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101665

registered interest
date	29/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: Written Questions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2014 to Question 200960, when he plans to write to the hon. Member for Coventry South to provide the information he omitted to provide in that Answer.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	212532
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>I wrote to the Honourable Member on 3 November with the information he requested in his Question 200960, and apologising for the delay in writing to him.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 03/11/2014 17:21:31 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

101486

registered interest
date	28/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Probation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he sought the approval of the European Commission for pension proposals in the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	212311
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>Under the National Agreement on Staff Transfer, all probation employees who transferred to the new probation structures on 1 June 2014 retained their membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme. This applied to probation employees in both Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS).</p><p> </p><p>On 2 July 2014, a Written Ministerial statement was laid before the House, setting out the Secretary of State's guarantee that the Department will meet any contributions due to the Local Government Pension Scheme in relation to probation employees who have transferred to the CRCs whilst in Government ownership in the event of CRC insolvency. This facilitated continued pension provision under the Local Government Pension Scheme for these probation employees. The Written Ministerial statement can be accessed via:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm140702/wmstext/140702m0001.htm" target="_blank">http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm140702/wmstext/140702m0001.htm</a></p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice has engaged as appropriate with the European Commission and other relevant parties regarding the pension proposals for probation employees.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 212314 question first answered 03/11/2014 15:05:11 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

101489

registered interest
date	28/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Open Prisons
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners are serving custodial sentences in open prisons, broken down by the most serious offence for which they were imprisoned, in the most recent period for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Altrincham and Sale West
tabling member printed	Mr Graham Brady
uin	212354
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>The below table provides the number of prisoners serving both determinate and indeterminate sentences currently residing in open prisons, by offence group.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Prisoners serving a custodial sentence in open prisons </strong><strong>by offence group, as at 30 September 2014, England and Wales</strong></p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td><p><strong>30-Sep-14</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Violence against the person</p></td><td><p>1,131</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sexual offences</p></td><td><p>285</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Robbery</p></td><td><p>422</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Burglary</p></td><td><p>289</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Theft and handling</p></td><td><p>113</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Fraud and forgery</p></td><td><p>253</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Drug offences</p></td><td><p>1,153</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Motoring offences</p></td><td><p>33</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other offences</p></td><td><p>467</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Offence not recorded</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>All</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>4,147</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Note: </strong></p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>This information does not include:</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Category D prisoners held in non predominant function open prisons</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Category D prisoners held in open sites that are part of multi-site establishments performing different functions</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Category D prisoners held in small (under 50 place) open units at predominant function closed prisons</p></td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.</p><p> </p><p>There are two means by which indeterminate sentenced prisoners (ISPs – both those serving life and indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs)) – are considered for transfer to open conditions. The principal means is by way of a positive recommendation from the independent Parole Board, which falls to officials either to accept or reject on behalf of the Secretary of State, under agreed delegated authority and in accordance with policy agreed by the Secretary of State. However, ISPs may also apply to progress to open conditions without a positive recommendation from the Parole Board being sought, where they can show exceptional progress in reducing their risk. Each application is determined on its merits under agreed delegated authority by officials in the Offender Management and Public Protection Group in the Ministry of Justice.</p><p> </p><p>Determinate sentenced prisoners are assessed for their suitability for open conditions by experienced prison staff with relevant input from offender managers and other professionals within the prison. The assessment will consider the extent to which the prisoner has reduced identified risks and any intelligence or other information that provides evidence of the prisoner’s trustworthiness for conditions of very low security. Determinate sentence prisoners should not generally be moved to open prison if they have more than two years to serve to their earliest release date, unless assessment of a prisoner’s individual risks and needs support earlier categorisation to open conditions. Such cases must have the reasons for their categorisation fully documented and confirmed in writing by the Governing Governor.</p><p> </p><p>All those located in open conditions have been rigorously risk assessed and their risks have been deemed manageable in open conditions.</p><p> </p><p>The public have understandable concerns about the failure of a small minority of prisoners to return from temporary release from open prison. Keeping the public safe is our priority and we will not allow the actions of these offenders to undermine public confidence in the prison system. The number of temporary release failures remains very low; less that one failure in every 1,000 temporary releases and about five in every 100,000 temporary releases involving alleged offending, but we take each and every incident seriously. The Government has already ordered immediate changes to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. Prisoners are now no longer eligible for transfer to open conditions if they have previously absconded from open prisons, or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence, unless there are exceptional circumstances.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 03/11/2014 14:10:47 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	435 label Biography information for Sir Graham Brady

101490

registered interest
date	28/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Probation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what grounds his Department's Transforming Rehabilitation reforms provide a guarantee to the administering authority of the Local Government Pension Scheme in respect of past service liabilities that will become the responsibility of community rehabilitation companies, and future accrual of benefits for transferring staff in the event of a failure by those companies to pay those contributions or amounts.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	212314
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>Under the National Agreement on Staff Transfer, all probation employees who transferred to the new probation structures on 1 June 2014 retained their membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme. This applied to probation employees in both Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS).</p><p> </p><p>On 2 July 2014, a Written Ministerial statement was laid before the House, setting out the Secretary of State's guarantee that the Department will meet any contributions due to the Local Government Pension Scheme in relation to probation employees who have transferred to the CRCs whilst in Government ownership in the event of CRC insolvency. This facilitated continued pension provision under the Local Government Pension Scheme for these probation employees. The Written Ministerial statement can be accessed via:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm140702/wmstext/140702m0001.htm" target="_blank">http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm140702/wmstext/140702m0001.htm</a></p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice has engaged as appropriate with the European Commission and other relevant parties regarding the pension proposals for probation employees.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 212311 question first answered 03/11/2014 15:05:11 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

101491

registered interest
date	28/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Security
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been paid in forfeiture because of the Prison Service's use of barbed and razor wire in each of the last four years.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	212304
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>No fines have been paid to the EU or any other organisation because of HM Prison Service’s use of barbed and razor wire in the last four years. Furthermore, there have been no infraction proceedings at the European Court of Justice and no findings against the UK in the European Court of Human Rights about this issue in that time period.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provides razor wire and barbed wire as part of construction and refurbishment projects on its custodial estate. It is deployed most often at the top of perimeter fences and fences which form partitions within the grounds of prisons. It forms one of a number of security measures which prevent prisoners scaling fences either to breach the perimeter or to enter hazardous and prohibited areas of a prison</p><p> </p><p>The MoJ works with the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to ensure that its proposed use would not present a health or safety hazard to prisoners, members of NOMS staff, visitors to a prison or members of the public.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 03/11/2014 14:48:34 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

101196

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Publications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons have received copies of the books that supporters of the Books for Prisoners campaign have sent to his Department.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	211988
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>Several dozen donated books have been passed to the library at HMP Pentonville. Officials are arranging for a further batch of donated books (around 120, as of the end of October 2014) to be sent to HMP East Sutton Park.</p><p> </p><p>This is on an exceptional basis, and all of the books are searched before being made available to the library service. The books will be available for any prisoner at the two establishments to borrow.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 211986 211987 question first answered 03/11/2014 16:26:19 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

101197

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Transport
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Prisons Service spent on taxis to transport prisoners in 2013-14.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	211985
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2014 answer text <p>The Prisoner Escort Custody Service (PECS), which is part of the National Offender Management Service, is responsible for the movement of prisoners between prisons, police stations and courts and their care and security while in court custody. PECS manages the secure escort contracts covering all those sent to custody in the prison estate, apart from Category A prisoners.</p><p> </p><p>However, there are occasions when the prison service may make use of taxis to provide prisons with a cost-effective, flexible way of fulfilling transport requirements for prisoners where there is a strong operational justification for doing so. This is an economical mode of transport (particularly in comparison with using cellular vehicles or purchasing cars). It reduces potential overhead costs for prisons, such as maintenance and cleaning, which have an impact on staff time. Prisons are able to access this form of transport at short notice, in response to urgent requirements</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The table below shows the total amount of cost of hiring transport, including taxis, for prisoners for financial year 2013-14 for public sector prisons in England and Wales.</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Transport Hire Costs for Prisoners </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>£3,417,595</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p><em>To note within the table:</em></p><p>1. It is important to note that the charges for Taxis used for medical escorts are reimbursed by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). PCTs have the commissioning and funding responsibility for all medical escorts and bedwatches for prisons but exclude Open prisons, Immigration Remand Centres and prisons in Wales.</p><p> </p><p>2. The figure for financial year 2013-14 is extracted from our central accounting code and include costs of hiring transport e.g. taxis, coaches, mini-buses etc. for taking prisoners to court and for all other escorts including bedwatches, funeral escorts and regime activities not in official vehicles. Also, the figure has been drawn from NOMS central accounting records, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.</p><p> </p><p>3. Private Prisons are excluded.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 30/10/2014 17:06:58 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

101198

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Publications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many books his Department received from supporters of the Books for Prisoners campaign.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	211986
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>Several dozen donated books have been passed to the library at HMP Pentonville. Officials are arranging for a further batch of donated books (around 120, as of the end of October 2014) to be sent to HMP East Sutton Park.</p><p> </p><p>This is on an exceptional basis, and all of the books are searched before being made available to the library service. The books will be available for any prisoner at the two establishments to borrow.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 211987 211988 question first answered 03/11/2014 16:26:19 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

101199

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Publications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to deal with the books sent to it by supporters of the Books for Prisoners campaign.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	211987
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>Several dozen donated books have been passed to the library at HMP Pentonville. Officials are arranging for a further batch of donated books (around 120, as of the end of October 2014) to be sent to HMP East Sutton Park.</p><p> </p><p>This is on an exceptional basis, and all of the books are searched before being made available to the library service. The books will be available for any prisoner at the two establishments to borrow.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 211986 211988 question first answered 03/11/2014 16:26:19 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

100907

registered interest
date	24/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoner Escapes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the longest time is that any prisoner has been on the run in the last 30 years; for what offence that prisoner was sentenced; what the length of that sentence was; and how long that prisoner had served before absconding.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	211884
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>Detailed records of offenders who are unlawfully at large have only been maintained since April 2004. It is not possible therefore to provide details of any prisoner who has been unlawfully at large before this period or to specify the longest period of absence.</p><p> </p><p>The number of escapes, absconds and temporary release failures has fallen over the last two decades. When a prisoner becomes unlawfully at large he or she is immediately reported to police to locate and apprehend. Unlawfully at large prisoners are often recaptured and returned to custody quickly, and over 97% of prisoners who absconded between April 2004 and March 2014 have been returned to custody. Absconds are taken very seriously. Re-captured prisoners will be returned to a more secure closed prison and will face either a criminal prosecution or an internal adjudication in prison in front of a visiting judge. In either case they can receive additional time in prison.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 29/10/2014 17:52:50 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies