Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1715690

	registered interest
	date	02/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Privy Council Office Judicial Committee
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to bring forward Orders in Council to allow judges from relevant overseas jurisdictions to be appointed to serve on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beith
	uin	HL4318
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2024 answer text <p>The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has a jurisdiction beyond the UK and serves as the final court of appeal for many Commonwealth and other jurisdictions. From time to time, the work of the Judicial Committee has been augmented with the jurisprudence and expertise brought by appellate judges from jurisdictions beyond the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The Lord Chancellor welcomes and approves Lord Reed’s proposal to invite judges outside the UK to sit on the Judicial Committee, and the necessary work is in train.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 15/05/2024 15:17:04 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	513 label Biography information for Lord Beith

1715691

	registered interest
	date	02/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Wetherby Young Offender Institution: Body Searches
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to take action against the management and guards of Wetherby Young Offenders Institution who permitted male officers to forcibly strip girls there, as reported by His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons in December 2023.
	tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
	uin	HL4319
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2024 answer text <p>There is no plan to take formal action against staff members who were responding to an emergency to preserve life.  In emergencies, the first priority of staff is always to safeguard the life and safety of those in their care.</p><p> </p><p>This incident was not a strip search as erroneously reported but the removal of clothing from a child who was using it to create ligatures and self-strangulate. She was placed into anti-ligature clothing to prevent causing further harm to herself.</p><p> </p><p>Following the incident highlighted by H M Inspectorate, a learning review has been conducted by the Youth Custody Service’s Safeguarding Team. It focused on four main themes:</p><p> </p><ul><li><p>protecting the well-being of children and staff during and after incidents</p></li><li><p>further training and guidance for staff in incident management of girls</p></li><li><p>integrated care management to ensure all departments work effectively with a child</p></li><li><p>management of resources to ensure there is an appropriate gender balance of staff on night duty.</p></li></ul><p> </p><p>The Youth Custody Service (YCS) will oversee the action in response to the learning review. This includes the provision of additional support to HMYOI Wetherby in its management of exceptionally complex high-risk, high-harm girls, the development of specific gender-responsive operating guidance, and effective use of available resources to support children.</p><p> </p><p>The YCS has revised the Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint syllabus, which is the behaviour management and restraint system used to provide youth estate staff with the ability to identify behaviour that causes concern and use de-escalation and diversion strategies to minimise the use of restraint through the application of behaviour management techniques. This has been rolled out at HMYOI Wetherby.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 15/05/2024 15:18:17 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

1715693

	registered interest
	date	02/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Secure Accommodation: Girls
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, what assessment they have made of the competence of the Youth Justice Board given that girls are being accommodated in male prisons, despite specific care needs illustrated by the official statistics 'Safety in the Children and Young People Secure Estate: Update to December 2023', published on 25 April, which stated that the rate of self-harm among girls on the secure estate is 66 times higher than for boys.
	tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
	uin	HL4321
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2024 answer text <p>Responsibility for the management of the youth secure estate in England and Wales was transferred from the Youth Justice Board to the Youth Custody Service, a distinct arm of His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), in 2017.</p><p>There are various mechanisms to monitor the performance of the Youth Justice System, including youth custody. The Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation chairs the Youth Justice Quarterly Performance Board (YJQPB), which provides strategic oversight on how effectively the Youth Justice System is performing. The Board uses key metrics and other intelligence across the entirety of the system to identify challenges and drive action to address these. Senior representatives across the Youth Justice System, including the Youth Custody Service, Youth Justice Board and other stakeholders within Government and the public sector collaborate to monitor the key metrics and drive change.</p><p>In addition, the Minister monitors specific custody-related performance updates through regular meetings with senior managers from Youth Custody Service.</p><p>Girls in the youth estate may be accommodated in mixed-gender settings, including within the Secure Children’s Home sector, Oakhill Training Centre and at HMYOI Wetherby. Placement decisions are made according to individual need, within the placement options available. Within each sector, each child has his or her own room - boys and girls do not mix. However, as they may do while at school within the community, boys and girls do mix in education and association areas- and are supervised by staff at all times.</p><p>Any girl in the youth estate who is at risk of self-harm will be supported through the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, ensuring she has a dedicated case manager; and girls with the most complex needs will receive additional monitoring and more intensive case management.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 17/05/2024 11:46:55 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

1715694

	registered interest
	date	02/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Young Offenders: Girls
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to house girls convicted of crimes in female-only prison units.
	tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
	uin	HL4322
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2024 answer text <p>As of February 2024, girls make up less than 1 per cent of the children and young people in the youth estate. There have been fewer than 10 girls in the youth estate at any one time during the period September 2023 to February 2024 (the latest for which figures are available).</p><p> </p><p>Within the youth estate, girls may be placed in establishments that also accommodate boys: in Secure Children’s Homes, at Oakhill Secure Training Centre and at HMYOI Wetherby. Within each sector, every child has his or her own room. When boys and girls come into contact with each other – in education and association areas – they are supervised by staff at all times. The availability of these options is designed to enable the needs of each individual girl to be met in the most appropriate way. We are keeping the position of girls in the youth estate under constant review, and the Youth Custody Service is developing a gender-specific operating model for HMYOI Wetherby, as well as gender-responsive guidance for the wider youth estate.</p><p> </p><p>For the longer term, we are reviewing options, and examining future placement locations and services, for girls who require custody, together with the training and operational support that staff need to enable them to care for girls in the youth estate.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 17/05/2024 11:48:06 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

1715697

	registered interest
	date	02/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners: Parental Responsibility
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of men in prison have access to legal advice on the issue of parental rights and responsibilities.
	tabling member printed	Lord Farmer
	uin	HL4325
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2024 answer text <p>Prisoners are entitled to civil legal aid if their legal matter is in scope, and they pass both a merits and a means test. The merits test considers the case’s likelihood of success and benefit to the client.</p><p> </p><p>Legal aid is available in certain family matters, such as public family law cases which fall under the Children Act 1989. These types of cases include proceedings relating to whether a child should be taken into care or who should have parental responsibility.</p><p> </p><p>In private family proceedings, legal aid is available for domestic abuse victims and where the child is at risk of abuse, subject to providing the required evidence and meeting the means and merits tests.</p><p> </p><p>However, the National Security Act 2023 introduced a restriction on access to civil legal aid for convicted terrorists, which narrowed the range of circumstances in which individuals convicted of specified terrorism offences can receive civil legal aid services, though these provisions have not yet commenced.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to estimate how many prisoners have a family law-related issue that is in scope of legal aid, and/or are eligible for legally-aided advice, as doing so would require each prisoner undertaking a means test and merits test of their case, as well as an examination of their issue to understand whether it is in scope.</p><p> </p><p>Prison staff are required to assist prisoners who wish to access legal advice by providing lists of legal advisers, supplying appropriate forms, and assisting prisoners to complete them where requested due to language or literacy difficulties.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 17/05/2024 11:49:07 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	4321 label Biography information for Lord Farmer

1715031

	registered interest
	date	30/04/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners: Self-harm
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to remarks by Lord Stewart of Dirleton on 29 April (HL Deb col 1704), what are (1) the make-up, and (2) the objectives, of the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) safety team, in relation to prisoners on IPP sentences in danger of self-harm.
	tabling member printed	Lord Blunkett
	uin	HL4204
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2024 answer text <p>HMPPS Safety Group supports the safety of all prisoners, and within the group, one member of staff focuses on IPP prisoners, which includes taking forward the safety actions identified in the IPP Action Plan.</p><p>Our refreshed IPP Action Plan, which will be published this summer along with our IPP Annual Report, now has a workstream dedicated to Safety with the main objective of supporting prisons to deliver safety improvements for those serving an IPP sentence.</p><p>Our primary focus is on raising awareness of the heightened risk of self-harm and suicide of IPP prisoners and we have developed an IPP Safety Toolkit to support prisons.</p><p>We will continue to monitor, analyse and share any changing or emerging trends in published IPP prisoner data with staff and to inform and update our guidance where appropriate.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 13/05/2024 15:56:47 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	395 label Biography information for Lord Blunkett

1714595

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Visits
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what the visit rates were for (1) male, and (2) female, public sector prisons in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (c) 2022, and (d) 2023.
	tabling member printed	Lord Farmer
	uin	HL4143
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2024 answer text <p>Visits are managed locally by each establishment and data is not routinely assured and reported nationally. Collating and assuring the data in the format requested would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p>His Majesty’s Prison &amp; Probation Service continue to promote the importance of offering different types of visits including family visits. We are aware that the Covid-19 Pandemic substantially impacted the numbers of face-to-face visits and stakeholders’ concerns over visitor numbers in some prisons being slow to return to pre-pandemic levels. There are a number of possible reasons for this including the introduction during the pandemic of additional ways in which families can stay in touch including the roll out of in-cell phones and secure video calls. Establishments have been working to provide a range of services to help prisoners develop or renew positive relationships. This includes using Official Prison Visitors, contracted family support workers, partnership work with external organisations such as New Bridge and the use of peer mentors.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 13/05/2024 14:25:05 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	4321 label Biography information for Lord Farmer

1714598

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of sobriety tagging schemes.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jenkin of Kennington
	uin	HL4148
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2024 answer text <p>In advance of legislating for the introduction of the Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (AAMR) for community based sentences to tackle alcohol related offending, the Government contributed to funding for two pilots to ensure robust evaluation of the effectiveness of the measure. The pilots were carried out in London and in the North East of England and findings informed the introduction of AAMR in 2020. AAMR enables courts to impose an alcohol ban of up to 120 days on adult offenders who are not alcohol dependent, compliance is monitored using an alcohol tag.</p><p>Alcohol monitoring on licence was introduced in 2021 and enables probation to include an additional licence condition banning or restricting the consumption of alcohol, where a criminogenic need related to alcohol misuse is identified as an increase to risk. Funding has been allocated for evaluation of the processes, impact and value for money. A process and interim impact evaluation are expected to be published by the end of 2025. A full reoffending analysis and value-for-money assessment are expected by the end of 2026.</p><p>Evaluations published to date can be accessed via the links below:</p><p>MOPAC’s AAMR Final Impact Evaluation Report, <em>December 2020</em> - <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/aamr_final_impact_report_100521.pdf" target="_blank">aamr_final_impact_report_100521.pdf (london.gov.uk).</a></p><p>Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement: A review of process and performance from Year 2, <em>July 2018</em> - <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/aamr_final_process_performance_y2_report_final.pdf" target="_blank">aamr_final_process_performance_y2_report_final.pdf (london.gov.uk).</a></p><p>Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement The pan London roll out: A review of process and performance from year 1, <em>July 2017</em> - <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/annex_2_-_aamr_process_and_performance_report_2017.pdf" target="_blank">AAMR Interim Report (london.gov.uk).</a></p><p>Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement: South London Pilot Indicative Impact Report, <em>April 2017 </em>- <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/annex_1_-_aamr_early_impact_report_210417.pdf" target="_blank">Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (london.gov.uk).</a></p><p>HNLY Pilot Process Evaluation Report, <em>October 2019</em> - <a href="https://www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Evaluation-of-the-AAMR-tagging-pilot.pdf" target="_blank">Evaluation-of-the-AAMR-tagging-pilot.pdf (northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk).</a></p><p> </p><p>The AAMR pilot in the North-East focused on domestic abuse perpetrators, the process evaluation shows that 31% of wearers were convicted of a domestic violence offence. Compliance with the alcohol ban shows that the devices did not register a tamper or alcohol alert on 97.4% of the days worn. The impact evaluation (including for reoffending) is underway for this pilot and is also intended to be published.</p><p>The evaluations to date and published statistics have shown a strong uptake of alcohol monitoring by courts and probation. The number of individuals fitted with an alcohol monitoring (AM) device as at 31 March 2024 was 2,862, a 27% increase over the previous 12 months. There were 12,506 new alcohol monitoring orders imposed across England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2024. Overall, 24,305 new alcohol monitoring orders have been imposed since their introduction against an ambition of 12,000 by 2025 and compliance with the alcohol ban has remained consistent at over 97% for the total of days monitored. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electronic-monitoring-statistics-publication-march-2024" target="_blank">Electronic Monitoring Statistics Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy grouped question UIN HL4149 question first answered 13/05/2024 11:21:10 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	4229 label Biography information for Baroness Jenkin of Kennington

1714600

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of sobriety tagging schemes, particularly for those convicted of serious assaults or domestic violence where alcohol was a factor.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jenkin of Kennington
	uin	HL4149
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2024 answer text <p>In advance of legislating for the introduction of the Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (AAMR) for community based sentences to tackle alcohol related offending, the Government contributed to funding for two pilots to ensure robust evaluation of the effectiveness of the measure. The pilots were carried out in London and in the North East of England and findings informed the introduction of AAMR in 2020. AAMR enables courts to impose an alcohol ban of up to 120 days on adult offenders who are not alcohol dependent, compliance is monitored using an alcohol tag.</p><p>Alcohol monitoring on licence was introduced in 2021 and enables probation to include an additional licence condition banning or restricting the consumption of alcohol, where a criminogenic need related to alcohol misuse is identified as an increase to risk. Funding has been allocated for evaluation of the processes, impact and value for money. A process and interim impact evaluation are expected to be published by the end of 2025. A full reoffending analysis and value-for-money assessment are expected by the end of 2026.</p><p>Evaluations published to date can be accessed via the links below:</p><p>MOPAC’s AAMR Final Impact Evaluation Report, <em>December 2020</em> - <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/aamr_final_impact_report_100521.pdf" target="_blank">aamr_final_impact_report_100521.pdf (london.gov.uk).</a></p><p>Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement: A review of process and performance from Year 2, <em>July 2018</em> - <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/aamr_final_process_performance_y2_report_final.pdf" target="_blank">aamr_final_process_performance_y2_report_final.pdf (london.gov.uk).</a></p><p>Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement The pan London roll out: A review of process and performance from year 1, <em>July 2017</em> - <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/annex_2_-_aamr_process_and_performance_report_2017.pdf" target="_blank">AAMR Interim Report (london.gov.uk).</a></p><p>Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement: South London Pilot Indicative Impact Report, <em>April 2017 </em>- <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/annex_1_-_aamr_early_impact_report_210417.pdf" target="_blank">Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (london.gov.uk).</a></p><p>HNLY Pilot Process Evaluation Report, <em>October 2019</em> - <a href="https://www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Evaluation-of-the-AAMR-tagging-pilot.pdf" target="_blank">Evaluation-of-the-AAMR-tagging-pilot.pdf (northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk).</a></p><p> </p><p>The AAMR pilot in the North-East focused on domestic abuse perpetrators, the process evaluation shows that 31% of wearers were convicted of a domestic violence offence. Compliance with the alcohol ban shows that the devices did not register a tamper or alcohol alert on 97.4% of the days worn. The impact evaluation (including for reoffending) is underway for this pilot and is also intended to be published.</p><p>The evaluations to date and published statistics have shown a strong uptake of alcohol monitoring by courts and probation. The number of individuals fitted with an alcohol monitoring (AM) device as at 31 March 2024 was 2,862, a 27% increase over the previous 12 months. There were 12,506 new alcohol monitoring orders imposed across England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2024. Overall, 24,305 new alcohol monitoring orders have been imposed since their introduction against an ambition of 12,000 by 2025 and compliance with the alcohol ban has remained consistent at over 97% for the total of days monitored. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electronic-monitoring-statistics-publication-march-2024" target="_blank">Electronic Monitoring Statistics Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy grouped question UIN HL4148 question first answered 13/05/2024 11:21:10 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	4229 label Biography information for Baroness Jenkin of Kennington

1701965

	registered interest
	date	17/04/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Judiciary: Public Appointments
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by the University of Manchester Racial Bias and the Bench: A response to the Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (2020-2025), published in November 2022, what support they will give to recommendations to overhaul judicial appointment processes to deliver a more diverse judiciary and embed equalities within the judiciary.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Gloucester
	uin	HL3880
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is independent of government and has a statutory duty to select candidates for judicial appointment solely on merit; select only people of good character and have regard to the need to encourage diversity in the range of persons available for judicial selection. The JAC keeps its selection processes under continual review to ensure they are transparent, fair, and attract talented candidates from a wide range of backgrounds. In 2022-2023, across all legal JAC exercises, 51% of those recommended for appointment were women and 16% were ethnic minorities, contributing to a more diverse judiciary.</p><p>The Ministry of Justice, as a member of the Judicial Diversity Forum (JDF), works closely with the judiciary, the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the three largest legal professions on actions to improve judicial diversity. The Forum’s 2024 action plan (<a href="https://judicialappointments.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Judicial-Diversity-Forum-Priorities-and-Actions-for-2024.pdf" target="_blank">https://judicialappointments.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Judicial-Diversity-Forum-Priorities-and-Actions-for-2024.pdf</a>) which was published in January, sets out our shared priorities.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 30/04/2024 13:42:51 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
	tabling member	4540 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Gloucester