Ministry of Justice<p>Visits play an important part of reducing reoffending as good relationships with family and friends is proved to reduce risk of reoffending.</p><p>The management and guidance for the use of closed visits is within Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 15/2011. The PSI specifies that closed visits should be imposed where there is an identified risk of smuggling prohibited items.</p><p>We recognise the benefits that Internet Based Video Services (IBVS) can provide in assisting prisoners with maintaining family ties. At present, however, prisoners are not allowed to use an IBVS as a way of communicating, due to operational concerns about the control measures available to safeguard the use of such communications. Work is currently underway to explore the options for the use of IBVS in establishments with strict safeguards in place, and the possibility of making greater use of such within prisons in the near future.</p><p> </p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-12187327false2018-11-12T17:14:17.617Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-02Prisons: Visits1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of closed-contact visits in prisons to prevent smuggling.falseHendonDr Matthew Offord187326Ministry of Justice<p>Visits play an important part of reducing reoffending as good relationships with family and friends is proved to reduce risk of reoffending.</p><p>The management and guidance for the use of closed visits is within Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 15/2011. The PSI specifies that closed visits should be imposed where there is an identified risk of smuggling prohibited items.</p><p>We recognise the benefits that Internet Based Video Services (IBVS) can provide in assisting prisoners with maintaining family ties. At present, however, prisoners are not allowed to use an IBVS as a way of communicating, due to operational concerns about the control measures available to safeguard the use of such communications. Work is currently underway to explore the options for the use of IBVS in establishments with strict safeguards in place, and the possibility of making greater use of such within prisons in the near future.</p><p> </p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-12187326false2018-11-12T17:14:17.667Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-02Prisons: Video Conferencing1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the merits of using video technology to allow relatives and friends to speak to convicted prisoners at appointed times.falseHendonDr Matthew Offord187327Ministry of Justice<p>The additional funding for targeted expenditure is intended to be spent on maintenance and safety in our prisons. The Department is currently working on allocating the exact split of funding across the prison service, and consequently, we do not have the funding broken down by the category of spend you have requested.</p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-14false2018-11-14T16:57:14.373Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-02Prisons: Finance1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Ministry of Justice secures extra £52 million for targeted expenditure, published on 30 October 2018, how much of the £30 million allocated to prisons this financial year will be spent on (a) staff, (b) maintenance, (c) new equipment, (d) training and (e) other categories of spending.falseLeeds EastRichard Burgon187363Ministry of Justice<p>In Budget 2018, the Ministry of Justice received £52m additional funding, for which the allocation between resource and capital will be confirmed within the Supplementary Estimate.</p><p> </p><p>This will fund £30m of further improvements to safety, security and decency, £15 million on the maintenance and security of our court buildings, and another £6.5 million to be invested across the wider justice system, including a further £1.5 million for the Parole Board to boost its operational capacity.</p><p> </p><p>The Treasury have also committed to funding the cost of building a new prison at Glen Parva in Leicestershire.</p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-12187365188116false2018-11-12T17:32:27.573Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-02Ministry of Justice: Capital Investment1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total additional funding allocated to his Department for capital expenditure in Budget 2018 was.falseLeeds EastRichard Burgon187364Ministry of Justice<p>In Budget 2018, the Ministry of Justice received £52m additional funding, for which the allocation between resource and capital will be confirmed within the Supplementary Estimate.</p><p> </p><p>This will fund £30m of further improvements to safety, security and decency, £15 million on the maintenance and security of our court buildings, and another £6.5 million to be invested across the wider justice system, including a further £1.5 million for the Parole Board to boost its operational capacity.</p><p> </p><p>The Treasury have also committed to funding the cost of building a new prison at Glen Parva in Leicestershire.</p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-12187364188116false2018-11-12T17:32:27.637Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-02Ministry of Justice: Public Expenditure1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total additional funding allocated to his Department for resource expenditure in Budget 2018 was.falseLeeds EastRichard Burgon187365Ministry of Justice<p>The Serious Fraud Office is an independent Government organisation and as such the MoJ is not necessarily informed of ongoing investigations and has no control over any investigations or timescales of such</p><p> </p><p>It would not be appropriate for the MoJ to comment on any ongoing investigation by the Serious Fraud office or to prejudge any potential outcome in any award decisions as such activities are subject to the Public Contracts Regulations and are published in accordance with standard practice.</p><p> </p><p>Since January 2011 details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000, including details of suppliers to whom contracts have been awarded, are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: <a href="https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search" target="_blank">https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search</a></p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-12false2018-11-12T17:31:03.6Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-02Ministry of Justice: Contracts1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Secretary of State launches dedicated strategy to 'break the cycle' of female offending, published on 27 June 2018, how many of the bids received by his Department for the £3.5m grant competition for community services and multi-agency, whole system approaches have come from companies and organisations that are currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office for overcharging his Department.falseLeeds EastRichard Burgon187367Ministry of Justice<p>The Ministry of Justice has not incurred any expenditure on consultancy related to EU Exit from July-16 to date.</p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-12false2018-11-12T17:19:55.257Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-02Ministry of Justice: Brexit1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on consultancy fees in relation to the UK leaving the EU since July 2016.falseHemsworthJon Trickett187302Ministry of Justice<p>As set out on the 26 June at the Justice Select Committee and in the 2017 manifesto, we remain committed to building up to 10,000 modern and decent prison places to replace old, expensive and unsuitable accommodation. We will deliver this through a combination of both new prisons and the reconfiguration of existing establishments, to enable governors to achieve better outcomes.</p><p> </p><p>While our ambition remains the same, the way that we will deliver this programme has changed meaning that a direct comparison to the £1.3 billion figure is not appropriate. As the Chancellor set out in the budget on 30 October, we now intend to build the first two prisons through public capital at Wellingborough, which is due to open in 2021 and Glen Parva, which we expect to open in 2022 and we continue to explore funding options for the remaining prison places. We are planning to launch a competition later this year to establish a framework from which the operators of the new prisons will be chosen.</p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-21false2018-11-21T17:28:52.527Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-05Prisons: Capital Investment1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, to which programmes the £1.3 billion of capital spending on prisons announced following the 2015 spending review has been allocated.falseLeeds EastRichard Burgon188115Ministry of Justice<p>In Budget 2018, the Ministry of Justice received £52m additional funding, for which the allocation between resource and capital will be confirmed within the Supplementary Estimate.</p><p> </p><p>This will fund £30m of further improvements to safety, security and decency, £15 million on the maintenance and security of our court buildings, and another £6.5 million to be invested across the wider justice system, including a further £1.5 million for the Parole Board to boost its operational capacity.</p><p> </p><p>The Treasury have also committed to funding the cost of building a new prison at Glen Parva in Leicestershire.</p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-12187364187365false2018-11-12T17:32:27.7Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-05Ministry of Justice: Capital Investment1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what changes have been made to his Department's capital expenditure plans as a result of Budget 2018.falseLeeds EastRichard Burgon188116Ministry of Justice<p>We are taking decisive steps to tackle the use of drones as a supply route for criminals to bring contraband, including drugs and mobile phones, into prisons. Last year we launched Operation Trenton, a specialist team of Prison Service and Police investigators, to work together to intercept drones and track down the criminals behind them.</p><p>It is not possible to identify from centrally held data which convictions secured under the Prison Act 1952 relate specifically to drones. However, we believe that at least 45 people have been convicted of illicit drone activity, with those sentenced serving a total of more than 140 years in prison. On 26 October, following the largest investigation of its kind, an organised criminal gang of 15 were collectively sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison for using drones to drop drugs into a number of prisons. The ringleader, Lee Anslow, received a sentence of 10 years, the highest single sentence for drone-related activity to date.</p>Penrith and The BorderRory Stewart2018-11-12false2018-11-12T17:37:47.713Z54JusticeJustice2018-11-05Prisons: Unmanned Air Vehicles1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions the illegal use of drones in the vicinity of the prison estate has resulted in convictions in each of the last three years.falseEast LondonderryMr Gregory Campbell1880071001543