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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

101492

registered interest
date	28/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Locks and Keys
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of lost keys have required the relocking of prisons since May 2010; and at what cost.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	212348
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>Security is paramount within prisons and it is important that the risk of any potential key compromise is addressed as quickly as possible in order to protect the public. When a key/lock incident is reported an immediate investigation is undertaken to assess the risk and unless it is clear that security has not been compromised, then locking mechanisms and keys will be replaced and/or other necessary remedial action will be taken.</p><p> </p><p>A range of procedural and physical measures are used to assist in the secure management of keys in prisons. These increasingly include electronic and biometric systems.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested is provided below.</p><p> </p><p>Table 1 - costs of partial/full relocking of prisons due to loss of keys from May 2010 - 29 October 2014:</p><p> </p><p>14/05/2010 Swaleside £95,430</p><p>21/06/2010 Glen Parva £208,329</p><p>04/11/2010 Warren Hill £101,301</p><p>20/12/2010 Ashwell £15,576</p><p>24/10/2011 Birmingham £499,000 <ins class="ministerial">(Paid for by G4S)</ins></p><p>09/01/2012 Maidstone £5,847</p><p>28/02/2014 Lindholme £40,286</p><p>08/05/2014 Haverigg £32,882</p><p>21/07/2014 Highpoint £14, 933</p><p> </p><p>Table 2 – number of reported incidents of lost keys from April 2010 – 31 March 2014:</p><p> </p><p>2010/11 - 62</p><p>2011/12 - 67</p><p>2012/13 – 73</p><p>2013/14 – 35 (* see note below)</p><p> </p><p>* Note: a change in the reporting requirements for key/lock incidents from April 2013 has resulted in a lower “lost keys” figure for 2013/14 in comparison to the three previous years. In addition to keys “lost”, the figures for the three previous years include keys inadvertently taken out of prisons and subsequently returned, but the figure for 2013/14 includes only keys lost, not those inadvertently taken out and returned.</p><p> </p><p><em>The figures quoted have been drawn from live administrative databases and may subsequently be amended. Due care is taken during processing and analysis, but the detail is subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.</em></p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 03/11/2014 11:21:01 question first ministerially corrected 03/11/2014 17:23:08 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous previous answer version 25520 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

101493

registered interest
date	28/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Locks and Keys
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of lost keys there have been in prisons in each year since May 2010.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	212349
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>Security is paramount within prisons and it is important that the risk of any potential key compromise is addressed as quickly as possible in order to protect the public. When a key/lock incident is reported an immediate investigation is undertaken to assess the risk and unless it is clear that security has not been compromised, then locking mechanisms and keys will be replaced and/or other necessary remedial action will be taken.</p><p> </p><p>A range of procedural and physical measures are used to assist in the secure management of keys in prisons. These increasingly include electronic and biometric systems.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested is provided below.</p><p> </p><p>Table 1 - costs of partial/full relocking of prisons due to loss of keys from May 2010 - 29 October 2014:</p><p> </p><p>14/05/2010 Swaleside £95,430</p><p>21/06/2010 Glen Parva £208,329</p><p>04/11/2010 Warren Hill £101,301</p><p>20/12/2010 Ashwell £15,576</p><p>24/10/2011 Birmingham £499,000 <ins class="ministerial">(Paid for by G4S)</ins></p><p>09/01/2012 Maidstone £5,847</p><p>28/02/2014 Lindholme £40,286</p><p>08/05/2014 Haverigg £32,882</p><p>21/07/2014 Highpoint £14, 933</p><p> </p><p>Table 2 – number of reported incidents of lost keys from April 2010 – 31 March 2014:</p><p> </p><p>2010/11 - 62</p><p>2011/12 - 67</p><p>2012/13 – 73</p><p>2013/14 – 35 (* see note below)</p><p> </p><p>* Note: a change in the reporting requirements for key/lock incidents from April 2013 has resulted in a lower “lost keys” figure for 2013/14 in comparison to the three previous years. In addition to keys “lost”, the figures for the three previous years include keys inadvertently taken out of prisons and subsequently returned, but the figure for 2013/14 includes only keys lost, not those inadvertently taken out and returned.</p><p> </p><p><em>The figures quoted have been drawn from live administrative databases and may subsequently be amended. Due care is taken during processing and analysis, but the detail is subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.</em></p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 03/11/2014 11:21:01 question first ministerially corrected 03/11/2014 17:29:21 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous previous answer version 25521 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

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

91068

registered interest
date	08/09/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Bail
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been collected in sureties when defendants breached their bail conditions and a surety had been given on their behalf before bail was granted in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	208509
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/10/2014 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The following surety monies have been collected when defendants breached their bail conditions and a surety had been given before bail was granted:</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014: £247,834.46</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013: £739,192.35</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012: £433,398.54</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">The value of bail monies forfeited in 2013-14 is lower than the value of forfeitures in 2012-13 due to a lower number of bail terms being breached.</del></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The following surety monies have been collected when defendants breached their bail conditions and a surety had been given before bail was granted:</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014: £14,251.10</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013: £16,952.50</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012: £57,771.86</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">A surety is a promise (by a third party) to pay a sum of money should a defendant fail to surrender to the court when ordered to do so. Where a bail surety is agreed as a condition of bail and the defendant subsequently fails to attend, the court can make an order to forfeit all or part of these sums. Unpaid sureties are subject to enforcement action in the same way as unpaid fines.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The value of sureties collected in 2011-12 was particularly high due to a higher than usual number of defendants failing to surrender to the court when ordered to do so following the period of civil unrest in August 2011.</ins></p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 13/10/2014 12:59:44 question first ministerially corrected 13/01/2015 12:58:29 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara previous answer version 21352 answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

79430

registered interest
date	22/07/2014
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, how many indeterminate sentenced prisoners were held in open prisons in the years ending 31 March (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	206954
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2014 answer text <p>The number of indeterminate sentenced prisoners held in open prisons in England and Wales, for financial years 2012 - 2014, can be found in table 1.</p><p> </p><p>A life sentence is mandatory on conviction for murder. Under a life sentence, and an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP), the court determines the minimum period to be served in prison for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Prisoners serving these indeterminate sentences have no automatic right to be released. If released they are subject to recall for the rest of their life or, in the case of an offender serving an IPP, for at least 10 years. Public protection is the priority and the release of indeterminate sentence prisoners once they have served their minimum term is entirely a matter for the Parole Board.</p><p>Progression to open conditions is never automatic and only follows a satisfactory assessment of risk, generally involving the independent Parole Board in the case of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences.</p><p>The Parole Board may recommend such prisoners for open conditions if, for example: they have successfully completed any offending behaviour programmes identified in their sentence plan as essential to the risk reduction process; their behaviour in custody is such that it is considered that a move is appropriate; and their risks are manageable in open conditions.</p><p>Once allocated to open prison, prisoners continue to be monitored and are returned to closed prison immediately if there are any concerns about their suitability for low security conditions.</p><p> </p><p>Open prisons have been used since 1936, because they are the most effective means of ensuring that prisoners are suitably risk-assessed before they are released into the community under appropriate licence conditions. When a prisoner moves to the less rigid structure of open conditions an assessment can be made in a relatively safe environment of how the prisoner will adapt to increasing responsibility. For many prisoners, in particular those such as life sentence prisoners, who have spent a considerable amount of time in custody; these are essential components for successful reintegration in the community and therefore an important factor in protecting the public.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 04/09/2014 16:35:02 question first ministerially corrected 04/12/2014 11:34:33 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous attachment 1 file name PQ 206954 - table.pdf title Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoners in open prisons previous answer version 18219 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

64819

registered interest
date	30/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Police Cautions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cautions have been issued for offences of (a) murder, (b) rape, (c) sexual assault, (d) robbery and (e) burglary in (i) each year between 2010 and 2013 and (ii) each month since January 2013.
tabling member constituency	Darlington
tabling member printed	Jenny Chapman
uin	203136
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2014 answer text <p>The number of offenders (including young people) cautioned, for offences of rape, sexual assault, robbery and burglary, by months in England and Wales from 2010 to 2013 (latest available) can be viewed in the table. There were no cautions administered for murder.</p><p><del class="ministerial">Simple cautions (previously police cautions) are a non-statutory disposal available to the police to dispose of any offence committed by an adult and designed for dealing with low level, mainly first time offending. The Government does not believe that cautions are appropriate for serious offences. We issued new guidelines on 14 November 2014 following a detailed review of how cautions were being used by police forces, and are strengthening the law to prevent cautions being used for serious offences.</del></p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice issues guidance on the process to be followed by the police and the CPS when they are administering simple cautions for adult offenders. This guidance states that the use of a simple caution for indictable only offences, such as rape, should only be given following authorisation by the CPS. These will be cases where there were exceptional circumstances which would mean that it was not in the public interest to prosecute.</p><p> </p><p>The overall number of simple cautions issued has halved since 2007. The cautioning rate, that is, the number of offenders cautioned as a percentage of offenders who were either cautioned or convicted, in 2013 was 20 per cent; this has declined from a peak of 31 per cent in 2007.</p><p>The Government is clear that serious offences should always be brought to court and to ensure that there is increased public confidence in the justice system last year announced limits on the use of simple cautions. These changes restrict the use of cautions for indictable only offences and certain serious either way offences unless there are exceptional circumstances and a senior police officer, as well as the CPS for certain cases, has agreed that a caution should be administered.</p><p>The MOJ guidance on Adult Simple Cautions was amended in November last year to reflect these changes, and we are currently legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to place statutory restrictions around their use.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Ashford answering member printed Damian Green question first answered 07/07/2014 15:20:18 question first ministerially corrected 28/08/2014 11:45:56 answering member 76 label Biography information for Damian Green attachment 1 file name Offenders cautioned(1)(2) for selected offences, by month, England and Wales, 2010-2013(3).xls title Offenders cautioned for selected offences -2010-13 previous answer version 9230 answering member constituency Ashford answering member printed Damian Green answering member 76 label Biography information for Damian Green attachment 1 file name Offenders cautioned(1)(2) for selected offences, by month, England and Wales, 2010-2013(3).xls title Offenders cautioned for selected offences -2010-13
tabling member	3972 label Biography information for Baroness Chapman of Darlington

62369

registered interest
date	17/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Bronzefield Prison
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) the prison governor or (b) another official gave permission for the performance of Sister Act in HMP Bronzefield in February and March 2014.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	201121
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2014 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Former employees of the Trusts have transferred to the new organisations, namely the National Probation Service (NPS) and the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies. A small number of Chief Executives have taken early retirement or are due to do so over the next few weeks. There have also been a number of departures at Assistant Chief Officer (ACO) level. These were part of the normal turnover of staff; details of these are not held centrally.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">HM Prison Bronzefield is a private (contracted out) prison and therefore any activities in the establishment are the decision of the Director of that prison. The production of the performance of Sister Act was arranged between Sodexo Justice Services and the respective parties. Therefore this is not part of the contractual agreement between Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and Sodexo Justice Services.</ins></p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 23/06/2014 16:46:18 question first ministerially corrected 25/06/2014 12:03:56 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes previous answer version 4697 answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

60619

registered interest
date	09/06/2014
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, how many prisoners in an open prison have previously breached a licence condition while released on temporary licence.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	199722
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>Keeping the public safe is our priority. That is why this Government has taken action on both releases on temporary licence (ROTL) and absconds from prison.</p><p> </p><p>We commissioned a fundamental review of ROTL policy and practice last year and, in March, announced a package of measures to ensure that the public was properly protected. We have brought forward some of those measures so that they take effect immediately; particularly with more serious offenders, where the review concluded that an enhanced risk assessment approach should be taken.</p><p> </p><p>Absconds have reached record lows under this Government but each incident is taken seriously. Immediate changes have already been ordered to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. Prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions or allowed out on temporary release if they have previously absconded.</p><p><ins class="ministerial">My officials are currently working to provide the information requested. I will write to you in due course. </ins></p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 16/06/2014 16:59:29 question first ministerially corrected 09/10/2014 13:55:00 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright previous answer version 1732 answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies