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1716953

registered interest
date	09/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Internet: Prosecutions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of prosecutions for illegal downloading in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	25472
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders found guilty of criminal offences in England and Wales, up to June 2023, available here: <a title="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2023" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2023</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Information on whether offenders were prosecuted for offences relating to illegal downloading is not held by the Ministry of Justice, as this information is not recorded centrally in the Court Proceedings Database.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 20/05/2024 08:43:10 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1716971

registered interest
date	09/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Sentencing
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 ensure serious sex offenders serve their entire sentence in custody.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	25481
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>Unlike Labour, who in Government reduced the prison time served by all Standard Determinate Sentence prisoners (including rapists and serious violent offenders) from two thirds of their sentence to half, we have taken a robust approach to increasing both the sentence length of rapists and the proportion of that sentence served in prison.</p><p> </p><p>Average sentence length for adult rapists has increased by over 40% since 2010, from around 6.5 years to over 9.5 years. We have also reversed Labour’s changes, so that rapists and other serious sexual offenders currently serve two thirds of that time behind bars.</p><p>But we are now going further. The Sentencing Bill, introduced on 14 November, will ensure that rapists and serious sexual offenders serve their full custodial term in prison, before being released on a fixed licence period, which is critical for public protection and in reducing reoffending.</p><p> </p><p>Offenders convicted of certain serious sex offences, including rape, which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment will no longer receive a standard determinate sentence with automatic or discretionary early release by the Parole Board. Instead, these offenders will now get an Extended Determinate Sentence (EDS) or a Sentence for Offenders of Particular Concern (SOPC).</p><p> </p><p>The Bill also alters the release arrangements for these offences so that they will now serve the entirety of the appropriate custodial term in custody, with no referral to the Parole Board at the two-thirds point.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 20/05/2024 08:45:09 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1716973

registered interest
date	09/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Electronic Tagging
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 the number of (a) GPS and (b) alcohol monitoring tags in operation.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	25482
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice has an ambitious programme in place to expand the use of electronic monitoring, as well as building the evidence base for the effective future use of the technologies in helping to protect the public and reduce reoffending.</p><p> </p><p>Our latest published data shows at 31 March 2024 the total number of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device was 20,084, a 16% increase over the previous 12 months and exceeding 20,000 for the first time. Of this total, 10,031 individuals were wearing a GPS tag, a 36% increase over the previous 12 months, and 2,862 were wearing an alcohol monitoring tag, a 27% increase over the same period.</p><p> </p><p>While defendants on court bail make up the largest proportion of electronically monitored individuals, the fastest growing cohort over the 12 months to 31 March 2024 was offenders serving post-custody licences. The Ministry of Justice has focused expansion activity on this cohort, providing probation officers with an additional tool to help support robust offender management by providing certainty of detection of non-compliance with licence conditions. The four expansion projects in the post-custody cohort target prison leavers with risk linked to alcohol, domestic abuse and acquisitive offending, as well as those whose risk increases while they are in the community. Each expansion project is subject to a robust evaluation which will help to inform whether, where and how we continue to expand the use of electronic monitoring.</p><p>In addition to our expansion projects, the department has a programme of stakeholder engagement with decision makers to raise awareness of the availability and functionality of electronically monitored conditions and requirements as an alternative to custody where appropriate. In October 2023, the Lord Chancellor announced the doubling of GPS tags available to the courts for community orders and suspended sentence orders to support tough community-based sentences. In August 2023 we published the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electronic-monitoring-court-bail-protocol/electronic-monitoring-court-bail-protocol" target="_blank">‘Electronic Monitoring Court Bail Protocol'</a> for England and Wales which sets out key information for those involved in imposing and managing electronically monitored conditions of court bail to help build stakeholder confidence in the delivery of electronic monitoring, including GPS tags.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 20/05/2024 08:46:48 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1690360

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Criminal Proceedings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases of (a) rape and (b) serious sexual offences are outstanding 12 months after the accused was charged.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	14841
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2024 answer text <p>Our published data includes the number of cases outstanding at the court from the point of crown court receipt rather than charge. As of Q3 2023, there were 667 adult rape cases and a further 2,019 cases of sexual offences (excluding adult rape) that had been outstanding at Crown Courts in England and Wales for 12 months or more.</p><p>We recognise that lengthy waiting times can be particularly difficult for victims of rape and other serious sexual offences who wish to see justice done and move on with their lives. We are doing everything we can to address the outstanding caseload. We are taking action to maximise capacity and hear more cases so we can minimise the impact on victims. As part of this, we are:</p><ul><li>Funding another year of unlimited sitting days in the Crown Court to allow courts to work at full capacity for a third year in a row.</li><li>Recruiting up to 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in this year and beyond.</li><li>Continuing to use 20 Nightingale Courtrooms throughout 2024 to provide additional capacity for all jurisdictions.</li><li>Investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings across the next two years.</li></ul><p> </p><p>We are also ensuring that all victims of rape and sexual offences are well supported throughout their engagement with the criminal justice system. This includes delivering our 24/7 helpline service for victims of rape and sexual violence; quadrupling victim support funding by 2024/25, up from £41 million in 2009/2010; and increasing the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Abuse Advisors by 300 to nearly 1,000.</p><p> </p><p>These actions have been delivered as part of our Rape Review Action Plan, which included ambition to return the number of adult rape cases reaching court to 2016 levels. This ambition was hugely stretching, as 2015 and 2016 marked the years where adult rape prosecutions and convictions were at their highest recorded levels.</p><p> </p><p>We have exceeded this ambition well ahead of schedule. Across July - September 2023 we recorded 665 Crown Court receipts for adult rape, exceeding our original 2016 ambition of 553 by 20%. In practice, this means we have more than doubled the number of adult rape cases reaching court compared to when the Rape Review was first commissioned (2019). The number of people prosecuted for rape is 32% higher than in 2010.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris question first answered 28/02/2024 17:54:13 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1690452

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to expand the use of Nightingale courts.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	14843
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2024 answer text <p>Nightingale courts have provided necessary additional court capacity since the pandemic, and we announced on 16 February that 20 of these courtrooms will remain open in 2024. Our assessment is that this is the appropriate level of provision required to deliver swifter justice.</p><p>The locations chosen to remain open in England and Wales have been identified where they will help reduce the number of local outstanding cases, support maintenance projects by hearing cases when nearby locations are temporarily closed or to make full use of judicial capacity in court areas where there are more judges available.</p><p>Our primary focus is to maximise the use of our existing estate and our investment of £220 million in the two years to March 2025 to maintain and modernise our buildings will improve resilience and availability. We will continue to monitor our operational requirements, and should further additional capacity be required, we will consider a range of options including Nightingale courts.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 28/02/2024 16:38:32 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1689092

registered interest
date	16/02/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: Information Officers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in his Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	14021
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2024 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice’s 24/7 shared press and media team provides a wide-ranging service to ministers, the department and multiple agencies (including HMCTS, HMPPS, Legal Aid Agency, Office of the Public Guardian and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority). This includes proactive and reactive media handling, monitoring, planning, media training, event support and speechwriting. It is made up of 35 employees with roles ranging from grades HEO to SCS1. The grade salary ranges between £32,827 - £117,800 - this is departmental salary ranges, not actual salaries.</p><p> </p><p>This figure is for the Ministry of Justice central departmental Press Office and Media team only.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 26/02/2024 16:55:16 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1687838

registered interest
date	06/02/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Sexual Offences
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to ensure that serious sexual offenders are not allowed day release when serving their sentence.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	13293
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2024 answer text <p>The Prison Rules in England and Wales provide that a prisoner may be allowed to leave prison for short periods on temporary licence (ROTL). The main purpose of ROTL is to aid resettlement and suitable, risk assessed prisoners may be allowed out during the day to, for example, work, attend college, attend an interview or maintain/re-establish links with their family. They are also, once at the required stage of their sentence, allowed to apply for temporary release overnight for a maximum of four consecutive nights a month.</p><p>Eligibility for temporary release is not restricted by seriousness of offence. The decision to allow temporary release is taken by the prison governor, on behalf of the Secretary of State, who must always balance the needs of the prisoner and the purpose of the ROTL applied for, against the need to maintain public safety and the public’s confidence in the criminal justice system. Each decision is taken on a case-by-case basis to safeguard the public. Any breaches can result in more time behind bars.</p><p>Category A prisoners, remand prisoners, and prisoners subject to extradition proceedings are not eligible for ROTL under any circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 14/02/2024 13:47:41 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1686373

registered interest
date	31/01/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: Carbon Emissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what targets his Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	12320
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2024 answer text <p>The Government set out how we would meet our commitments in the Net Zero Strategy in 2021 which included a detailed breakdown of actions required across all sectors in the economy. This was updated in 2023 through the publication of 'Powering Up Britain'.</p><p>The UK has halved its emissions, ahead of every other major economy, and we have grown our economy by over 70% since 1990. The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets, and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third.</p><p>We have one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the world, and we have set more stretching targets for 2030 than most countries. We plan to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, which is more than the EU, Japan or the United States. The Ministry of Justice continues to support Government’s commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2050 or sooner and we have already reduced our total carbon emissions by 28% to March 2023 (against a 2017-18 baseline).</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 08/02/2024 08:58:50 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1685487

registered interest
date	29/01/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Criminal Records
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take legislative steps to expunge criminal records for summary offence crimes committed by individuals (a) under the age of 18 and (b) more than 10 years ago.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	11770
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2024 answer text <p>The Government agrees with the conclusion of the 2017 Justice Select Committee report, ‘Disclosure of youth criminal records’, which found that, whilst there may be some merits in a mechanism whereby records could become ‘sealed’, this would create “unsustainable pressures” on the body responsible for deciding if a record should be sealed. As the report recommended, we are instead focused on using and reforming the existing automatic filtering system.</p><p> </p><p>In November 2020, we implemented secondary legislation that changed the rules governing criminal records disclosure for those working with children, vulnerable adults or in a position of public trust, removing (for example) the requirement to disclose youth cautions. Further changes introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act have significantly reduced the length of time that someone needs to disclose their criminal record for custodial sentences of under four years and community sentences.</p><p> </p><p>We believe that these reforms will continue to ensure we strike the right balance between public protection and ensuring that individuals, and in particular children, who committed minor offences can move on with their lives as quickly as possible.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 05/02/2024 17:28:35 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1675834

registered interest
date	06/12/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: Employment Tribunals Service
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment tribunals were brought by employees of their Department in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	5511
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2023 answer text <p>Details of all employment tribunal decision outcomes are available on GOV.UK: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions</a>.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 14/12/2023 15:40:53 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord