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421977

registered interest
date	16/10/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Nutrition
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the nutritional adequacy of meals served to the prison population; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	12252
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2015 answer text <p>The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has responsibility for providing instructions to all prisons on the provision of meals for prisoners. The most recent guidelines are published at</p><p><a href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/psipso/psi-2010/psi-2010-44-catering.doc" target="_blank">http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/psipso/psi-2010/psi-2010-44-catering.doc</a>.</p><br /><p>NOMS recognises the importance of a balanced diet through regular meals and the major contribution this makes to the physical, mental and social wellbeing of prisoners.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 23/10/2015 10:02:17 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

227601

registered interest
date	11/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Service: West Midlands
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of staffing in prisons in the West Midlands.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	908089
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2015 answer text <p>On 31 December 2014, there was a 12% shortfall in overall staffing in prisons and young offender institutions within the West Midlands region, which was largely covered by the short-term use of agency staff, or the use of overtime. Shortfalls in prison officer numbers were lower - at 6% - and are largely covered by the use of payment plus and the deployment of officers from other prisons to establishments with the most acute shortfalls. We continue to recruit permanent staff to meet regional needs.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 17/03/2015 17:56:08 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

175128

registered interest
date	21/01/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Accommodation: West Midlands
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the future demand for prison places in the West Midlands; and what assessment he has made of the capacity of West Midlands prisons to meet that future demand.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	221671
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2015 answer text <p /> <p>Decisions on the future demand for prison places in the West Midlands will depend on population trends and projections over the coming years.</p><p> </p><p>This Government will always ensure that we have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts, including those in the West Midlands. We continue to modernise the prison estate so that it delivers best value for the taxpayer.</p><p> </p><p>We have a long term strategy for managing the prison estate which will provide around 3000 more adult male prison places than we inherited from the previous Government. We also have a range of contingencies available to manage temporary or unexpected increases in the population.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, we will have delivered around 500 more places across the prison estate by April 2015 through small scale investments. This includes 10 places at HMP Hewell and 12 places at HMP Stoke Heath in the West Midlands.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 10/02/2015 13:26:26 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

175129

registered interest
date	21/01/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Drugs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drug seizures were made in each West Midlands prison in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	221672
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2015 answer text <p>The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of all contraband in prisons extremely seriously and deploys a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison. We do not tolerate drugs in prison and anyone caught with them will be punished and could face further prosecution.</p><p> </p><p>The number of finds of drug seizures is provided in table 1. This table provides management information on drug seizures, counting a find of each drug type as one seizure. As these data have come from administrative systems they are subject to the issues inherent in any large scale administrative system, although every effort is made to record data accurately. This data has not been quality assured to the standards required of official statistics.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="7"><p>Table 1: Number of drug seizures in West Midlands prison and YOI establishments, 2009/10 to 2013/14</p></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td><p>2009/10</p></td><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Birmingham</p></td><td><p>9</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>45</p></td><td><p>101</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Brinsford</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>15</p></td><td><p>21</p></td><td><p>55</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Dovegate</p></td><td><p>41</p></td><td><p>70</p></td><td><p>74</p></td><td><p>122</p></td><td><p>135</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Drake Hall</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>11</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Featherstone</p></td><td><p>29</p></td><td><p>27</p></td><td><p>55</p></td><td><p>68</p></td><td><p>65</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Hewell</p></td><td><p>122</p></td><td><p>111</p></td><td><p>133</p></td><td><p>108</p></td><td><p>65</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Oakwood</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>23</p></td><td><p>111</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Shrewsbury</p></td><td><p>28</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Stafford</p></td><td><p>33</p></td><td><p>21</p></td><td><p>57</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>15</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Stoke Heath</p></td><td><p>23</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p>25</p></td><td><p>12</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Swinfen Hall</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>9</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Werrington</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Key:</p><p>‘-‘ Establishment not operational</p><p> </p><p>Notes on table:</p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="7"><p>1. This table counts a seizure of each drug type as one seizure. As more than one drug type can be found in each drug incident, the number of incidents where drugs were seized may be lower than counts of seizures by drug type.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="7"><p>2. Table provides management information from administrative systems. This data has not been quality assured to standards required of official statistics.</p><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="7"> </td></tr></tbody></table><p>Prisons already use a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband with intelligence-led searches, body searches, use of x-ray machines, metal detectors and CCTV surveillance cameras, as well as body orifice scanners all helping to tackle the use of mobile phones.</p><p>Increases in the above figures can be attributed to a number of different factors including management changes, leading to new data recording practices and introduction of new measures to combat drugs. An increase in searches and intelligence-gathering, including increased detection of New Psychoactive substances, has lead to higher detection rates.</p><p> </p><p>Recently, prison governors received new guidance from the Ministry of Justice which sets out clearly for the first time the measures available to them to deal with the growing problem of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS /‘legal highs’). This reinforces the prison estate’s zero tolerance approach to contraband.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 23/03/2015 13:23:17 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

175130

registered interest
date	21/01/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Reoffenders
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the recidivism rate was of prisoners who were released from prisons in the (a) West Midlands and (b) UK in the last year.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	221673
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2015 answer text <p>Proven re-offending rates for adult offenders released from custody in England and Wales, as an average and by individual prison, are published on a quarterly basis by the Ministry of Justice in the ‘Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin’. The latest figures, covering 2012, can be found in Tables 22a (for offenders released from custodial sentences of less than 12 months) and 22b (for offenders released from custodial sentences of 12 months or more) at the link below</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/proven-reoffending-statistics-january-2012-to-december-2012" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/proven-reoffending-statistics-january-2012-to-december-2012</a></p><p> </p><p>The prisons in the West Midlands area are</p><p>• Birmingham</p><p>• Brinsford</p><p>• Dovegate</p><p>• Drake Hall</p><p>• Featherstone</p><p>• Hewell</p><p>• Long Lartin</p><p>• Shrewsbury</p><p>• Stafford</p><p>• Stoke Heath</p><p>• Swinfen Hall</p><p>• Werrington</p><p> </p><p>The Government is undertaking the Transforming Rehabilitation Reforms to reduce re-offending, particularly among short-sentenced offenders. The Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, which received Royal Assent on 13 March will, once commenced, change the law so that all offenders released from short prison sentences will receive 12 months of supervision in the community.</p><p> </p><p>We will introduce the provisions of the Act and transition services to new providers in line with the Government’s commitment to complete these reforms by 2015.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 26/01/2015 17:58:39 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

175131

registered interest
date	21/01/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Officers: West Midlands
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers staffed prisons in the West Midlands in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	221674
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The number of full time equivalent prison officers who staffed public sector prisons in West Midlands as at 31 March, 2010 - 2014 can be found in the table below. National Offender Management Service is not responsible for staff numbers in the contracted estate, and does not routinely hold these figures centrally.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table: Number of Full Time Equivalent Officers in West Midland Prisons as at 31 March, 2010-2014</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Band 4 / Supervising Officer</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Band 5 / Custodial Managers</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>All Officers</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010</p></td><td><p>1570</p></td><td><p>310</p></td><td><p>80</p></td><td><p>1960</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011</p></td><td><p>1540</p></td><td><p>290</p></td><td><p>80</p></td><td><p>1900</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>1130</p></td><td><p>230</p></td><td><p>40</p></td><td><p>1400</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>1060</p></td><td><p>210</p></td><td><p>40</p></td><td><p>1310</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>850</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>80</p></td><td><p>1030</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Note: The large reduction in Officers in 2012 was due to the transfer of HMP Birmingham from the public sector to a private contractor.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 27/01/2015 10:22:06 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

173458

registered interest
date	13/01/2015
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, how many prisoners are unlawfully at large having escaped since June 2010 from escorts conducted under the Prison Escort and Custody Services contract where the prisoner had not previously been received into NOMS' custody; and of what offence those prisoners had been convicted or charged.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	220581
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>Procedures governing the escort of prisoners are constantly under review to help reduce the risk of escape. In the four year period between April 2010 and March 2014 41 prisoners escaped from Prison Escort and Custody Services (PECS) supervision either from escort or at court. This compares to 62 escapes from PECS supervision in the 4 year period prior to April 2010.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to answer this specific question as data is not available to distinguish those prisoners unlawfully at large who had not previously been received into the custody of NOMS at the time of the escape.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 27/01/2015 09:21:16 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

171670

registered interest
date	18/12/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Interpreters
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much was spent on professional interpretation services by each prison in England and Wales in 2012; and on how many occasions such interpretation services were used in each prison in 2012.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	219496
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The percentage success rates for the Capita Translation and Interpreting contract are published and can be found using the below link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-the-use-of-language-services-in-courts-and-tribunals-january-2012-december-2013" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-the-use-of-language-services-in-courts-and-tribunals-january-2012-december-2013</a></p><p>Please find below a table showing the number of assignments and total spend in 2012 in each prison on professional interpretation through the MoJ Language Services Contract with Capita Translation and Interpreting.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Prison</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> Spend 2012 </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of assignments</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Nottingham</p></td><td><p>£317.77</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Nottingham</p></td><td><p>£162.76</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Ranby</p></td><td><p>£155.01</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Stocken</p></td><td><p>£94.24</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Sudbury</p></td><td><p>£668.23</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP The Mount</p></td><td><p>£69.75</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Wellingborough</p></td><td><p>£223.50</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI Foston Hall</p></td><td><p>£72.32</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>IRC Morton Hall</p></td><td><p>£36.25</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Whatton</p></td><td><p>£37,893.56</p></td><td><p>135</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>MoJ Shared Services</p></td><td><p>£4,635.61</p></td><td><p>26</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Bure</p></td><td><p>£153.01</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Highpoint</p></td><td><p>£33.58</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Usk and Prescoed</p></td><td><p>£1,855.39</p></td><td><p>14</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP North Sea Camp</p></td><td><p>£253.73</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Norwich</p></td><td><p>£38.67</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI Warren Hill</p></td><td><p>£62.00</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMYOI Chelmsford</p></td><td><p>£411.12</p></td><td><p>6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Belmarsh</p></td><td><p>£144.99</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Brixton</p></td><td><p>£136.92</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Pentonville</p></td><td><p>£403.03</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Wandsworth</p></td><td><p>£33,777.91</p></td><td><p>103</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMYOI Feltham</p></td><td><p>£31.00</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Frankland</p></td><td><p>£62.00</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Holme House</p></td><td><p>£86.99</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Garth</p></td><td><p>£155.16</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Liverpool</p></td><td><p>£654.32</p></td><td><p>9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Manchester</p></td><td><p>£1,177.93</p></td><td><p>6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Manchester</p></td><td><p>£1,018.55</p></td><td><p>5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Preston</p></td><td><p>£33.59</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI Hindley</p></td><td><p>£217.66</p></td><td><p>6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMYOI Styal</p></td><td><p>£109.07</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Swaleside</p></td><td><p>£496.04</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI Downview</p></td><td><p>£130.49</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI Reading</p></td><td><p>£4,610.72</p></td><td><p>28</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMYOI Cookham Wood</p></td><td><p>£58.00</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Send</p></td><td><p>£129.17</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Channings Wood</p></td><td><p>£124.01</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Leyhill</p></td><td><p>£293.45</p></td><td><p>5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Shepton Mallet</p></td><td><p>£158.99</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP The Verne</p></td><td><p>£94.24</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Hewell</p></td><td><p>£114.17</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Long Lartin</p></td><td><p>£5,320.39</p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI Brinsford</p></td><td><p>£493.54</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMYOI Werrington</p></td><td><p>£86.99</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Leeds</p></td><td><p>£607.58</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Lindholme</p></td><td><p>£485.88</p></td><td><p>5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMP Wakefield</p></td><td><p>£38.75</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI Askham Grange</p></td><td><p>£48.33</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI Moorland</p></td><td><p>£1,363.14</p></td><td><p>9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>HMPYOI New Hall</p></td><td><p>£3,182.58</p></td><td><p>16</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£102,982.08</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>452</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Interpreters used by the Prison Service are self employed, freelance booked and sourced via the Capita-TI contract. Each assignment constitutes a separate individual booking which can range from one hour to a few days dependent upon the requirement. The value of spend and number of assignments for HMP Wandsworth and HMP Whatton are due to the requirement for a British Sign Language interpreter for a 6 month period in each facility to aid a member of prison service staff with access to work. This requirement, whilst initially paid for by HMPS, was reimbursed by the Department of Work and Pensions.</p><p> </p><p>The interpreting contract was introduced to tackle the inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the previous system. The contract has delivered significant improvements so far and we now have a system that is robust, sustainable and able to deliver a quality service at an affordable level. As a result of the contract, we have spent £27m less in the first two years it has been running, and it continues to reduce the burden on taxpayers.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 219499 question first answered 20/01/2015 16:03:24 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

171672

registered interest
date	18/12/2014
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, how many prisoners are unlawfully at large having escaped or absconded between 1 June 2010 and the most recent date for which information is available; and of what offence those prisoners had been convicted.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	219497
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>Offenders who escape or abscond are an extremely small proportion of the almost 86,000 offenders in the prison system at the moment. The number of escapes from custody has been falling since 1995 when central records began, despite an increasing prison population. Absconds have reached record lows under this Government, falling by more than 80 per cent in the last 10 years, but we have not been complacent and have made major changes to tighten the system.</p><p> </p><p>The table below shows the offence details of 17 offenders who remain unlawfully at large having escaped or absconded between 1 June 2010 and 31 March 2014. The offence is that recorded at the time of the escape. The table does not includes escapes from escorts conducted under the Prison Escort and Custody Services contract where the prisoner had not previously been received into NOMS’ custody and absconds from NOMS’ run immigration removal centres.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Offence details of offenders who escaped or absconded between 1 June 2010 and 31 March 2014 and who remain unlawfully at large: </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Offence</p></td><td><p>Total</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Arson</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Burglary</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Conspire to defraud</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Drink Driving</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Possession of a firearm</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Possession of drugs</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rape</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Robbery</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Theft</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wounding with intent</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total UAL</p></td><td><p>17</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Figures for the number of escapes since 1995 are provided in the Prison Digest contained in the Prison and Probation Trusts Performance Statistics. This can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 05/01/2015 17:24:59 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

171673

registered interest
date	18/12/2014
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, with reference to his Department’s Analytical Summary on absconding incidents, published in November 2014, how many prisoners with a previous absconding incident and already in open conditions were assessed by the National Offender Management Service in the last three years; how many of those prisoners were allowed to remain in open conditions; and what crimes those prisoners have committed.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	219498
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>We do not hold information centrally on how many offenders with an abscond history were assessed for open conditions over the last three years.</p><p> </p><p>No prisoner will be transferred to open conditions, whether he has an abscond history or not, without an assessment. For indeterminate sentence prisoners (ISPs – those serving life or Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences), the principal means of approval for transfer to open conditions 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 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>The public have understandable concerns about the failure of some prisoners to return from temporary release from open prison. Keeping the public safe is our priority and we will not allow the actions of a small minority of 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 releases and about five in every 100,000 releases involving alleged offending, but we take each and every incident seriously. The Government has already made 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 have 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 05/01/2015 17:16:44 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham