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1718930

registered interest
date	16/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Immigration: Legal Aid Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of legal aid provision for immigration cases.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26716
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>Legal aid is available for asylum cases, for immigration matters for victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children and for immigration detention cases.</p><p> </p><p>Once commenced, individuals who receive a removal notice under the Illegal Migration Act (IMA) will have access to merits and means free legal advice in relation to the removal notice.</p><p> </p><p>We have taken action to increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases, by:</p><ul><li><p>Setting fees for IMA work at 15% above the usual hourly rate;</p></li><li><p>Providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and re-accreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work;</p></li><li><p>Allowing Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS) providers to give guidance remotely, at the discretion of providers and subject to their professional judgement and their obligations towards vulnerable persons; and</p></li><li><p>Introducing payment for travel time between Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) and DDAS surgeries.</p></li></ul><p>The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action within its operational powers to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.</p><p> </p><p>The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.</p><p> </p><p>The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 23/05/2024 12:45:45 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718931

registered interest
date	16/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Officers: Drugs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been investigated for drug smuggling in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26717
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2024 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 24/05/2024 13:14:08 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718933

registered interest
date	16/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Duty Solicitors: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for criminal defence solicitors.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26718
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>In responding to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR), we boosted the system with upfront investment to address the most urgent concerns.</p><p> </p><p>On 29 January, we published a consultation on proposed reforms to the Police Station Fee Scheme and the Youth Court, for which we propose an additional £16 million for police station work and £5.1 million for the Youth Court of funding per year. The consultation has now closed, and we are in the process of analysing the responses and considering the next steps. The government response will be published in due course.</p><p> </p><p>We expect our reforms to criminal legal aid will increase investment in the solicitor profession by up to £85 million every year, including a 30% increase in funding for solicitors’ work in police stations and a 20% increase for their work in magistrates’ courts, once we introduce the additional £21 million per year allocated to these areas (subject to the consultation).</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 23/05/2024 12:47:20 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718936

registered interest
date	16/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Criminal Proceedings: Legal Aid Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of criminal legal aid firms that have ceased operations in each of the last 15 years.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26825
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2024 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 24/05/2024 13:15:51 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718526

registered interest
date	15/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme in each of the last five years, by category of offence they were originally convicted for.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26567
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>End of Custody Supervised Licence began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases, such as deaths of offenders in the community.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar grouped question UIN 26569 question first answered 23/05/2024 14:44:51 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718527

registered interest
date	15/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what criteria are used to determine the eligibility of prisoners for early release under the overcrowding alleviation scheme.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26568
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2024 answer text <p>There is no such thing as the overcrowding alleviation scheme. HMPPS uses crowding where necessary and appropriate to ensure there is sufficient prison capacity to lock up offenders.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 24/05/2024 08:09:28 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718528

registered interest
date	15/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners released early under the overcrowding alleviation scheme have subsequently been recalled to custody in each of the last five years; and what the reasons for recall were.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26569
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>End of Custody Supervised Licence began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases, such as deaths of offenders in the community.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar grouped question UIN 26567 question first answered 23/05/2024 14:44:52 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718529

registered interest
date	15/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department takes to ensure that prisoners released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme (a) are adequately supervised and (b) do not pose a risk to public safety.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26570
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>ECSL brings forward the normal release of some offenders. There are strict eligibility criteria which exclude the most serious and dangerous offenders, including all sexual and serious violent offenders. Offenders who may be eligible for release under these arrangements will be subject to the same set of licence conditions that would apply had they been released automatically. Unlike Labour’s early release scheme, which ran for three years and released over 80,000 prisoners, all offenders released under ECSL are subject to strict licence conditions.</p><p> </p><p>Those licence conditions will reflect the risk management release plan prepared by probation staff and what is necessary to safely manage the offender in the community. The offender can be immediately recalled to prison if they do not comply or otherwise behave in a way that is assessed to be putting the public at risk.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 20/05/2024 11:15:51 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718530

registered interest
date	15/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what support his Department provides (a) prison governors and (b) the probation service on identifying suitable prisons for release via the early release scheme.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26571
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>Central HMPPS teams identify the prisoners who are potentially eligible for release on End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) and provide this to the relevant prisons and to the probation service.</p><p> </p><p>Extensive operational guidance on ECSL is issued to prisons and probation to guide them through the process and eligibility criteria. There is also an operational support helpline that prison and probation practitioners can call should they want additional support in confirming eligible cases or have any other questions about ECSL. For cases where there are concerns about heightened risk as a result of release before the automatic release point, the exemption panel of senior HMPPS leaders deals with cases that are escalated for a decision.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 23/05/2024 14:46:44 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1718531

registered interest
date	15/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Lewes Prison: Prisoners' Release
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Chief Inspector of Prisons' report entitled, Report on an announced inspection of HMP Lewes, 5–16 February 2024, published on 14 May, what assessment he has made of the impact of the early release of prisoners on public safety.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	26572
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>Public protection remains our priority. End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) is a temporary measure and its use is under constant review. The most serious and dangerous offenders are excluded, including all those convicted for sexual or serious violent offences, and offenders whose release is a matter for the Parole Board to decide. Those released on ECSL are subject to strict licence conditions and probation supervision.</p><p> </p><p>It remains at the discretion of the prison service to prevent the release of any prisoners under this measure where releasing an offender earlier presents a heightened risk than if they were released at their automatic release date. A panel formed of HMPPS senior leaders takes decisions on exclusions following advice from prison and probation staff.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 23/05/2024 14:48:25 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi