Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current range of waiting times for funerals; and whether they will investigate the reasons for delays in areas of the UK with the longest wait times.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Government does not have operational responsibility for the provision of funeral services and as such does not collate information on waiting times for funerals.
However, we are aware of some areas experiencing longer waiting times for funeral services and we are working with other government departments and the sector to address capacity and resilience issues within the death management system.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of prison cells in England and Wales do not contain a toilet.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Prison operating standards state that prisoners in normal accommodation should have sanitation either within their cell or as an annex to the cell. The vast majority equating to around 68,400 (90%) of cells, including all newer prisons, have modern sanitation inside the cell. These cells hold approximately 91% of the prison population.
The remaining 7,600 (10%) do not have in-cell sanitation. The majority of these are at sites subject to open conditions, where prisoners have 24-hour access to sanitation facilities that are not physically integrated into their cells.
In a small number of older prisons, however, it has not proved possible to install in-cell sanitation or the cost of doing so would be prohibitively high. In such cases, a system of electronic unlocking is in place, in which prisoners are able to request via an in-cell call bell that the cell door be remotely unlocked for a limited period of time to allow them to access to shared facilities on the wing.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why only 206 new prison places have so far been created to help meet their 2016 commitment to produce 10,000 new places.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
In 2016, the then Secretary of State for Justice announced the creation of up to 10,000 new for old prison places. As part of this, a new 206 place houseblock at HMP Stocken was opened in June 2019. Work to construct a modern, uncrowded, decent, safe and secure prison at Wellingborough, providing 1,680 places, is progressing on schedule and we will commence work to build a 1,680 place prison at Glen Parva in the Summer, bringing the total places delivered to 3,566.
The Prime Minister has committed to invest up to £2.5 billion to transform the prison estate by building 10,000 additional places – in addition to the 3,566 already being delivered. The first of these new prisons will be at Full Sutton. All future new prison developments are subject to receiving planning permission and will be announced in due course.
We acknowledge the National Audit Office’s review, ‘Ministry of Justice, HM Prison and Probation Service: Improving the prison estate’, undertaken in 2019 and we will be carefully considering the report to ensure that we are able to effectively deliver the additional 10,000 places whilst ensuring value for money for taxpayers.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the investigation by the Financial Times into the operation of HM Prison Berwyn, published on 6 March.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
HMP Berwyn has been operating well since it opened and represents a key part of our investment to reform and modernise the prison estate.
We are increasing the population at Berwyn at a measured rate that ensures the safety of prisoners and staff. As with any new prison there have been planning and implementation issues which we have worked hard to resolve, and we know there will be more to do as we move towards full occupancy.
Lessons learned from Berwyn, along with our extensive consultation of stakeholders and prison design experts, will shape our approach as we develop an estate that can improve rehabilitation and create safe and secure environments for staff and offenders.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the National Audit Office, Transforming Rehabilitation: Progress review, published on 1 March 2019; what steps they intend to take in response; and what lessons they have learned from the report for policy-making and delivery across government.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government has been clear that there are important lessons to be learnt from the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, including around the commercial approach to contracted delivery of core services, the timescale for delivery, and the evaluation of strategic, operational and financial risks.
The report recognises the strong performance of the National Probation Service in looking after our higher risk offenders. But the performance of the CRCs, which look after our lower risk offenders is too often deeply disappointing.
The Government has acted decisively in response to issues with CRC performance by bringing forward the end of CRC contracts and consulting on a range of proposals to better integrate probation provision. We take seriously the findings of the National Audit Office report and are reflecting carefully on the recommendations as we develop our plans for future probation arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report to the Senior Salaries Review Body The attractiveness of judicial appointments in the United Kingdom, published in January 2018, what plans they have to improve working conditions for judges.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government values the work of our world-renowned judiciary. We are carefully considering all the recommendations and observations made by the SSRB’s major review, which include those relating to pay and working conditions
An additional £1 billion investment through the HMCTS Reform programme has already started to improve our courts. Introducing digital services and more efficient ways of working through the programme will free up judges from routine tasks so they can focus on the most contentious issues.
In reflection of concerns raised by the judiciary about the courts and tribunals estate, the Government has invested an additional £15 million this year to carry out much needed security and maintenance work to improve the conditions of courts across England and Wales. This work is currently underway.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
There are no plans to raise the mandatory retirement age of 70, which aims to strike a balance between allowing judges time to develop and progress and ensuring that career opportunities are also available for more recent appointments.
There is no general consensus, including amongst the judiciary, about whether the retirement age should be changed.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the lessons to be drawn from BBC Panorama’s programme on HMP Northumberland.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
These are extremely serious allegations which are being urgently investigated by both Sodexo and the National Offender Management Service. We have robust processes in place to closely monitor and manage private contractors and will not hesitate to take action when standards fall short.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in light of the recent ruling of the European Court of Justice, they plan to introduce legislation to clarify the law on the right to be forgotten.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Government is continuing to assess the implications of the recent European Court of Justice ruling on the ‘right to be forgotten’. However, it is important to be clear that the ECJ judgment does not give individuals an unfettered right to have their personal data deleted from search engine results.
The Government is conscious of the possible unintended consequences of the judgment, such as the administrative burdens for search engines in complying with the judgment, a potential increase in caseload for the Information Commissioner’s Office in responding to complaints and ultimately the volume of cases that may end up in the Tribunal on appeal.
With this in mind, the Government welcomes the work being undertaken by the Committee of European data protection authorities to develop criteria to be used by search engine operators to consider requests for deletion. The guidance issued by this Committee will be of vital importance to search engines operators in striking the right balance between the privacy rights of individuals and other interests, including the public interest in retaining the information. Therefore as well as supporting search engine operators with the practical application of the ruling, the Government considers this guidance is the right mechanism for clarifying the rights and obligations provided by this judgment.
At the same time negotiations on a replacement General Data Protection Regulation are ongoing in the Council of the EU, including on proposed provisions which are in shorthand called the ‘right to be forgotten’ provisions. The Government does not support the ‘right to be forgotten’ as proposed by the European Commission. It is not technologically possible to remove all trace of data uploaded on the internet and we should be mindful of setting unrealistic expectations for data subjects which do not exist in practice. The Government also consider that an obligation to inform other controllers of a request under the so called ‘right to be forgotten’ should be made clearer and more realistic. Therefore, we will continue to make the case for greater clarity and a more proportionate approach to this measure.