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1135845

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Knives: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the penalties incurred for knife crime.
tabling member constituency	West Lancashire
tabling member printed	Rosie Cooper
uin	271405
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>For possession or threatening with an offensive weapon or possession of an article with a blade or point offences, offenders are now more likely to receive an immediate custodial sentence for a knife and offensive weapon offence and to go to prison for longer than at any point over the past 10 years. In the year ending March 2019 over a third (37%) of offences resulted in immediate custody, compared to 22% in the year ending March 2009. The average length of immediate custodial sentences has increased from 5.5 months in the year ending March 2009 to 8.1 months in the year ending March 2019. This is the highest since the series began.</p><p>There are a range of offences available to prosecute knife crime and Parliament has set penalties that are proportionate to the nature of these serious offences.</p><p> </p><p>Unlawful possession of a knife or offensive weapon in public is a serious criminal offence with a maximum penalty of four years’ imprisonment. Since 2015, adults convicted of threatening with a knife in public, or for second or subsequent knife possession face a minimum sentence of 6 months’ imprisonment and young people aged 16 or 17 face a minimum sentence of a 4 month Detention and Training Order. Courts can only depart from minimum sentencing if the court considers would be unjust in all the circumstances to impose these terms.</p><p> </p><p>Where someone is physically injured by a knife or offensive weapon there are a range of other offences, such as causing grievous bodily harm, that the person may be charged with. These can result in lengthy determinate sentences or life imprisonment. In England and Wales, all murder convictions for adults must result in a life sentence, and the Criminal Justice Act 2003 sets out a starting point of a minimum term in prison of 25 years for offenders aged 18 and over who bring a knife or another weapon to the scene of a murder with the intention of using it.</p><p> </p><p>It is already the case that for offences where the possession or use of a knife or offensive weapon is not inherent to the offence or charged separately, possession will be treated as an aggravating factor, which increases the seriousness of the offence. This is outlined in several sentencing guidelines produced by the independent Sentencing Council.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 04/07/2019 16:32:25 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	1538 label Biography information for Rosie Cooper

1135901

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Reoffenders: Sentencing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of previous (a) cautions and (b) convictions offenders had in each year since 2007 before being sentenced to an immediate custodial sentence for (i) possession of a blade or point, (ii) possession of an offensive weapon, (iii) common assault, (iv) assaulting a police officer, (v) sexual assault, (vi) public order, (vii) theft, (viii) robbery, (ix) burglary, (x) drugs, (xi) criminal damage, (xii) breach of anti social behaviour order, (xiii) fraud and (xiv) vehicle taking.
tabling member constituency	Harborough
tabling member printed	Neil O'Brien
uin	271593
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is provided in the tables attached with this answer. These tables include data, covering the period 2007 – 2018, on:</p><ul><li>The average number of previous convictions and cautions of offenders who were sentenced to immediate custody for specified offence types.</li><li>The number of offenders with a specified number of previous cautions and convictions who were sentenced to immediate custody for a specified offence.</li></ul> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar grouped question UIN 271594 question first answered 04/07/2019 13:50:19 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar attachment 1 file name Copy of PQs 271593 and 271594 Response Table.xlsx title Table
tabling member	4679 label Biography information for Neil O'Brien

1135905

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Sentencing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people sentenced to an immediate custodial sentence for (a) possession of a blade or point, (b) possession of an offensive weapon, (c) common assault, (d) assaulting a police officer, (e) sexual assault, (f) public order, (g) theft, (h) robbery, (i) burglary, (j) drugs, (k) criminal damage, (l) breach of and anti-social behaviour order, (m) fraud, (n) vehicle taking in each year since 2007 had (i) no, (ii) between one and four, (iii) between five and nine, (iv) between 10 and 15, (v) between 16 and 25, (vi) between 26 and 50, (vii) between 51 and 75, (viii) between 76 and 100 and (ix) 101 or more convictions and cautions for an offence.
tabling member constituency	Harborough
tabling member printed	Neil O'Brien
uin	271594
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is provided in the tables attached with this answer. These tables include data, covering the period 2007 – 2018, on:</p><ul><li>The average number of previous convictions and cautions of offenders who were sentenced to immediate custody for specified offence types.</li><li>The number of offenders with a specified number of previous cautions and convictions who were sentenced to immediate custody for a specified offence.</li></ul> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar grouped question UIN 271593 question first answered 04/07/2019 13:50:19 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar attachment 1 file name Copy of PQs 271593 and 271594 Response Table.xlsx title Table
tabling member	4679 label Biography information for Neil O'Brien

1135912

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Offensive Weapons: Sentencing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were given an immediate custodial sentence for possession of an offensive weapon in each year since 2007; and of those people how many had (a) no, (b) one to four, (c) five to 10 and (d) 11 or more previous cautions or sentences for carrying an offensive weapon.
tabling member constituency	Harborough
tabling member printed	Neil O'Brien
uin	271595
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is provided in the table below.</p><p> </p><p>Please note that 2007 data has not been included as the time series data on the number of possession of offensive weapon offences used in the knife possession bulletin is only available from quarter 4 in 2007, so a full year’s data is not available.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="8"><p><strong>Number of offenders<sup>1</sup> given immediate custody for a possession of an offensive weapon offence by year and number of previous<sup>2,3</sup> convictions or cautions for the same offence, England and Wales<sup>4</sup>, 2008 to 2018.</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of offenders</p></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td colspan="4"><p><strong>Number of previous convictions and cautions</strong></p></td><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>0</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>1 to 4</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>5 to 10</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>11 or more</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008</p></td><td><p>1,660</p></td><td><p>533</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>2,194</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009</p></td><td><p>1,715</p></td><td><p>509</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>2,229</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010</p></td><td><p>1,460</p></td><td><p>421</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1,884</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011</p></td><td><p>1,552</p></td><td><p>480</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>2,034</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>1,340</p></td><td><p>454</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1,796</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>1,195</p></td><td><p>349</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1,547</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>1,193</p></td><td><p>362</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1,557</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>1,286</p></td><td><p>391</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1,678</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>1,490</p></td><td><p>478</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1,970</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>1,543</p></td><td><p>534</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>2,079</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>1,416</p></td><td><p>505</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1,921</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="6"><p><strong>Source: </strong>Ministry of Justice extract of the Police National Computer.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>1) Each offender is counted only once in each year they were given an immediate custodial sentence for possession of an offensive weapon, but may appear in multiple years.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>2) Previous occasions on which the offences for which the offender was cautioned or convicted included possession of an offensive weapon, as counted on the last occasion in each year that the offender was given an immediate custodial sentence for offences including possession of an offensive weapon.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>3) Previous sentencing occasions may have resulted in an immediate custodial sentence.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>4) England and Wales includes all 43 police force areas plus the British Transport Police.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 04/07/2019 13:48:34 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4679 label Biography information for Neil O'Brien

1135970

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Translation Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of court cases rescheduled due to problems with interpreting or translating services and (b) additional cost incurred from that rescheduling in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	271430
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>The Ministry does not hold central data for all jurisdictions and hearing types in which interpreters are used and to manually review each case would incur disproportionate costs. However, central information does exist on the number of trials listed in the criminal courts which were adjourned as a result of interpreters being unavailable. This data is published in Criminal Court Statistics.</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics</a></p><p>A table detailing such occurrences over the last three years for which data is available is copied below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="3"><p>Crown Courts</p></td><td colspan="3"><p>Magistrates’ Courts</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Number of trials</p></td><td><p>Adjourned due to interpreter availability</p></td><td><p>% of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability</p></td><td><p>Number of trials</p></td><td><p>Adjourned due to interpreter availability</p></td><td><p>% of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p><strong>37,339</strong></p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>0.1%</p></td><td><p><strong>149,423</strong></p></td><td><p>495</p></td><td><p>0.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p><strong>34,579</strong></p></td><td><p>29</p></td><td><p>0.1%</p></td><td><p><strong>136,962</strong></p></td><td><p>423</p></td><td><p>0.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p><strong>29,583</strong></p></td><td><p>17</p></td><td><p>0.1%</p></td><td><p><strong>123,023</strong></p></td><td><p>495</p></td><td><p>0.4%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>As the associated costs for HMCTS of rescheduling trial cases will vary, depending on whether other work was able to be heard in that courtroom, this information is not held centrally.</p><p>The department continues to monitor its language service contracts closely and work with the suppliers to drive improvements and reduce the cost on the taxpayer. The Language Service contract has achieved a fulfilment rate of 97% over the first quarter of 2019.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 04/07/2019 14:49:11 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1135972

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Assaults on Police and Prison Officers: Sentencing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people received a (a) custodial and (b) non-custodial sentence for assault of a (i) police officer and (ii) prison officer in each year since 2007, and what the average custodial sentence was for those offences.
tabling member constituency	Harborough
tabling member printed	Neil O'Brien
uin	271618
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>The number of people who received a) custodial and b) non-custodial sentences for assault on a police officer or prison officer in each year since 2007, and the average custodial sentence lengths for these offences can be found in the accompanying table.</p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 04/07/2019 13:58:26 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland attachment 1 file name Copy of Neil O'Brien PQ 271618 response table.xlsx title Table
tabling member	4679 label Biography information for Neil O'Brien

1135979

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Private Sector
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 18 June 2019 to Question 264474 on Prisons: Private Sector, how many of the funded posts for Prison Custody Officers at each privately managed prison were filled as of the dates those figures relate to.
tabling member constituency	Leeds East
tabling member printed	Richard Burgon
uin	271529
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>As we have stated previously, all staffing matters, including the responsibility of ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons, sit with contractors. There is no requirement in the contracts to agree staffing levels with the Ministry of Justice. We do not hold the information requested.</p><p> </p><p>Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate and I can assure you that performance of all providers is closely monitored and we will not hesitate to take action where standards fall short</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 04/07/2019 16:28:22 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4493 label Biography information for Richard Burgon

1136010

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Powers of Attorney: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the susceptibility of the lasting power of attorney process to fraud.
tabling member constituency	Great Grimsby
tabling member printed	Melanie Onn
uin	271548
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>OPG are aware of 2 cases of the fraudulent creation of LPAs in the last 6 months – out of over 890,000 registered in 2018/19. We are not aware of any concerns of fraud being raised with the OPG in relation to the process of creating LPAs in the previous 5 years. Both cases have been thoroughly investigated and a lessons learned exercise conducted – part of which was an assessment of the process of registering an LPA. We have extremely good working relationships with the financial and legal sectors – and work closely with them to ensure that our processes together do all they can to eliminate fraud.</p><p> </p><p>As of 31<sup>st</sup> March 2019, OPG had 3,906,416 powers of attorney and deputyship orders on its register and in the financial year 2018/19 we undertook 2,883 investigations covering a whole range of issues. This represented 0.07% of the total powers on the register. And only in 25% of those cases was there any need for court action in relation to the deputy or attorney albeit not all court applications were for removal of an attorney or deputy, some applications relate to requests for information or clarifying a person’s capacity. Where, as a result of an investigation, OPG has evidence that fraud may have taken place we will make a referral to the relevant police authority.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 04/07/2019 16:35:04 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4464 label Biography information for Melanie Onn

1135510

registered interest
date	28/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Finance
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 24 June 2019 to Question 266835, HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Finance, for what reason the figure for the sum paid by the Department for Work and Pensions towards the cost of administering the First Tier Tribunal (Social Security & Child Support) in 2018-19 was not published, and when he plans to make that figure available.
tabling member constituency	Bethnal Green and Bow
tabling member printed	Rushanara Ali
uin	270758
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>The HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service Annual Report and Accounts for 2018/19 has yet to be audited for publication Figures for 2018/19 were therefore not published or included in the previous response.</p><p> </p><p>The figure for 2018/19 will be provided within the Note 8 (Operating Income) in the 2018/19 HMCTS Annual Report and Accounts and this will be published when the audit has completed and the accounts laid before Parliament. We expect this to happen before the summer recess.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 03/07/2019 16:38:56 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4138 label Biography information for Rushanara Ali

1135511

registered interest
date	28/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Finance
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 24 June 2019 to Question 266835, HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Finance, why the Department for Work and Pensions contributes to the cost of administering the First Tier Tribunal (Social Security & Child Support) for appeals on attendance allowance, disability living allowance and personal independence payments, but is not required to contribute towards the cost of administering appeals against the disallowance of employment support allowance.
tabling member constituency	Bethnal Green and Bow
tabling member printed	Rushanara Ali
uin	270759
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>Prime responsibility for the funding of the operation of what is now the First Tier Tribunal (Social Security &amp; Child Support) transferred, along with funding from what is now the Department for Work and Pensions to what is now the Ministry of Justice on the creation of the Tribunals Service on 1 April 2006.</p><p>The contribution that the Department for Work and Pensions currently makes towards the costs of the First Tier Tribunal (Social Security &amp; Child Support) covers the additional costs of that tribunal as a consequence of the introduction of the Personal Independence Payment benefit, which has led to an increase both in the number of appeals to the tribunal and, due to the increased complexity of the tests involved, their length and cost.</p><p>No additional contribution is required towards the administration of Employment Support Allowance appeals as the cost of this tribunal has not been affected by a subsequent policy change.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 03/07/2019 16:41:41 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4138 label Biography information for Rushanara Ali