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1126088

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were rescheduled in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) Greater London due to insufficient court space in the months of (i) February, (ii) March and (iii) April 2019.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	253550
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>Published data for criminal cases show the number of trials which were vacated or ineffective (and therefore do not go ahead) in the criminal courts and for ineffective trials, the reasons why the trial was ineffective. One of these is ‘court administrative issues including a lack of court time and court accommodation failures’, – however it is not possible to identify instances where this is specifically due to reasons of ‘insufficient court space’.</p><p> </p><p>Available data on vacated and ineffective trials is published here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018</a></p><p> </p><p>These statistics are currently published up to December 2018. Data for January – March 2019 are due to be published on 27 June 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Information relating to rescheduled cases and the reasons for them in the civil and family courts are not held by the Ministry of Justice.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/05/2019 11:19:54 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1126189

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Legal Representation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, under what circumstances in cases involving historical sexual abuse are victims entitled to legal representation.
tabling member constituency	South Shields
tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
uin	253582
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>The Government’s first ever cross-government Victims Strategy outlines our commitments to victims of crime.</p><p> </p><p>The Crown Prosecution Service is responsible for the prosecution of criminal cases. Victims of crime are not separately represented in criminal trials.</p><p> </p><p>Victims of historic sexual abuse have access to an independent sexual violence adviser (ISVA). The ISVA’s role is to ensure the victim receives the right support before, during and after legal proceedings. As part of proceedings, a victim may be called to give evidence as a witness for the prosecution. ISVAs will work alongside the Court-Based Witness Service to support the victim to give their best evidence and participate in the court process.</p><p> </p><p>In April this year, the Ministry of Justice awarded £8m in funding to rape support centres to provide emotional and practical support to victims of sexual violence and historic sexual abuse, including the provision of ISVA services. We also provided a grant of £11.2m to Citizens Advice for the delivery of the Court-Based Witness Service.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 16/05/2019 16:44:33 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1126190

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Criminal Proceedings: Sexual Offences
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, under what circumstances in cases involving historical sexual abuse are victims entitled to have character references used in their defence.
tabling member constituency	South Shields
tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
uin	253583
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>Tackling historical sexual abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice is a government priority.</p><p> </p><p>Some victims of historical sexual abuse may be called to give evidence in criminal trials however a victim is not a party to a criminal case, as the Crown prosecutes. Victims and witnesses are not required to defend themselves or provide evidence to support their statements.</p><p>Rules of evidence do not permit the Crown to call evidence of the good character of a prosecution witness in order to bolster their credibility where it is not relevant to an issue in the case.</p><p>If the defendant attacks the character of a witness, evidence of the defendant’s bad character may be admissible as evidence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 16/05/2019 16:31:42 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1126192

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Criminal Proceedings: Sexual Offences
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance and training barristers receive on the cross-examination of victims of historical sexual abuse.
tabling member constituency	South Shields
tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
uin	253585
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) has developed specialist training for all advocates who question witnesses in cases of a serious sexual nature involving vulnerable adults and children. The training programme goes beyond victims of serious sexual offences. It aims to ensure all advocates understand the key principles of how to approach and question vulnerable people in the justice system</p><p>As set out in the Government’s Victims Strategy, the training programme delivers the manifesto commitment: “Publicly funded advocates will have specialist training in handling victims before taking on serious sexual offences” and goes beyond that commitment. Training is available to all advocates, not just those working on publicly funded cases.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 16/05/2019 16:41:56 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1125585

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the waiting time for benefits appeals from the 40 week average cited by HM Courts and Tribunal Service.
tabling member constituency	Tynemouth
tabling member printed	Sir Alan Campbell
uin	252492
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>It is important that appeals are heard as quickly as possible. The Ministry of Justice recognises that there are delays in the system and is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. In the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction, 225 new medical members and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been appointed and are now hearing cases.</p><p>The SSCS jurisdiction will also benefit from the fact that 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely. In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals and providing a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital service can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal</a></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/05/2019 10:58:52 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	529 label Biography information for Sir Alan Campbell

1125618

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
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 serving an indeterminate public protection sentence were (a) released on licence and (b) subsequently recalled to prison in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
uin	252600
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>It is for the independent Parole Board to review the detention of those prisoners serving an IPP sentence who have completed their tariff period. The Board will direct the release of these prisoners only if it is satisfied that the levels of risk posed to the general public are reduced enough that the National Probation Service and its partner agencies can safely manage them in the community under supervision.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst HM Prison and Probation Service is focused on giving all prisoners serving IPP sentences opportunities to progress towards release, public protection must remain our priority.</p><p> </p><p>The information you ask for is available in the public domain; however, I have provided it below for ease of reference.</p><p> </p><p>The following table provides the number of first releases from IPP sentences in each of the last 5 years:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015<strong>[1]</strong></strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Releases</p></td><td><p>419</p></td><td><p>562</p></td><td><p>576</p></td><td><p>616</p></td><td><p>506</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>[1] Due to improvements in IT systems, the 2015 prison admissions data is now taken from a different source and, for statistical reporting purposes only, are produced using a different method. The 2015 figures from both the old and new systems have been presented to aid comparison.</p><p> </p><p>The following table provides the number of offenders recalled from IPP licences in each of the last 5 years. It should be noted that these are incidences of recall and that offenders may appear more than once if they have been recalled on multiple occasions. It should also be noted that the recall and release numbers in each corresponding year do not necessarily relate to the same individuals.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Recalls</p></td><td><p>96[2]</p></td><td><p>363</p></td><td><p>482</p></td><td><p>492</p></td><td><p>637</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>2 Published data for IPP recalls was not collated separately to other types of indeterminate sentence prior to September 2014, and so can only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The following table shows the population of prisoners serving IPP sentences who have never been released as at the end of March each year since 2012:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>31 March 2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2018</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 March 2019</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6,017</p></td><td><p>5,809</p></td><td><p>5,206</p></td><td><p>4,756</p></td><td><p>4,133</p></td><td><p>3,528</p></td><td><p>2,884</p></td><td><p>2,403</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>As with any large-scale recording system, administrative IT systems are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland grouped question UIN 252602 question first answered 17/05/2019 12:10:06 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1125619

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
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 who were serving an indeterminate public protection sentence were (a) released in error and (b) subsequently recalled to prison in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
uin	252601
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>We are not able to release figures for the information requested as low numbers are not disclosed to prevent disclosure of individual identity in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998. This applies to values of 5 or fewer or other values which would allow values of 5 or fewer to be derived by subtraction.</p><p> </p><p>Information on releases in error are published as part of the HM Prison and Probation Service Annual Digest. The latest publication can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018</a></p><p> </p><p>Releases in error are rare and in the vast majority of cases offenders are returned to custody very quickly. We work closely with the police to recapture those at large and investigate each incident thoroughly to see what lessons can be learned.</p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 17/05/2019 13:30:20 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1125620

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Sentences
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were serving an indeterminate public protection sentence in each year since 2012.
tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
uin	252602
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>It is for the independent Parole Board to review the detention of those prisoners serving an IPP sentence who have completed their tariff period. The Board will direct the release of these prisoners only if it is satisfied that the levels of risk posed to the general public are reduced enough that the National Probation Service and its partner agencies can safely manage them in the community under supervision.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst HM Prison and Probation Service is focused on giving all prisoners serving IPP sentences opportunities to progress towards release, public protection must remain our priority.</p><p> </p><p>The information you ask for is available in the public domain; however, I have provided it below for ease of reference.</p><p> </p><p>The following table provides the number of first releases from IPP sentences in each of the last 5 years:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015<strong>[1]</strong></strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Releases</p></td><td><p>419</p></td><td><p>562</p></td><td><p>576</p></td><td><p>616</p></td><td><p>506</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>[1] Due to improvements in IT systems, the 2015 prison admissions data is now taken from a different source and, for statistical reporting purposes only, are produced using a different method. The 2015 figures from both the old and new systems have been presented to aid comparison.</p><p> </p><p>The following table provides the number of offenders recalled from IPP licences in each of the last 5 years. It should be noted that these are incidences of recall and that offenders may appear more than once if they have been recalled on multiple occasions. It should also be noted that the recall and release numbers in each corresponding year do not necessarily relate to the same individuals.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Recalls</p></td><td><p>96[2]</p></td><td><p>363</p></td><td><p>482</p></td><td><p>492</p></td><td><p>637</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>2 Published data for IPP recalls was not collated separately to other types of indeterminate sentence prior to September 2014, and so can only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The following table shows the population of prisoners serving IPP sentences who have never been released as at the end of March each year since 2012:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>31 March 2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 Mar 2018</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31 March 2019</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6,017</p></td><td><p>5,809</p></td><td><p>5,206</p></td><td><p>4,756</p></td><td><p>4,133</p></td><td><p>3,528</p></td><td><p>2,884</p></td><td><p>2,403</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>As with any large-scale recording system, administrative IT systems are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland grouped question UIN 252600 question first answered 17/05/2019 12:10:06 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1125621

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
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 (a) were released before their correct release date and (b) served time in excess of their correct release date in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
uin	252603
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Figures on all releases in error are published as part of the HM Prison and Probation Service Annual Digest. The latest publication can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018</a></p><p> </p><p>Releases in error are rare and in the vast majority of cases offenders are returned to custody very quickly. We work closely with the police to recapture those at large and investigate each incident thoroughly to see what lessons can be learned.</p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 17/05/2019 13:35:41 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1125649

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Theft: Pets
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to review sentencing guidance for people who commit pet theft.
tabling member constituency	Chichester
tabling member printed	Gillian Keegan
uin	252612
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>It is for the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, which is independent of government, to develop sentencing guidelines and monitor their use.</p><p> </p><p>The Theft guideline and evaluation are available here: <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/publications?s&amp;topic=theft-offences" target="_blank">https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/publications?s&amp;topic=theft-offences</a></p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 17/05/2019 12:01:16 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	4680 label Biography information for Gillian Keegan