Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a backlog for holding inquests as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; and if so, how this varies across the regions of the country.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Coroner Statistics 2021: England and Wales, published on 12 May 2022, indicate that, on average in 2021, the time between the report of a death to the coroner and the completion of an inquest increased to 31 weeks (up from 27 weeks in 2020), although almost a third of coroner areas completed inquests within 24 weeks. Figures are also published by coroner area: for the Isle of Wight coroner area, the average time for completion of an inquest was 56 weeks (from 40 weeks in 2020).
Coroner services are locally based and funded and administered by the relevant local authorities. The Government recognises that local authorities have experienced a number of pressures as a result of the pandemic. During 2021, coroners dealt with both the impacts of the early stages of the pandemic and the ongoing effect of Covid, including a second lockdown and continued social distancing measures which, in particular, affected the ability to hold jury and other large and complex inquests.
We have provided £6.15 billion in unringfenced grant funding to local authorities in England to support the cost of pandemic pressures which could include additional costs incurred in the administration of coroner services. Funding for local authorities in Wales is a devolved matter. The Chief Coroner has issued guidance to coroners on how their services can best recover from the pandemic, including engagement with local authorities on any additional resources required. He is also undertaking a tour of all coroner areas to engage with them on their post-pandemic recovery plans.
In addition, we included a package of measures in the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 to streamline coroners’ court processes and support the coronial system with post pandemic recovery plans.
The Government’s priority is to ensure that the bereaved remain at the heart of the coroner system. In January 2020, we published a revised Guide to Coroner Services for Bereaved People which provides support and information for the bereaved about what they should expect from coroners’ investigations and inquests, and includes information on sources of bereavement support. The Guide is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-coroner-services-and-coroner-investigations-a-short-guide.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reliability of their data on whether women leaving prison have (1) safe, and (2) sustainable, accommodation.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Our vision is that no one who is subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless.
Women on remand are supported to meet resettlement needs and prepare for release by Probation staff in prisons. We will supplement this support from Probation staff with access to specialist accommodation support for all women on remand or sentenced in custody by the summer of this year.
We currently provide a Community Accommodation Service (CAS3), which provides temporary accommodation for sentenced women at risk of homelessness upon release from prison, in five probation regions and aim to expand this to all regions across England and Wales.
In 2021, we introduced Housing Specialists in twenty prisons, including four women’s prisons, to support prisons and probation in their strategic response to reducing homelessness. We intend to increase these to 48 across England and Wales, including across the women’s estate.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders (AFEO) scheme in July 2021 to support offenders at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies. Overall, this financial year, £13 million has been allocated to 87 schemes across 145 local authorities.
To ensure consistent and accurate data recording, HMPPS, in collaboration with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government, has recently updated the Accommodation Recording Guidance to ensure Probation regions have a clear and consistent understanding of the accommodation status definitions, and how to record accurately. The Guidance defines homelessness as where an individual is rough sleeping, squatting, residing in night shelters, emergency hostels or campsites. Individuals with other forms of temporary, short-term or otherwise unstable accommodation are encompassed by the ‘unsettled accommodation’ category in published statistics.
Accommodation circumstances for offenders are reported annually as official statistics. Data for the period 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 will be published in July 2022 in the Community Performance Annual report.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what accommodation support they provide for women on release from prison who have been held on remand.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Our vision is that no one who is subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless.
Women on remand are supported to meet resettlement needs and prepare for release by Probation staff in prisons. We will supplement this support from Probation staff with access to specialist accommodation support for all women on remand or sentenced in custody by the summer of this year.
We currently provide a Community Accommodation Service (CAS3), which provides temporary accommodation for sentenced women at risk of homelessness upon release from prison, in five probation regions and aim to expand this to all regions across England and Wales.
In 2021, we introduced Housing Specialists in twenty prisons, including four women’s prisons, to support prisons and probation in their strategic response to reducing homelessness. We intend to increase these to 48 across England and Wales, including across the women’s estate.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders (AFEO) scheme in July 2021 to support offenders at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies. Overall, this financial year, £13 million has been allocated to 87 schemes across 145 local authorities.
To ensure consistent and accurate data recording, HMPPS, in collaboration with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government, has recently updated the Accommodation Recording Guidance to ensure Probation regions have a clear and consistent understanding of the accommodation status definitions, and how to record accurately. The Guidance defines homelessness as where an individual is rough sleeping, squatting, residing in night shelters, emergency hostels or campsites. Individuals with other forms of temporary, short-term or otherwise unstable accommodation are encompassed by the ‘unsettled accommodation’ category in published statistics.
Accommodation circumstances for offenders are reported annually as official statistics. Data for the period 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 will be published in July 2022 in the Community Performance Annual report.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the duty to refer under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, with respect to vulnerable women leaving prison.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
This Government is committed to ending rough sleeping this Parliament and believes everyone deserves a roof over their head. Everyone leaving prison should have somewhere safe and secure to live; accommodation enables offenders to hold down a job and reduces the likelihood of them re-offending.
Work is being done across government between the Ministry of Justice, MHCLG and the Welsh Government, to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation and we are aware of the specific complex needs of women prison leavers.
In preparation for the launch of the new unified probation service, MoJ have published a policy framework in support of the Homelessness Reduction Act (2017) Duty to Refer process, which will mandate the roles and responsibilities of both prison and probation staff in making effective referrals. The operation of the new policy framework will be monitored and reviewed on a quarterly basis with MHCLG and any adjustments to the process incorporated into future iterations of the policy framework.
To support the oversight of its COVID-19 response, HMPPS set up seven Homelessness Prevention Teams to help find accommodation for offenders upon release. These teams have been very successful in securing temporary accommodation outcomes, including short-term rented accommodation and building new local partnerships with local authorities and housing partners. The HPTs continue to operate.
We are investing more than £20m in supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation. Individuals released from prison will be provided up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation and will be supported into long-term settled accommodation before the end of that 12-week period. Initially launching in five national probation regions, the service will support around 3,000 offenders in its first year and will be commencing this Summer. It will be in operation during the next financial year 2021-22, with a view to scaling up and rolling out nationally. The service will take account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs and accommodation provision will be dedicated to single gender usage as required.
We are also introducing and testing a new specialist housing advisor role in twenty prisons, including within the female estate. The new role will seek to strengthen links between prisons, through the gate teams and local authorities to improve accommodation outcomes for those at risk of homelessness. Subject to evaluation, the intention is to scale up and roll-out nationally across all resettlement prisons.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how long, on average, it takes to gain grant of probate following an application for probate.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) internal management information (which is not subject to the rigorous quality assurance processes of official statistics) has been used to show average times from receipt of an application to a grant being issued in February 2020.
Measure | Average Weeks to issued | Median to issue |
Submission to issue for all grants issued in the month (including those stopped for queries or missing documentation) | 7 | 3 |
From submission to issue for grants issued in the month that were not stopped. | 4 | 3 |
These figures include applications made via the online service and use the receipt date of the digital application for recording the time of issue, rather than the time the necessary supporting documentation is sent to HMCTS in order to start processing the application. The data has been extracted from the HMCTS Reform Core Case Data system, which is a new system in active development, and may not be directly comparable with figures for earlier periods.
Probate users can telephone the national Courts and Tribunal Service Centres with queries relating to Probate applications. In the month of February 2020, calls were answered within 3 minutes on average.
Official statistics are not held or published on the average length of time to grant probate after the filing of an inheritance tax form.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether people can telephone a probate registry to find out how their application is progressing; and what is the average length of time for such telephone calls to be answered.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) internal management information (which is not subject to the rigorous quality assurance processes of official statistics) has been used to show average times from receipt of an application to a grant being issued in February 2020.
Measure | Average Weeks to issued | Median to issue |
Submission to issue for all grants issued in the month (including those stopped for queries or missing documentation) | 7 | 3 |
From submission to issue for grants issued in the month that were not stopped. | 4 | 3 |
These figures include applications made via the online service and use the receipt date of the digital application for recording the time of issue, rather than the time the necessary supporting documentation is sent to HMCTS in order to start processing the application. The data has been extracted from the HMCTS Reform Core Case Data system, which is a new system in active development, and may not be directly comparable with figures for earlier periods.
Probate users can telephone the national Courts and Tribunal Service Centres with queries relating to Probate applications. In the month of February 2020, calls were answered within 3 minutes on average.
Official statistics are not held or published on the average length of time to grant probate after the filing of an inheritance tax form.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how long, on average, it takes to be granted probate after filing inheritance tax forms with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) internal management information (which is not subject to the rigorous quality assurance processes of official statistics) has been used to show average times from receipt of an application to a grant being issued in February 2020.
Measure | Average Weeks to issued | Median to issue |
Submission to issue for all grants issued in the month (including those stopped for queries or missing documentation) | 7 | 3 |
From submission to issue for grants issued in the month that were not stopped. | 4 | 3 |
These figures include applications made via the online service and use the receipt date of the digital application for recording the time of issue, rather than the time the necessary supporting documentation is sent to HMCTS in order to start processing the application. The data has been extracted from the HMCTS Reform Core Case Data system, which is a new system in active development, and may not be directly comparable with figures for earlier periods.
Probate users can telephone the national Courts and Tribunal Service Centres with queries relating to Probate applications. In the month of February 2020, calls were answered within 3 minutes on average.
Official statistics are not held or published on the average length of time to grant probate after the filing of an inheritance tax form.