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100234

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Criminal Proceedings: Veterans
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many meetings his Department's review of veterans in the criminal justice system has held since 16 June 2014.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	211338
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The review team, which includes the Chair of the review - Stephen Phillips QC MP, the advisors assisting him and the two secretariat staff, have attended fourteen meetings since 14 July 2014.</p><p> </p><p>These include an oral evidence session, a visit to HMP Manchester and Cheshire and Greater Manchester CRC and a meeting to discuss progress between the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Stephen Phillips QC MP and myself – Mike Penning MP.</p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning question first answered 24/10/2014 11:09:51 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

90361

registered interest
date	02/09/2014
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 years left to serve has each determinate sentence prisoner who absconded from open conditions in the last year.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	207932
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>Progression to open prison is never automatic and only those prisoners who are assessed as a low risk of harm to the public and a low risk of abscond will be held in open conditions. Prisoners serving longer sentences may be allocated to open prison towards the end of their sentence but only where they have successfully completed relevant offending behaviour work that is judged to have reduced any risks. In the case of ISPs this generally involves a recommendation from the Parole Board. The table below shows how many days each offender had been in open conditions prior to the date of abscond.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Number of days served in open prison prior to absconding, January 2014 to March 2014</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Time since arrival</p></td><td><p>Number of absconders</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>On day of arrival</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1st or 2nd full day</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 days to 7 days</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>8 days to 30 days</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>31 days to 3 months (90 days)</p></td><td><p>24</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 months to 6 months (91 to 182 days)</p></td><td><p>10</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6 months to 1 year</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Over 1 year</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Figures from April 2014 onwards are not yet available. Over 97% of prisoners who abscond are re-captured and returned to custody.</p><p> </p><p>Absconds have reached record lows under this Government. Abscond levels are down 80% over the last 10 years.</p><p> </p><p>The sentence length at the time of the abscond is not readily available for all absconds in 2013/14. As sentences can change due to further criminal or prison offences it would be necessary to write out to each establishment and analyse each prisoner’s records to determine the remaining sentence length at the time of the abscond. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Figures for the number of absconds, by prison, since 1995 are provided in the Prison Digest contained in the Prison and Probation Trusts Performance Statistics. This can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314</a></p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 207931 question first answered 11/09/2014 14:43:47 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

90363

registered interest
date	02/09/2014
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 days each of the offenders who absconded from open conditions in 2014 had served there before they absconded.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	207931
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>Progression to open prison is never automatic and only those prisoners who are assessed as a low risk of harm to the public and a low risk of abscond will be held in open conditions. Prisoners serving longer sentences may be allocated to open prison towards the end of their sentence but only where they have successfully completed relevant offending behaviour work that is judged to have reduced any risks. In the case of ISPs this generally involves a recommendation from the Parole Board. The table below shows how many days each offender had been in open conditions prior to the date of abscond.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Number of days served in open prison prior to absconding, January 2014 to March 2014</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Time since arrival</p></td><td><p>Number of absconders</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>On day of arrival</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1st or 2nd full day</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 days to 7 days</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>8 days to 30 days</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>31 days to 3 months (90 days)</p></td><td><p>24</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 months to 6 months (91 to 182 days)</p></td><td><p>10</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6 months to 1 year</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Over 1 year</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Figures from April 2014 onwards are not yet available. Over 97% of prisoners who abscond are re-captured and returned to custody.</p><p> </p><p>Absconds have reached record lows under this Government. Abscond levels are down 80% over the last 10 years.</p><p> </p><p>The sentence length at the time of the abscond is not readily available for all absconds in 2013/14. As sentences can change due to further criminal or prison offences it would be necessary to write out to each establishment and analyse each prisoner’s records to determine the remaining sentence length at the time of the abscond. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Figures for the number of absconds, by prison, since 1995 are provided in the Prison Digest contained in the Prison and Probation Trusts Performance Statistics. This can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314</a></p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 207932 question first answered 11/09/2014 14:43:46 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

79529

registered interest
date	23/07/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Statutory Instruments
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many statutory instruments from the Ministry of Justice have been laid this calendar year; of those, what percentage corrected errors in a previous instrument (including drafts of affirmative instruments that had to be superseded by correcting drafts); and what steps that Department is taking to reduce the need for correcting instruments.
tabling member printed	Lord Goodlad
uin	HL1427
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/08/2014 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice laid 80 statutory instruments between the start of the calendar year and 25 July 2014. The Ministry of Justice does not keep records of which statutory instruments corrected errors in previous instruments. However, it estimates that 3 instruments (less than 4% of the total) were expressed to be correcting errors made in, in consequence of a defect in, or in substitution of, a previous instrument and were as a result issued free of charge to known recipients of the original instrument.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice is strongly committed to improving the quality of statutory instrument drafting. In addition to providing training to relevant staff and adopting rigorous checking process (including a requirement that all instruments are subject to a second and third pair of eyes check by a lawyer who has not drafted the instrument), a new post of Statutory Instrument Co-ordinator has been established within the Legal Directorate to co-ordinate the sharing of best practice. The Ministry of Justice will also be participating in work being led by the Treasury Solicitor and First Parliamentary Counsel to enhance further the quality, consistency and effectiveness of statutory instruments across Government.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Faulks question first answered 11/08/2014 10:51:24 answering member 4183 label Biography information for Lord Faulks
tabling member	670 label Biography information for Lord Goodlad

79431

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	Police Cautions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what types of indictable-only offence a caution was issued in each year since 2009; and how many cautions were issued for each type of offence in that period.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	206955
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2014 answer text <p><ins class="ministerial"></ins><ins class="ministerial"></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">This Government has taken action to end the cautions culture and to make sure serious offenders do not receive penalties seen as soft options. The use of cautions is at its lowest point for thirty years.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are changing the law to ban simple cautions for all of the indictable only offences - the most serious criminal offences which must be tried in the Crown Court, including rape, manslaughter and robbery. We are also banning simple cautions for possession of a knife or offensive weapon, supplying Class A drugs and a range of sexual offences against children. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Further, we announced proposals in November 2014 for a new out of court disposal framework that would see an end to cautions and warnings and would require offenders to take actions to comply with their disposals. Elements of this new framework are being piloted in Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and Leicestershire before a decision is taken on whether to implement the new framework across England and Wales. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Ministry of Justice issues guidance on the process to be followed by the police when they are administering simple cautions for adult offenders. The latest guidance, issued in November 2013 following the Simple Cautions Review, states that the use of a simple caution for indictable-only offences, such as rape, should only be given following authorisation by a senior police officer of at least the rank of Superintendent and the Crown Prosecution Service. These will be cases where there are exceptional circumstances which would mean that it is not in the public interest to prosecute.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> Latest information on cautions issued by offence type is publicly available online at the Ministry of Justice’s statistics portal. This data is contained in Q2.3 of the Out of Court Disposals table: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-september-2014" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-september-2014</a></ins></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">Simple 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 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 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.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">Since 2007 the overall number of simple cautions issued has halved. 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; which has declined from a peak of 31 per cent in 2007.</del></p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning question first answered 05/09/2014 15:19:10 question first ministerially corrected 24/03/2015 11:55:13 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning attachment 1 file name 206955 - table.xls title number of indictable only cautions issued 2009-13 previous answer version 18652 answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

78077

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Abduction: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases of child abduction where no attempt has been made to take the child out of the UK have reached court in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	205826
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. Centrally held data does not indicate which defendants proceeded against under Section 2 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 were not taking the child out of the UK. This information may be held by the individual courts in England and Wales but as such it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 21/07/2014 11:26:56 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

61457

registered interest
date	11/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Open Prisons: Prisoner Escapes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of those held in open prisons in each month in 2010 to 2013 had previously (a) absconded, (b) attempted to abscond, (c) escaped and (d) attempted to escape.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	200226
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>Keeping the public safe is our priority.Absconds and escapes 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, escaped, or attempted to do either.</p><p> </p><p>My officials are currently working to provide the information requested. I will write to you in due course.</p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 16/06/2014 16:59:00 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

60945

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what consideration his Department gives to the diversity policies and records of businesses or other organisations when considering their bid for commercial contracts or grants.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199954
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice is committed to promoting equality and diversity in its procurements. Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 outlines the Public Sector Equality Duty. The following three duties which form the basis of Departments' policy and to which due regard must be given during the procurement process:</p><p> </p><p>1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act;</p><p>2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.</p><p>3. Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.</p><p> </p><p>The level of due regard given to the three duties will vary depending on their relevance to each individual procurement. There will be greater significance for example where the procurement involves direct contact with the public or employees of the Department or where services are to be carried out in the Department's premises.</p><p> </p><p>Where a need to consider equality has been identified at the beginning of a procurement process, consideration to this is given at every stage of the process as detailed below:</p><p> </p><p>· Planning and preparation includes the consideration of whether the duties are relevant to the procurement.</p><p>· The Pre-Qualification stage of the tender process contains mandatory fields including questions to make sure that the bid is in line with legislation. Suppliers that do not pass these questions are not progressed onto the next stage.</p><p>· The Request for Information and Request for Quotation contain questions in line with legislation. These question are proportionate so as not to disadvantage smaller suppliers.</p><p>· The evaluation of tenders can include equality criteria if it formed part of the specification. However, if included, the criteria are given proportionate consideration to the bid as a whole.</p><p>· Contract award where the specification set out equality criteria can be used to determine the most economically advantageous tender</p><p>· Ongoing consideration is given to the equality duties in every review meeting for those relevant contracts.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to these processes implemented during the procurement process, the Department reports annually its obligations to the Cabinet Office. All procurement staff within the Department are required to undertake mandatory Equality and Diversity Training which makes sure that the duty can be considered and applied correctly.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 16/06/2014 14:25:11 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60946

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what targets his Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199933
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>The MoJ has a longstanding commitment to promoting equality of opportunity and making sure that we are representative of the society we serve. The principle of appointment on merit is the foundation of Civil Service recruitment and enshrined in law.</p><p> </p><p>The MoJ does not have any published targets but we annually review and publish the demographics of our workforce - <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-report-2012-13" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-report-2012-13</a></p><p>This information is used to inform policy of action in the future and set out in the MoJ Equality Objectives-<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/209087/moj-equality-objectives.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/209087/moj-equality-objectives.pdf</a>#</p><p>We have made good progress in making the MoJ a more diverse place to work. For example, the MoJ's management board has an equal mix of women and men at Executive (50%) and Non-Executive level (50%) levels, and we are led by a female Permanent Secretary, Ursula Brennan.</p><p> </p><p>17% of MoJ staff members promoted last year were not white. This is an increase of 2% on the previous year. 10% more women were promoted in 2012/2013 than in 2011/2012.</p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes question first answered 17/06/2014 16:37:28 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60620

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: 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 in open prisons have previously absconded or escaped from prison.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	199723
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> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright grouped question UIN 199722 question first answered 16/06/2014 16:59:29 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies