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61893

registered interest
date	13/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons operated on half regime during (a) January, (b) February, (c) March, (d) April and (e) May 2014.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	200712
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>The information regarding how many prisons operated on half regime during (a) January, (b) February, (c) March, (d) April and (e) May 2014, is not collated centrally. The term ‘half regime' is not used in prison establishments, and is unlikely to be interpreted consistently. The processes required to collect this data would incur disproportionate costs.</p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 18/06/2014 12:37:07 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

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

61459

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	Prisoners
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on which occasions Ministers in his Department have taken decisions on (a) moving prisoners into open conditions and (b) releasing prisoners on temporary licence since May 2010.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	200224
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>An indeterminate sentence prisoner is transferred to open conditions only after a robust risk assessment and, in most cases, upon the recommendation of the independent Parole Board. In making its risk assessment, the Parole Board is provided with reports from a range of professional staff from within the National Offender Management Service, all of whom can be required to attend the Parole Board hearing and give evidence directly to the Board if required to do so. In making its recommendation, the Board's overriding priority at all times is the safety of the public.</p><p> </p><p>Decisions as to whether to accept a Parole Board recommendation to transfer an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions or to direct the transfer of such a prisoner without a Parole Board recommendation are taken by officials within the National Offender Management Service on behalf of Ministers, in accordance with the <em>Carltona</em> principle. Such decisions are not referred to Ministers.</p><p> </p><p>Decisions to transfer determinate sentence prisoners to open conditions are taken by population managers within the National Offender Management Service. Only prisoners who have been thoroughly risk assessed and categorised as suitable for open conditions will be considered for transfer to open prisons. Decisions on re-categorising prisoners as suitable for open conditions are taken by experienced prison staff with input from offender managers, healthcare and other professional staff using recent information about the prisoner including behaviour whilst in closed conditions, security and intelligence information and any other risk information that might demonstrate the prisoner's proven trustworthiness. Decisions are not taken by ministers.</p><p> </p><p>Decisions to release prisoners on temporary licence (ROTL) are taken by prison governors and directors, or their delegates, on behalf of the Secretary of State and in line with national guidance issued by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). Decisions are taken on the basis of recommendations from a risk assessment board that has taken account of the nature of the offence and any indentified risk factors, the position of known victims, the offender's record on previous ROTL; their behaviour in prison and progress in tackling their offending behaviour, and any other specific areas of concern relevant to that case. Decisions are not taken by Ministers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 16/06/2014 16:48:27 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

61460

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	Probation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many unfilled vacancies there were on 1 June 2014 in (a) each community rehabilitation company and (b) the National Probation Service.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	200223
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) commenced operation on 1 June, and all staff have now moved to the new structure. Detailed information on vacancies is not held centrally. CRCs and NPS Divisions are currently developing their workforce plans, building on the staff structures inherited from Trusts. Once these are completed, they will be reviewed centrally and will inform the current round of recruitment for trainee probation officers. In the meantime, NPS Deputy Directors and CRCs are continuing to monitor and manage staffing in their areas.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 16/06/2014 14:41:52 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

60852

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	Michael Wheatley
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what grounds Michael Wheatley was moved to an open prison.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	199680
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>It would not be appropriate to place in the public domain information specific to the parole review and advice received by the independent Parole Board in respect of an individual prisoner.</p><p> </p><p>However, an indeterminate sentence prisoner is transferred to open conditions only after a robust risk assessment and, in most cases, upon the recommendation of the independent Parole Board. In making its risk assessment, the Parole Board is provided with reports from a range of professional staff from within the National Offender Management Service, all of whom can be required to attend the Parole Board hearing and give evidence directly to the Board if required to do so. In making its recommendation, the Board's overriding priority at all times is the safety of the public.</p><p> </p><p>For many prisoners, open prisons provide a controlled environment, more closely akin to the outside community, in which to support resettlement and assess risk, in order to inform decision-making on potential eventual release. Open prisons provide such prisoners with an opportunity to establish stronger links with their family and to develop suitable employment and accommodation plans in time for their eventual release. Indeterminate sentence prisoners who fail to comply with the regime or whose behaviour gives cause for concern are swiftly returned to secure conditions.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Decisions as to whether to accept a Parole Board recommendation to transfer an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions or to direct the transfer of such a prisoner without a Parole Board recommendation are taken by officials within the National Offender Management Service on behalf of Ministers, in accordance with the <em>Carltona</em> principle. Such decisions are not referred to Ministers – this is in line with 1994 and 2006 guidance.</p><p> </p><p>The public have understandable concerns in the light of this case of a failure to return from temporary release from open prison, which led to a further offence. Keeping the public safe is our priority and we will not allow the actions of a small minority of offenders to undermine public confidence in the prison system. The number of temporary release failures remains very low; less that one failure in every 1,000 releases and about five in every 100,000 releases involving alleged offending, but we take each and every incident seriously. The Government has already ordered immediate changes to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. With immediate effect, prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 16/06/2014 17:01:05 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

60853

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	Michael Wheatley
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether approval was sought from Ministers for the decision to move Michael Wheatley to an open prison.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	199681
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>It would not be appropriate to place in the public domain information specific to the parole review and advice received by the independent Parole Board in respect of an individual prisoner.</p><p> </p><p>However, an indeterminate sentence prisoner is transferred to open conditions only after a robust risk assessment and, in most cases, upon the recommendation of the independent Parole Board. In making its risk assessment, the Parole Board is provided with reports from a range of professional staff from within the National Offender Management Service, all of whom can be required to attend the Parole Board hearing and give evidence directly to the Board if required to do so. In making its recommendation, the Board's overriding priority at all times is the safety of the public.</p><p> </p><p>For many prisoners, open prisons provide a controlled environment, more closely akin to the outside community, in which to support resettlement and assess risk, in order to inform decision-making on potential eventual release. Open prisons provide such prisoners with an opportunity to establish stronger links with their family and to develop suitable employment and accommodation plans in time for their eventual release. Indeterminate sentence prisoners who fail to comply with the regime or whose behaviour gives cause for concern are swiftly returned to secure conditions.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Decisions as to whether to accept a Parole Board recommendation to transfer an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions or to direct the transfer of such a prisoner without a Parole Board recommendation are taken by officials within the National Offender Management Service on behalf of Ministers, in accordance with the <em>Carltona</em> principle. Such decisions are not referred to Ministers – this is in line with 1994 and 2006 guidance.</p><p> </p><p>The public have understandable concerns in the light of this case of a failure to return from temporary release from open prison, which led to a further offence. Keeping the public safe is our priority and we will not allow the actions of a small minority of offenders to undermine public confidence in the prison system. The number of temporary release failures remains very low; less that one failure in every 1,000 releases and about five in every 100,000 releases involving alleged offending, but we take each and every incident seriously. The Government has already ordered immediate changes to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. With immediate effect, prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 16/06/2014 17:15:39 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

60854

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	Michael Wheatley
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether approval was sought from any Minister for the decision to release Michael Wheatley on temporary licence.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	199682
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>Approval was not sought from any Minister for the decision to release Michael Wheatley on temporary licence, as the policy does not require Ministerial approval before a prisoner is approved for release on temporary licence (RoTL). This has been the case since 1994. In accordance with the policy, as laid down in Prison Service Order 6300, the Deputy Governor at HMP Standford Hill approved RoTL for Michael Wheatley, on a recommendation from a RoTL risk assessment board at that prison.</p><p> </p><p>Mr Wheatley's Resettlement Day Release was authorised to facilitate his potential resettlement into the community and to assess his ongoing risk, to inform the Parole Board's future decision as to his suitability for release into the community on life licence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright grouped question UIN 199683 question first answered 16/06/2014 14:49:23 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

60855

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	Michael Wheatley
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what grounds Michael Wheatley was released on temporary licence.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	199683
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>Approval was not sought from any Minister for the decision to release Michael Wheatley on temporary licence, as the policy does not require Ministerial approval before a prisoner is approved for release on temporary licence (RoTL). This has been the case since 1994. In accordance with the policy, as laid down in Prison Service Order 6300, the Deputy Governor at HMP Standford Hill approved RoTL for Michael Wheatley, on a recommendation from a RoTL risk assessment board at that prison.</p><p> </p><p>Mr Wheatley's Resettlement Day Release was authorised to facilitate his potential resettlement into the community and to assess his ongoing risk, to inform the Parole Board's future decision as to his suitability for release into the community on life licence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright grouped question UIN 199682 question first answered 16/06/2014 14:49:23 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

60471

registered interest
date	06/06/2014
answering body	Attorney General
answering dept id	88
answering dept short name	Attorney General
answering dept sort name	Attorney General
hansard heading	Prisons: Crimes of Violence
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Attorney General, for how many acts of violence in prisons the Crown Prosecution Service decided to (a) bring or (b) not bring a prosecution for each type of offence in each of the last four years.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	199512
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2014 answer text <p>The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of cases where the CPS has been asked to make a charging decision and the decision made, either to charge or to take no further action. No record is held as to where an alleged offence was said to have taken place. To obtain details of alleged acts of violence in prisons referred to the CPS for a charging decision would require a manual exercise of reviewing individual case files to be undertaken at a disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North East Hertfordshire answering member printed Oliver Heald question first answered 11/06/2014 13:17:16 answering member 69 label Biography information for Sir Oliver Heald
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

60472

registered interest
date	06/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Service
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hours of (a) initial and (b) on-the-job training is provided to prison (i) governors and (ii) staff on (A) diversity and equality and (B) issues relating to radicalisation of prisoners.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	199478
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>A range of equality and diversity training is available to all prison staff. Equalities awareness is also embedded in all business specific learning. The amount of training provided to individuals depends on their identified needs and their role within the prison.</p><p> </p><p>Newly recruited prison officers and operational support grades are introduced to the nine protected characteristics (as described in the Equalities Act 2010) at the beginning of their initial training (one hour session). These are referred to throughout the course, and the learners' understanding is assessed during specific equalities sessions (approximately seven hours) towards the end of the course.</p><p> </p><p>Training and support from NOMS Security group and Chaplaincy group to appropriate staff forms a key part of NOMS' wide-ranging programme of work to manage the risks of violent extremism and radicalisation in custody. A three hour module on extremism and radicalisation is delivered to all newly recruited prison officers as part of their initial training. The session raises their awareness of extremism and radicalisation, enabling them to confidently and appropriately identify, report, and manage those prisoners who exhibit extremist behaviours.</p><p> </p><p>In prisons, bespoke training for staff working with extremist prisoners lasts up to three hours and examines the threat of extremism, how to identify those offenders and looks in detail at specific forms of extremism.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright grouped question UIN 199479 question first answered 16/06/2014 10:22:33 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan