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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

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

1672296

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	Prison Accommodation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on delivering 20,000 additional prison places.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	3195
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/11/2023 answer text <p>So far, c.5,600 additional prison places have been delivered. This includes our two new c.1,700-place prisons: HMP Five Wells, which opened last year; and HMP Fosse Way, which opened in May. It also includes, among others, c.380 Rapid Deployment Cells now in place across six sites, c.350 places brought online by re-rolling HMP Morton Hall, and a workshop at HMP High Down to support 90 new places which was delivered ahead of schedule in March.</p><p>By the end of 2025, we will have delivered over 10,000 places in total. This will include our third new prison, HMP Millsike, delivering c.1,500 places, new houseblocks at HMP Stocken and HMP Guys Marsh, as well as hundreds more Rapid Deployment Cells.</p><p>We have secured outline planning permission for our fourth new prison, near the existing HMP Gartree in Leicestershire, which will deliver a further c.1,700 modern places.</p><p>We have also put in place short-term measures across the prison estate to expand useable capacity in the estate by an extra c.2,500 places since September 2022 while ensuring our prisons remain safe for staff and offenders.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 29/11/2023 13:56:50 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1670315

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	Prisoners' Release: Employment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will set a target for the number and proportion of people moving into employment within (a) one and (b) six months of leaving prison.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	2137
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2023 answer text <p>Employment reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. Therefore, it is a priority for this government to increase the proportion of prison leavers in employment on release. We collect data on the proportion of prison leavers who are employed at six weeks and six months after release from prison.</p><p>The proportion of prison leavers in employment six months after their release has more than doubled in the two years to March 2023, from 14% to over 30%. Meanwhile, the proportion who were in employment six weeks after their release almost doubled in the same period, from 9.8% to 19.4%: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employment-rates-following-release-from-custody-ad-hoc" target="_blank">Employment Rates following Release from Custody - Ad Hoc - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p>While the Government seeks to continue this excellent progress, we are not pursuing a specific target at this time.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 22/11/2023 17:25:18 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1669582

registered interest
date	13/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Lie Detectors
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to enable the use of polygraph tests by probation officers in the management of serious offenders.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	1540
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2023 answer text <p>The Probation Service has used polygraph testing for high risk sex offenders since 2014 and for terrorist offenders since 2021. In July 2021, the Ministry of Justice commenced a three-year pilot of polygraph testing with high risk domestic abuse perpetrators.</p><p>We will close three operational gaps in the use of polygraph through the Criminal Justice Bill.</p><p>Currently, certain offenders convicted of murder cannot be polygraph tested on licence even if they have also been convicted of a serious sexual offence, where the sentence for the sexual offence has expired before they are released on licence. The Bill will permit polygraph testing with those offenders convicted of murder who are assessed as posing a risk of sexual offending on release.</p><p>It will also make sure that an offender sentenced concurrently for a sexual and a non-sexual offence, where the sexual offence expires before or during the licence period of the non-sexual offence, can be polygraph tested throughout their entire licence period.</p><p>Finally, the Bill also extends polygraph testing to a cohort of serious offenders who committed a non-terrorism offence, such as conspiracy to murder, as an act of terrorism or for the purposes of terrorism but did so before the relevant legislation came into force, which enables the Court at the point of sentencing to make a formal ‘terrorist connection’ determination.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 21/11/2023 10:13:33 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1668869

registered interest
date	09/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Parole Board
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 make all parole board hearings available to the public.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	1101
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2023 answer text <p>Any Parole Board hearing may be heard in public if the Chair of the Parole Board decides it is in the interests of justice to do so. Applications for public hearings can be made by anyone directly to the Parole Board. The criteria used by the Chair to decide public hearing applications has been published by the Parole Board on its website and the individual decisions are also published.</p><p> </p><p>Not all cases will be suitable to be heard in public due, for example, to particularly sensitive evidence or the concerns of the victims, and the government believes it is right that the Parole Board has the discretion to decide which cases should be heard in public.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 17/11/2023 12:15:22 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1666111

registered interest
date	19/10/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Miscarriages of Justice: Compensation
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 issue automatic compensation payments to individuals wrongly convicted of serious crimes.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	203478
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2023 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 26/10/2023 10:49:08 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1646708

registered interest
date	22/06/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Sentencing: Sexual Offences
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has he made of the effectiveness of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme on sexual offence sentences.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	190800
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2023 answer text <p>The Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme provides a valuable way to ensure that sentences for serious crimes, including certain sexual offences, can be challenged if perceived to be unduly lenient. In November 2019, the government extended the scheme to include further sexual offences – such as those involving indecent images of children and abusing a position of trust with a child – stalking, harassment and coercive or controlling behaviour. In 2021, sentences for sexual offences represented over a third of all cases referred to the Court of Appeal.</p><p>In 2021, 66% of sentences for sexual offences referred by the Attorney General were increased.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 28/06/2023 13:58:01 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1626525

registered interest
date	10/05/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Independent Sexual Violence Advisers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Independent Sexual Violence Advisers have been recruited by his Department since 19 October 2022.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	184367
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2023 answer text <p>The MoJ provides ringfenced funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), and we are committed to increasing the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) by 300, to over 1,000, by 2024/25 – a 43% increase on the number of ISVAs and IDVAs over this spending review period (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive).</p><p>The MoJ is currently providing funding for 900 ISVA and IDVA posts. PCCs also use their ‘core’ funding and ringfenced Domestic Abuse/Sexual Violence funding to recruit and retain additional posts.</p><p>PCCs report bi-annually to the MoJ in line with commissioning arrangements. The latest information we hold covers the period 1 April to 30 September 2022 and therefore does not cover the period requested. End of year data is currently being collated.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 18/05/2023 11:15:41 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1626526

registered interest
date	10/05/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Domestic Abuse: Homicide
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on punishments for domestic homicide of the paper entitled Quantitative Analysis of Domestic Homicide Reviews October 2020 to September 2021, published on 12 April 2023.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	184368
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2023 answer text <p>In March 2023 this government published the independent Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review and announced that we will be changing the law so that sentencing reflects the severity of these crimes. We will introduce statutory aggravating factors to increase sentences for murderers with a history of controlling or coercive behaviour against the victim, and for murders involving ‘overkill’ which is the use of excessive or gratuitous violence beyond that necessary to kill. Building on our ban of the ‘rough sex defence’ in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, we also want to see longer sentences for perpetrators of so-called rough sex manslaughter and have requested that the Sentencing Council update their guidelines so that the courts can impose a higher sentence in these circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>The Review makes a number of other recommendations which we are carefully considering, and our full response will be published before summer recess.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Office commission the 'Quantitative Analysis of Domestic Homicide Reviews’ (DHR) reports by QE Assessments Ltd to share learning and insights from the DHR process. The cases reviewed in the QE Assessments report are likely to also feature in the cases reviewed by Clare Wade KC in the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar grouped question UIN 184069 question first answered 18/05/2023 15:21:18 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord