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156408

registered interest
date	18/11/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Open Prisons: Prisoner Escapes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners held in open prisons have absconded or escaped on more than one occasion.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	214937
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2014 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">There are no central records of the number of prisoners who have self-declared a transgender status. Individuals with a gender recognition certificate are recorded on administrative systems in their legal gender, and are not identifiable as having changed gender.</del></p><p /> <p><ins class="ministerial">In March, we announced a package of measures to ensure that the public was properly protected. Absconds and escapes have reached record lows under this Government, but we take each incident seriously. As a result of a comprehensive review, we have made major changes to tighten the eligibility for open prisons. Prisoners may no longer be transferred to open conditions or allowed out on temporary release if they have previously absconded, escaped, attempted to escape, or if they have failed to return or have re-offended whilst released on temporary licence, unless there are exceptional circumstances. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The change in policy for eligibility for open conditions was not applied retrospectively: the majority of these offenders who were already in open conditions were allowed to remain. However, any prisoners who were assessed to present an unacceptable risk in such conditions in light of their previous non-compliance were returned to closed prisons.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Progression to open prison is never automatic. All prisoners undergo regular, mandatory assessment of their risk of escape or abscond and risk of harm to the public. Only those who are assessed as having an acceptable level of risk for conditions of lower security can be allocated to open prison.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">As at 31 March 2014, there were no prisoners held in open prisons who had absconded or escaped on more than one occasion between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2014. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">There were 13 prisoners who, in the year ending 31 March 2014, either escaped or absconded from prison, having previously done so between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2014. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Data on escapes and absconds, prior to 1 April 2010 could not be obtained except at disproportionate cost due to changes in recording practice. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">As part of business as usual, open prisons return prisoners to closed conditions where they judge that they can no longer be managed safely in open conditions. Figures for this ongoing process are not included here.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.</ins></p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 20/11/2014 18:00:51 question first ministerially corrected 03/02/2015 10:10:00 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous previous answer version 29127 answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

156409

registered interest
date	18/11/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Sentencing: Video Conferencing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been sentenced via video link in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	214947
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Prison to Court Video Links (PCVL) allow offenders to appear in court via a live video link from a room in the prison. Relevant data has been collected from June 2012 following the introduction of the Government’s Transforming Justice agenda and shows that the number of defendants heard via PCVL were 32,633 from June to December 2012; 53,487 in 2013 and 59,635 so far this year. The data only records the number of instances in which PCVL was used and does not record the hearing type. Consequently specific data about the number of sentencing hearings that are held using PCVL is not available.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State and ministers meet regularly with the senior judiciary to discuss matters relating to the effective operation of the justice system including the use of video. The use of video in court – which includes prison to court video links - is also outlined in the Criminal Procedure Rules. These are drafted by the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee, which is chaired by the judiciary and involves practitioners.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure a clear and shared understanding across the CJS of the policy and criteria around video links, national guidance for Magistrates and Crown Courts on Prison to Court Video Links has been produced. (This is attached as an Annex). The criteria that will be used in a case to assess whether it is suitable will include, amongst other things, whether it is an eligible hearing type, public protection and risk issues and the welfare of the defendant.</p><p>S57B (6) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 sets out a presumption that in preliminary hearings for adults, magistrates will utilise video links. However reasons can be given for not doing so. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 extended use of prison-court live links to sentencing hearings and appeals.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara grouped question UIN 214948 214965 214966 question first answered 25/11/2014 17:48:15 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

156410

registered interest
date	18/11/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoner Escapes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who escaped or absconded from prison in the last year for which figures are available had previously escaped or absconded from prison.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	214939
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2015 answer text <p /> <p>In March, we announced a package of measures to ensure that the public was properly protected. Absconds and escapes have reached record lows under this Government, but we take each incident seriously. As a result of a comprehensive review, we have made major changes to tighten the eligibility for open prisons. Prisoners may no longer be transferred to open conditions or allowed out on temporary release if they have previously absconded, escaped, attempted to escape, or if they have failed to return or have re-offended whilst released on temporary licence, unless there are exceptional circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>The change in policy for eligibility for open conditions was not applied retrospectively: the majority of these offenders who were already in open conditions were allowed to remain. However, any prisoners who were assessed to present an unacceptable risk in such conditions in light of their previous non-compliance were returned to closed prisons.</p><p> </p><p>Progression to open prison is never automatic. All prisoners undergo regular, mandatory assessment of their risk of escape or abscond and risk of harm to the public. Only those who are assessed as having an acceptable level of risk for conditions of lower security can be allocated to open prison.</p><p> </p><p>As at 31 March 2014, there were no prisoners held in open prisons who had absconded or escaped on more than one occasion between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2014.</p><p> </p><p>There were 13 prisoners who, in the year ending 31 March 2014, either escaped or absconded from prison, having previously done so between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2014.</p><p> </p><p>Data on escapes and absconds, prior to 1 April 2010 could not be obtained except at disproportionate cost due to changes in recording practice.</p><p> </p><p>As part of business as usual, open prisons return prisoners to closed conditions where they judge that they can no longer be managed safely in open conditions. Figures for this ongoing process are not included here.</p><p> </p><p>These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 03/02/2015 10:01:35 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

156411

registered interest
date	18/11/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Video Conferencing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with (a) judges and (b) the legal profession over the use of prison video links.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	214948
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p>Prison to Court Video Links (PCVL) allow offenders to appear in court via a live video link from a room in the prison. Relevant data has been collected from June 2012 following the introduction of the Government’s Transforming Justice agenda and shows that the number of defendants heard via PCVL were 32,633 from June to December 2012; 53,487 in 2013 and 59,635 so far this year. The data only records the number of instances in which PCVL was used and does not record the hearing type. Consequently specific data about the number of sentencing hearings that are held using PCVL is not available.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State and ministers meet regularly with the senior judiciary to discuss matters relating to the effective operation of the justice system including the use of video. The use of video in court – which includes prison to court video links - is also outlined in the Criminal Procedure Rules. These are drafted by the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee, which is chaired by the judiciary and involves practitioners.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure a clear and shared understanding across the CJS of the policy and criteria around video links, national guidance for Magistrates and Crown Courts on Prison to Court Video Links has been produced. (This is attached as an Annex). The criteria that will be used in a case to assess whether it is suitable will include, amongst other things, whether it is an eligible hearing type, public protection and risk issues and the welfare of the defendant.</p><p>S57B (6) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 sets out a presumption that in preliminary hearings for adults, magistrates will utilise video links. However reasons can be given for not doing so. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 extended use of prison-court live links to sentencing hearings and appeals.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara grouped question UIN 214947 214965 214966 question first answered 25/11/2014 17:48:15 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

156413

registered interest
date	18/11/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Drugs: 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 sentence, (b) community penalty, (c) financial penalty and (d) other disposal for offences related to class (i) A, (ii) B and (iii) C drugs in the most recent year for which figure are available.
tabling member constituency	Enfield, Southgate
tabling member printed	Mr David Burrowes
uin	214897
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p>Sentences are getting more severe and crime is falling. Since 2010, offenders are more likely to go to prison, and for longer.</p><p> </p><p>The number of offenders found guilty and sentenced at all courts, with outcomes, and the number of other disposals issued, for possession of class A, class B and class C drugs, in England and Wales for 2013 (the latest data available), can be viewed on the Ministry of Justice website at the available link:-</p><p> </p><p><a title="blocked::https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/311455/cjs-outcomes-by-offence-2009-2013.xls" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/311455/cjs-outcomes-by-offence-2009-2013.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/311455/cjs-outcomes-by-offence-2009-2013.xls</a></p><p> </p><p>Under Offence drop down list select:</p><p> </p><p>1) Possession of a controlled drug class A</p><p>2) Possession of a controlled drug class B</p><p>3) Possession of a controlled drug class C</p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning question first answered 25/11/2014 17:34:27 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
tabling member	1518 label Biography information for Mr David Burrowes

156414

registered interest
date	18/11/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
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 number of prisoners who were not born in the UK in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	214858
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Information is not held centrally on the country of birth of prisoners.</p><p> </p><p>For the nationality split of prisoners please refer to the Offender Management Statistics series. In particular:</p><p> </p><p>Table 1.6 for the most up to date quarterly statistics up to 30 September 2014:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368442/prison-population-q3-2014.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368442/prison-population-q3-2014.xls</a></p><p> </p><p>Table 1.9 for the long run time series as at 30 June for 2002-2014:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/339036/prison-population-2014.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/339036/prison-population-2014.xls</a></p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 26/11/2014 11:06:27 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

156415

registered interest
date	18/11/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national prisoners from each country were convicted of each offence type in the last year for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	214859
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The numbers of foreign national prisoners from each country and the type of offence committed are in the table attached. Data has been provided as at 30 September for 2014, as this is the latest published data point.</p><p> </p><p>Whereas this Government has begun to reduce the foreign national population in prison since 2010, between 1997 and 2010, the number of foreign nationals in our prisons more than doubled.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 25/11/2014 18:00:13 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous attachment 1 file name 214859 Table.xls title Immediate custodial sentence unrecorded and FNO
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

156416

registered interest
date	18/11/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Open Prisons
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what offence each of the prisoners held in open prisons on 31 May 2014 who had previously (a) absconded or escaped from prison and (b) breached a licence condition while released on temporary licence had committed; and how long each such prisoner's original prison sentence was.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	214860
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/03/2015 answer text <p>Temporary release and open conditions can be valuable tools in the resettlement of prisoners in the community but never at the expense of public safety. We conducted a fundamental review of the policy and practice of release on temporary licence (ROTL) after serious failures last year. We have already made significant changes, including the introduction in May 2014 of a ban on transfer to open prison or ROTL for any prisoner who escapes, abscond, fails to return from ROTL or commits an offence whilst on ROTL during their current sentence.</p><p>Absconds and escapes have reached record lows under this Government. There are also, thankfully, few ROTL failures; only around one in a thousand releases in 2013 resulting in failure. Between April and June 2014 (the latest period for which data are available), there were a total of 69 recorded temporary release failures, 40% lower than the same quarter in 2013.</p><p>The tables attached show the number of prisoners in open prisons on 30 May 2014 who had previously absconded, escaped or breached temporary release conditions, broken down by offence and length of sentence. It is not possible, except at disproportionate cost to give data for 31 May. The data in the table is derived from a one-off exercise to look in detail at those prisoners who were in open conditions on 30 May, which was conducted as part of the review of temporary release. It should be noted that the definition of “open prison” for the purposes of this exercise included some prisons operating both open and closed conditions on the same site to ensure that all prisoners with a previous abscond, escape or serious ROTL failure were identified and assessed. It is therefore possible that a number of prisoners included in the totals were actually in closed conditions at the relevant time.</p><p>The change in policy for eligibility for open conditions mentioned above was not applied retrospectively. Offenders already in open conditions at that time were assessed by NOMS and the majority were allowed to remain in open conditions because of their current compliance with the regime and favourable risk assessment. However, any prisoners who were assessed to present an unacceptable risk in such conditions in light of their previous non-compliance were returned to closed prisons.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 02/03/2015 15:08:46 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous attachment 1 file name 214860 table.xls title Prisoners in open prisons who previously absconded
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies