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92061

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Imams
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) adult and (b) youth secure estate establishments have imams.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
	uin	209538
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>There were a total of 70 adult prisons which had one or more directly employed Muslim chaplain on 30 June 2014, representing 65% of all adult establishments. 14 establishments in the youth secure estate had one or more directly employed Muslim Chaplain on 30 June 2014, representing 93% of the establishments. This information includes both public and private sector establishments.</p><p> </p><p>Access to Muslim Chaplains is more widespread than it appears from these figures. There are <del class="ministerial">393 imams employed across the prison estate, and the majority of establishments have access to Muslim Chaplains even if they don’t have a directly employed Muslim Chaplain attached to the establishment.</del><ins class="ministerial">100 imams employed across the prison estate and additionally over 100 Muslim Chaplains appointed on a sessional basis. All prisons have multi faith chaplaincy teams to provide and enable religious and pastoral care. These teams invariably include at least one Muslim Chaplain to provide for the religious needs of the Muslim prisoners. There are however one or two prisons where it has not yet been possible to appoint a Muslim Chaplain and the Muslim Adviser is working to appoint these. Where possible, an existing Muslim Chaplain, or one of the Muslim Chaplaincy HQ Advisers, aim to lead the prayers in those prisons on an occasional basis.</ins></p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 18/11/2014 17:53:50 question first ministerially corrected 08/12/2014 14:37:24 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous previous answer version 28636 answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

92050

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Homicide
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library a copy of the most recent National Offender Management Service report on homicides in prisons.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	209341
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/10/2014 answer text <p>In December 2013 the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman published a Lessons Learned Bulletin on Prison Homicides, a copy of which I have placed in the Library.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to reducing the number of deaths in prisons and strenuous efforts are made to learn from each one. All apparent homicides in prison are subject to a police investigation and an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, and a Coroners inquest if there remains a need for this following the conclusion of any criminal proceedings. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) carefully considers the findings and recommendations from these investigations and disseminates the learning from them.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 15/10/2014 14:43:10 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

92051

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Homicide
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many murders there have been in English prisons in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	209342
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2014 answer text <p>The figures we hold on murder are classified within the homicide category. Homicides in custody are defined as “any death of a person at the hands of another, including murder and manslaughter”.</p><p> </p><p>Homicides in prison are rare. Prisons take the responsibility of keeping prisoners, staff and visitors safe extremely seriously. Strenuous efforts are made to learn from each death and improve the understanding and procedures for managing prisoners.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The government is committed to open and transparent reporting of deaths in custody and publish statistics on deaths in prison custody in England and Wales quarterly in the National Statistics “Safety in Custody” bulletin. This statistical series can be found at <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 14/10/2014 09:16:31 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

92043

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	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 2 July 2014 to Question 202937, when he expects to provide the information requested.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff South and Penarth
	tabling member printed	Stephen Doughty
	uin	209446
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/10/2014 answer text <p>I wrote to the honourable member on 25 September 2014 replying to Questions 202936, 202937 and 202938.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 15/10/2014 10:05:40 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4264 label Biography information for Stephen Doughty

92288

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Public Records
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what targets have been set for the release of his Department's material to the National Archives; what progress has been made in meeting those targets; and how many staff in his Department are engaged in reviewing records for that purpose.
	tabling member constituency	Berwick-upon-Tweed
	tabling member printed	Sir Alan Beith
	uin	209614
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Each spring and autumn the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provides a submission to The National Archives (TNA) which sets out its progress for transferring records as part of the 10 year transition from the 30 to 20 year rule. In MoJ’s most recent submission to TNA in spring 2014, the department reported that it is on track to transfer records due in 2014. MoJ’s submission forms part of TNA’s Record Transfer Report which is available at the following link:</p><p><a title="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/record-transfer-report.htm" href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/record-transfer-report.htm" target="_blank">http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/record-transfer-report.htm</a></p><p>MoJ currently has 10 members of staff that undertake record review.</p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 14/10/2014 14:15:43 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
	tabling member	513 label Biography information for Lord Beith

92029

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Freedom of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many freedom of information requests his Department received in each month since January 2013.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
	uin	209375
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly and annual statistical reports on the handling of requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The reports include statistics on the number of requests received by the Department each quarter since 2010. These reports can be accessed via the following webpage: <a href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/foi/implementation" target="_blank">http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/foi/implementation</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 14/10/2014 13:58:45 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
	tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

92030

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Freedom of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many freedom of information requests received by his Department were (a) responded and (b) not responded to within the statutory period in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
	uin	209378
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly and annual statistical reports on the</p><p>handling of requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The reports, which date back to 2010, include statistics on the number of requests where the Department responded within the statutory period. These reports can be accessed via the following webpage:</p><p><a href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/foi/implementation" target="_blank">http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/foi/implementation</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 18/11/2014 13:40:03 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
	tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

92031

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Courts: Offensive Weapons
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of confiscation of (a) knives, (b) firearms and (c) other weapons in (i) magistrates and (ii) Crown courts there were in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
	uin	209372
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>The number of confiscated knives, firearms and other weapons in Magistrates and Crown Courts are as follows:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Knives</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Firearms (incl. Replicas)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Other weapons **</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Crown</p></td><td><p>Magistrates</p></td><td><p>Crown</p></td><td><p>Magistrates</p></td><td><p>Crown</p></td><td><p>Magistrates</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>12/13*</strong></p></td><td><p>322</p></td><td><p>1252</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>14</p></td><td><p>246</p></td><td><p>2325</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>13/14</strong></p></td><td><p>705</p></td><td><p>3108</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p>24</p></td><td><p>1002</p></td><td><p>6418</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p>1027</p></td><td><p>4360</p></td><td><p>13</p></td><td><p>38</p></td><td><p>1248</p></td><td><p>8743</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="7"><p><strong>* </strong>Figures for 2012/13 include data for an additional 8 week period from 1 February 2012 when the Total Facilities Management (TFM) contract was introduced.</p><p> </p><p>** ’Other weapons’ are items Security deem could be used as a weapon</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>My Department takes the issue of security within courts extremely seriously and has a robust security and safety system to protect all court users and the Judiciary.</p><p> </p><p>This system includes mandatory bag searches, metal detectors and surveillance cameras, as well as court security officers who have the legislative powers to protect all those in the court building. The powers of a court security office includes the power to request the surrender of a prohibited item or, if the request is refused, to seize the item.</p><p> </p><p>Our security system is continually monitored to ensure that it is effective and proportionate and mitigates against the risks faced.</p><p> </p><p>The figures provided do not cover the period prior to 1 February 2012 as there was no consolidated reporting of items confiscated from court users prior to the introduction of the Total Facilities Management contract.</p><p> </p><p /> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 18/11/2014 17:53:49 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
	tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

92032

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	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 incidents of confiscation of (a) mephedrone, (b) BZP, (c) spice and (d) ketamine there were in prisons in England and Wales in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
	uin	209374
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2014 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 success of NOMS Drug Strategy is illustrated by the reduction of drug misuse - as measured by the random mandatory drug testing programme - which has declined by 17.0 percentage points over the past 17 years (positive rates were 24.4% in 1996/7 and 7.4% in 2013/14) despite the fact that more drugs are being tested for.</p><p> </p><p>New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a recent issue affecting many parts of society, both here and abroad, including our prisons. NOMS is working with its partners to develop methods for testing for NPS and preventing them from entering establishments. Work is also taking place to increase levels of understanding about the risks that NPS present to offenders, with a view to providing them and those who work with them in prisons and the community with appropriate information, guidance and support.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recently introduced an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to expand prisons' powers to test prisoners for non-controlled drugs. This would allow prison staff to conduct mandatory drug tests on prisoners for non-controlled drugs, such as new psychoactive substances and medicines, if the required tests were available.</p><p> </p><p>All figures in this answer have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data has been extracted by searching for the exact terms given in the question and not any slang or alternative spellings. The data are not subject to audit.</p><p> </p><p>The table below gives the number of seizures in prisons in England and Wales in the timeframe requested of Mephedrone, BZP, Spice and Ketamine, and described exactly as such on the database.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td><p><strong>2010</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014 to 31 July</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mephedrone</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>BZP</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Spice</p></td><td><p>15</p></td><td><p>86</p></td><td><p>133</p></td><td><p>262</p></td><td><p>430</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Ketamine</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>TOTAL</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>16</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>90</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>138</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>267</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>436</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The term “Legal Highs” represents hundreds of different substances of which spice is just one. To try to calculate the instances of all such substances being confiscated would therefore only be possible at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 21/10/2014 10:53:54 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

92033

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2014
	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 incidents of confiscation of legal highs there were in prisons in England and Wales in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
	uin	209371
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2014 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 success of NOMS Drug Strategy is illustrated by the reduction of drug misuse - as measured by the random mandatory drug testing programme - which has declined by 17.0 percentage points over the past 17 years (positive rates were 24.4% in 1996/7 and 7.4% in 2013/14) despite the fact that more drugs are being tested for.</p><p> </p><p>New psychoactive substances are a recent issue affecting many parts of society, both here and abroad, including our prisons. NOMS is working with its partners to develop methods for testing for NPS and preventing them from entering establishments. Work is also taking place to increase levels of understanding about the risks that NPS present to offenders, with a view to providing them and those who work with them in prisons and the community with appropriate information, guidance and support.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recently introduced an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to expand prisons' powers to test prisoners for non-controlled drugs. This would allow prison staff to conduct mandatory drug tests on prisoners for non-controlled drugs, such as new psychoactive substances and medicines, if the required tests were available.</p><p> </p><p>All figures in this answer have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data has been extracted by searching for the exact terms given in the question and not any slang or alternative spellings. The data are not subject to audit.</p><p> </p><p>The table below gives the number of seizures in prisons in England and Wales in the timeframe requested of Mephedrone, BZP, Spice and Ketamine, and described exactly as such on the database.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td><p><strong>2010</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014 to 31 July</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mephedrone</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>BZP</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Spice</p></td><td><p>15</p></td><td><p>86</p></td><td><p>133</p></td><td><p>262</p></td><td><p>430</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Ketamine</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>TOTAL</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>16</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>90</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>138</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>267</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>436</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The term “Legal Highs” represents hundreds of different substances of which spice is just one. To try to calculate the instances of all such substances being confiscated would therefore only be possible at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 21/10/2014 11:17:40 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan