Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many apprenticeships Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service has made available to staff since 2017.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
HMPPS has made 20 apprenticeships available to staff since 2017.
There are plans to expand the number of apprenticeships offered to staff across the Ministry of Justice and its agencies, including Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.
To date, HMPPS have not met their annual apprenticeship targets due to the need to delay the Prison Officer apprenticeship launch until annual recruitment levels make this operationally feasible. HMPPS forecast to meet their annual target from 2020-21 onwards.
There are currently no apprenticeship completions within Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. Completion data will be available as appropriate from providers.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many criminal justice placements have been (1) available, and (2) filled, in secure children's homes in each month in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The information requested is published on gov.uk and is provided in the tables attached with this answer.
Following remand or sentencing, the Youth Custody Service (YCS) decides where children should be placed and this will be either at a secure training centre, secure children’s home or under-18 young offender institution (for young males only).
The placement decision is based on the information provided by youth offending teams (YOTs). The YCS’s Placement Team will contact YOTs to make sure the needs, risks and circumstances of each young person has been taken into account.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow more prisoners to be released on temporary licence.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Research published in 2018 shows that the more a prisoner is released on temporary licence (ROTL), the less chance there is of them reoffending and we want to see ROTL used more often, particularly to get prisoners into the workplace. We are currently consulting practitioners and key stakeholders on how to deliver a more effective approach to ROTL and three Prisons, HMPs Drake Hall, Kirkham and Ford, are currently testing out the new arrangements. We expect to publish a new Policy Framework in the Spring.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to use technology to create more effective community sentencing orders; and if so, how.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Electronic monitoring technology to monitor a curfew requirement is now being augmented by satellite enabled tags that can also monitor compliance with other community requirements including exclusion zones and an offender’s attendance at a certain activity, for example, unpaid work or a rehabilitation programme. From April, it will also be possible to use the new tags to monitor an offender’s movements as a freestanding requirement of a community order.
This new technology provides a tool to monitor restrictions imposed on an offender’s movements and lifestyle where it is appropriate and proportionate to do so.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the speech by the Secretary of State for Justice on 18 February Beyond prison, redefining punishment, when they intend to bring forward their plan to remove six month custodial sentences.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
There is a strong case to abolish sentences of six months or less, with some closely defined exceptions. We are therefore exploring options to restrict the use of short custodial sentences, but we have not at this stage reached any conclusions.
There is persuasive evidence showing that short custodial sentences do not work in terms of rehabilitation and helping some offenders turn their backs on crime. Community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective in reducing reoffending, and therefore keeping the public safe.
We do recognise that we must ensure the public and judiciary have confidence in non-custodial sentences which address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, or provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to stop the use of six month custodial sentences; and if so, when they plan to bring forward the proposals necessary to make such a change.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
We would like to see short custodial sentences imposed much less frequently and to have a stronger emphasis on community penalties, including those which address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, or provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community. There is persuasive evidence showing that short custodial sentences do not work in terms of rehabilitation and helping some offenders turn their backs on crime. Community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective in reducing reoffending, and therefore keeping the public safe.
We are therefore exploring options to restrict the use of short custodial sentences, but we have not at this stage reached any conclusions.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is their policy to increase the number of community sentences rather than custodial sentences.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
We would like to see short custodial sentences imposed much less frequently and to have a stronger emphasis on community penalties, including those which address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, or provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community. There is persuasive evidence showing that short custodial sentences do not work in terms of rehabilitation and helping some offenders turn their backs on crime. Community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective in reducing reoffending, and therefore keeping the public safe.
We are therefore exploring options to restrict the use of short custodial sentences, but we have not at this stage reached any conclusions.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the presumption against prison sentences of three months or less in Scotland; if so, what lessons they have learned from that policy; and what assessment they have made of the success of that policy on the rate of reoffending.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Scottish Government’s consultation in 2015 on Proposals to Strengthen the Presumption against Short Periods of Imprisonment refers to an evaluation, conducted in 2013-14, of the impact of the current presumption against sentences of 3 months or less (https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00485797.pdf). It concludes that while the presumption, which has been in place since 2011, underlines the Scottish Government’s intention to move away from short sentences, the three month limit has had little practical impact.
We have noted this assessment and the pledge by the Scottish Government to extend the presumption to sentences of 12 months or less so that it has a more direct impact on reducing short custodial imprisonment.
However, sentencing law in England and Wales is different from that in Scotland. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 already requires a court before imposing a custodial sentence of any length to be satisfied that the offence is so serious that only custody is merited. We therefore already have a requirement in law that custody should be a last resort, but we are looking at what more we can do to emphasise this and will continue to monitor developments in Scotland.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce residential centres for men as a means of reducing re-offending.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
At present, the Ministry of Justice is only proposing to pilot residential centres for women and not for men. However, we recognise the differing needs of male and female offenders and are committed to improving the way we meet the housing and rehabilitative needs of both women and men.
There are many ways in which MoJ and its agencies provide housing and interventions for male and female offenders in the community. The Ministry of Justice invests approximately £63million per annum into offender accommodation. The Bail Accommodation Support Services provide 550 beds across England and Wales. In addition, there are 100 Approved premises that provide over 2,200 spaces for high risk offenders. These are short-term accommodation hostels, which provide a community based alternative to custody for specific cohorts of offenders. Probation Providers work with those individuals to provide them with the necessary support to enable them to move-on to settled accommodation.
In addition, as part of the Government initiative to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping across England, the Ministry of Justice will invest up to £6.4 million in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. The pilots will specifically focus on male prisoners who have served under 12 months, who have been identified as having a risk of homelessness.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the number of prisons operating at over 150 per cent of their capacity.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
There are no prisons operating over their operational capacity in England and Wales. The operational capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by the prison group directors on the basis of operational judgement and experience.
Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA), or uncrowded capacity, is the Prison Service’s own measure of accommodation. CNA represents the good, decent standard of accommodation that the Service aspires to provide all prisoners. CNA differs to the operational capacity of a prison which is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by the Prison Group Directors on the basis of operational judgement and experience.
Where the operational capacity of a prison is higher than the CNA it will be classed as having the potential to be 'crowded', which can mean prisoners share cells. In the financial year 2017-18, 24.2% of the prison population was being held in crowded conditions, down from 24.5% in the previous year.
As part of prison reform, the long-term goal is to reduce crowding, while maintaining sufficient capacity in the prison estate to manage the demands of the courts and the sentenced population as efficiently as possible. This level is kept under constant review, considering fluctuations in the prison population and useable capacity across the estate.