offence filter). To see prosecutions for England only, Welsh police force areas (Dyfed Powys, Gwent, North Wales, South Wales) can be deselected from the appropriate filter.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 20/12/2023 16:21:52 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1672145

registered interest
date	22/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Rape: Convictions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase conviction rates for rape.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	3225
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/11/2023 answer text <p>The Government does not seek to influence the outcome of trial processes, which are underpinned by judicial independence and the right to a fair trial. Instead, through our Rape Review Action Plan, we are delivering a programme of work to significantly increase the number of adult rape cases reaching court.</p><p>We have already exceeded each of our ambitions to return the number of adult rape cases referred by the police, charged by the CPS and reaching court to 2016 levels ahead of schedule, with the number of adult rape cases reaching court now 13% higher than in 2016. In addition, the latest data shows that prosecutions and convictions for adult rape have increased on the previous year, with prosecutions volumes now higher than they were in 2010, when we came into Government.</p><p>But we are determined to go further. We continue to deliver a range of actions that will allow us to go further in increasing the number of adult rape cases reaching court. This includes:</p><ul><li>Through Operation Soteria, we are transforming the way that the police investigate an CPS prosecute adult rape, focusing on suspect behaviour over victim credibility through our new, transformative National Operating Models.</li><li>Having recruited 20,000 new police officers, bringing the total number to a record peak, we will train over 2,000 officers to become specialist rape investigators by April 2024, making sure the police have the skills and resources to deal with these complex cases.</li><li>We are quadrupling victims funding by 2024/25, up from £41 million in 2009/10, which will enable us to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Advisors by 300 to over 1,000 – a 43% increase by 2024/5.</li><li>Our national rollout of pre-recorded cross examination for victims of sexual and modern slavery offences is being used in over 150 cases per month, sparing victims from the glare of court and ensuring they can give their best evidence.</li><li>And to ensure we reduce victim attrition, we have made great strides in tackling the intrusive investigation process. This includes our commitment to no adult rape victim being left without a phone for more than 24 hours, as well as legislating to ensure that police requests for Third Party Materials are only made by the police when it is necessary and proportionate to do so.</li></ul> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris question first answered 30/11/2023 16:55:05 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1670273

registered interest
date	15/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will hold discussion with the Sentencing Council on the potential merits of making it more likely that perpetrators of retail crime receive custodial sentences.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	2148
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2023 answer text <p>The independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales has a statutory duty to develop sentencing guidelines and monitor their use. These guidelines provide the Court with guidance on factors that should be considered, which may affect the sentence given. They set out different levels of sentence based on the harm caused and how blameworthy the offender is.</p><p>As an independent body, the Sentencing Council decides on its own priorities and work plan for producing and reviewing guidelines. Therefore, the Government cannot require the Council to review particular guidelines. It is open of course to individuals to approach the Council to ask that they do so, and I would encourage you to share your concerns with them. The Council’s published criteria for developing or revising guidelines is available on its website at: <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/sentencing-and-the-council/about-the-sentencing-council/our-criteria-for-developing-or-revising-guidelines/" target="_blank">https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/sentencing-and-the-council/about-the-sentencing-council/our-criteria-for-developing-or-revising-guidelines/</a>.</p><p>The Ministry of Justice regularly monitors the effectiveness of the sentencing framework.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 23/11/2023 11:08:23 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1658552

registered interest
date	06/09/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Child Trust Fund: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to simplify the process for parents of disabled children to access child trust fund accounts when their children turn eighteen.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	198046
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>Anyone who wishes to manage the finances of a person who lacks the mental capacity to do so for themselves, which includes children turning 18, must have the legal authority to do so. In England and Wales legal authority is obtained by applying to the Court of Protection.</p><p>In February the Court of Protection introduced an online process to streamline and speed up processing times for property and affairs applications. This has resulted in decisions for a Court of Protection application being obtained within 8 weeks instead of 24 weeks. We continue to review and revise the process and the court will continue to identify areas to simplify and remove duplication on court forms, including uploading to the online process many of the forms required for a property and affairs applications.</p><p>My friend represents Northern Ireland. I cannot comment on the situation there as this responsibility is devolved.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 14/09/2023 16:15:28 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon