Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1129521

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Repatriation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, as a result of international conventions and bilateral agreements on the transfer of sentenced persons, how many people have (1) returned to the UK from any such country, and (2) been repatriated from the UK.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL16006
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to punish and deport them. More than 48,000 foreign national offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, and in the last financial year more than 5,000 were removed from prisons, immigration removal centres, and the community.</p><p> </p><p>Prisoner transfer is one of the mechanisms used to remove foreign national offenders. Between 1 May 2014 and 31 May 2019, 464 sentenced prisoners were transferred from England and Wales to other countries under international prisoner transfer arrangements. During the same period 233 sentenced prisoners were transferred to England and Wales.</p><p> </p><p>The transfer of prisoners into and out of Scotland and Northern Ireland is a devolved matter.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 13/06/2019 12:14:55 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1129554

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Woodhill Prison: Prison Officers
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to conduct an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the appearance before an employment tribunal of Prison Officer Ben Plaistow of HMP Woodhill.
tabling member printed	Lord Ramsbotham
uin	HL16039
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>We strongly condemn homophobia, or any other kind of discrimination, in our prisons. As a result of the issues raised in and by the Tribunal a formal internal investigation is underway. This is being undertaken by a senior manager outside the prisons line management chain. Once that has concluded the interim Director General of HM Prisons will consider what action, including potentially disciplinary action, may be appropriate.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 18/06/2019 15:51:42 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
tabling member	3744 label Biography information for Lord Ramsbotham

1129590

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a list of the courses provided for prisoners in each prison.
tabling member constituency	Leeds East
tabling member printed	Richard Burgon
uin	260070
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Education publishes data on prison education participation and completion rates and details on the academic years 2010/11 to 2017/18 can be found at the following link: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/761349/201718_Nov_MAIN_OLASS_Particpation_FINALv1.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/761349/201718_Nov_MAIN_OLASS_Particpation_FINALv1.xlsx</a></p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 12/06/2019 16:44:47 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	4493 label Biography information for Richard Burgon

1129824

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the accessibility of legal aid by claimants of universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	259938
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government passports all recipients of Universal Credit through the criminal legal aid means test as well as the income test applied under the civil legal aid scheme, and will continue to do so whilst the review of legal aid means testing is ongoing. The review, announced in the Government’s Legal Support Action Plan on 7 February 2019, is studying the thresholds for legal aid entitlement and will assess the effectiveness with which the means testing arrangements appropriately protect access to justice. The review will particularly focus on those who are vulnerable.</p><p> </p><p>The Legal Aid Agency regularly monitors access to legal aid-funded services by undertaking capacity reviews. A list of law firms offering legal aid, showing location and type of advice, each can provide, is published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directory-of-legal-aid-providers" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directory-of-legal-aid-providers</a>.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard grouped question UIN 259939 question first answered 12/06/2019 16:31:44 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1129825

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of access to legal aid by claimants of universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	259939
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government passports all recipients of Universal Credit through the criminal legal aid means test as well as the income test applied under the civil legal aid scheme, and will continue to do so whilst the review of legal aid means testing is ongoing. The review, announced in the Government’s Legal Support Action Plan on 7 February 2019, is studying the thresholds for legal aid entitlement and will assess the effectiveness with which the means testing arrangements appropriately protect access to justice. The review will particularly focus on those who are vulnerable.</p><p> </p><p>The Legal Aid Agency regularly monitors access to legal aid-funded services by undertaking capacity reviews. A list of law firms offering legal aid, showing location and type of advice, each can provide, is published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directory-of-legal-aid-providers" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directory-of-legal-aid-providers</a>.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard grouped question UIN 259938 question first answered 12/06/2019 16:31:44 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1129828

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) availability and (b) quality of education for adult prisoners.
tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
uin	259892
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>We set out our intentions to reform prison education in the Education and Employment Strategy, published in May last year. Our new education programme, designed to improve the quality of prison education and give prisoners a better chance of gaining employment on release, commenced on 1 April. Prison governors are responsible for education provision in their prisons. They control the education budget, decide the curriculum, and have helped to choose the main providers. In addition, our prison education Dynamic Purchasing System allows governors to commission specific, short-term education provision to meet specialised learning needs of individual prisoners, and to commission training to address employers’ particular requirements. This will help prisoners to take full advantage of employment opportunities on release. The new contracts, and increased local and national management of the education providers, will provide better and more immediate information on the quality of the service being delivered and provide a better mechanism for governors to manage performance. We do not hold data on re-offending outcomes in relation to education engagement in the form requested, and could not obtain it without incurring disproportionate cost.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland grouped question UIN 259893 question first answered 12/06/2019 16:47:34 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett

1129829

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Reoffenders
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of former prisoners who (a) attended and (b) did not attend education programmes in prison reoffended after release in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
uin	259893
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>We set out our intentions to reform prison education in the Education and Employment Strategy, published in May last year. Our new education programme, designed to improve the quality of prison education and give prisoners a better chance of gaining employment on release, commenced on 1 April. Prison governors are responsible for education provision in their prisons. They control the education budget, decide the curriculum, and have helped to choose the main providers. In addition, our prison education Dynamic Purchasing System allows governors to commission specific, short-term education provision to meet specialised learning needs of individual prisoners, and to commission training to address employers’ particular requirements. This will help prisoners to take full advantage of employment opportunities on release. The new contracts, and increased local and national management of the education providers, will provide better and more immediate information on the quality of the service being delivered and provide a better mechanism for governors to manage performance. We do not hold data on re-offending outcomes in relation to education engagement in the form requested, and could not obtain it without incurring disproportionate cost.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland grouped question UIN 259892 question first answered 12/06/2019 16:47:34 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett

1129851

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Custodial Treatment: Location
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who started their custodial sentences in England and Wales in 2018 are in prisons which are over 30 miles from their previous address.
tabling member constituency	Swansea East
tabling member printed	Carolyn Harris
uin	260062
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>HMPPS is committed to ensuring, where practicable, that prisoners are accommodated as close as possible to their resettlement communities and families. Whilst this is a priority, it is not always possible due to a variety of factors including wider population pressures, or where individuals have specific sentence planning needs which can only be met at certain establishments. Closeness to home is particularly important for those on short sentences or nearing release, where they need to build family ties, secure housing and health services and look for work. These prisoners are prioritised for being held in prisons local to home. As at 31st March 2019, the number of sentenced prisoners who commenced their custodial sentence in 2018 and are located more than 30 miles from their origin location was 8,911. Around 97% of prisoners have an origin location, which is an address that is recorded in our central IT system. If no address is given, an offender’s committal court address, next-of-kin or discharge address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident. Those with no recorded origin are typically foreign nationals or those recently received into custody. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of all offenders. These figures are excluded from the answer provided. For the purposes of this answer we have identified all prisoners that had commenced their custodial sentence in 2018. Prisoners held on remand, non-criminal prisoners and those that commenced their custodial sentence prior to 2018 (or since in 2019), have been excluded. Recalled prisoners that commenced their original sentence in 2018, and were released and subsequently recalled, and were held in custody on 31 March 2019 have been included. All data are based on the straight line travelling distance between each prisoners current location and their recorded origin location.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 12/06/2019 16:37:54 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	4480 label Biography information for Carolyn Harris

1129853

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Homelessness
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals serving custodial sentences were released homeless in 2018.
tabling member constituency	Swansea East
tabling member printed	Carolyn Harris
uin	260063
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe and secure to live. Having somewhere stable to live acts as a platform for ex-offenders to be able to access the services and support needed to turn their back on crime for good. In 2017/18, 2,690 prisoners were released to rough sleeping and 8,139 were released to other forms of homelessness, together accounting for 15.8% of the total number of releases (68,632).<strong> <br> </strong>Published statistics for 2017/18 showing the accommodation status for offenders released during this period can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-march-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-march-2018</a><br> <br> Statistics covering 2018/19 will be published on 25 July 2019<strong>.</strong> As part of the Government initiative to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping across England, we are investing up to £6.4 million over two years in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. The pilots will focus on male prisoners who have served shorter sentences, who have been identified as having a risk of homelessness. Contracts have now been awarded in the three areas and, following a mobilisation period, we expect services to commence in Summer of this year. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 12/06/2019 16:42:13 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	4480 label Biography information for Carolyn Harris

1129855

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Location
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on finalising the location of the Problem Solving Courts across England and Wales.
tabling member constituency	Swansea East
tabling member printed	Carolyn Harris
uin	260064
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>There are no plans to develop Problem Solving Courts in the criminal courts in England and Wales. Problem solving approaches are however being employed to address complex needs of offenders and resolve substance misuse/mental health problems in the community:</p><ul><li>We are working with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, HM Prisons and Probation Service and Public Health England on a protocol to support the greater use of community sentences with treatment requirements in courts. The Community Sentence Treatment Requirement protocol is operating across five courts within England (as health is devolved in Wales). These sites are Milton Keynes, Northampton, Birmingham, Sefton and Plymouth.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>The roll-out of NHS England’s Liaison and Diversion services also supports our efforts to intervene early for vulnerable offenders and divert them into services that address the underlying causes of offending. This service is currently operating across over 90% of England with full roll-out expected by 2020/21.</li></ul><p>Problem-solving courts and initiatives are in use in family proceedings where families can get help to address their problems and reduce the likelihood of children being taken into care. Family, Drug and Alcohol Courts, which look to address substance misuse and related problems in the home, are operating in a number of local authority areas including London, Southampton, Coventry and Leeds. Family, Drug and Alcohol Courts and a number of other initiatives which are helping to keep families safely together have recently been given additional £15m funding from the Department for Education.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 12/06/2019 16:44:11 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4480 label Biography information for Carolyn Harris