Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pregnant women are on remand, awaiting trial, in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The number of pregnant women on remand is not centrally monitored. Information on pregnancy is monitored locally by prison Governors/Directors to ensure the appropriate supportive provisions can be put in place.
I am however, able to confirm that an ad hoc data collection exercise was undertaken last year, which found that at 15:00hrs on 28 October 2019, 47 women in prison self-declared as pregnant, including those on remand and who had been sentenced.
In July 2019 the Government began a review of pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units (MBUs), and Mothers separated from children (under two years of age) who are in prisons, which includes a strand of work on improving data collection. The review is due for completion later this year, and a report will be published in due course.
Section 5 of the Bail Act 1976 sets out the reasoning for refusing bail where:
While there was an increase of 8% (520 to 559) in the number of women on remand in the year to March 2020, this figure is comparable with the 564 women on remand at 31 March 2018.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, NPS are currently running a bail information service in the 136 courts that currently remain open, with a particular focus on those with ‘protected characteristics’ which include women. This service looks to ensure the identification of defendants who might be eligible for bail, and to provide sufficient information to the courts to enable them to make fully informed decisions in each individual case. As of 11 May 2020, 121 bail assessments have been completed by NPS Bail Information Officers, a proportion of which will apply to women.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the performance of privatised prison services in the past year; and whether they intend to review the case for returning those services to the public sector.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
We have robust processes in place to closely monitor privately managed prisons and will not hesitate to take action if and when standards fall short. There is a HMPPS Controller based in every privately managed prison, accountable for providing assurance that the contracts are delivered in accordance with agreed contractual delivery indicators, and that the prison provides safe, decent and secure services. Senior Contract Managers (SCMs) provide an additional level of operational assurance and support for the Controllers.
Privately managed prison contracts set out a strict performance framework, consisting of prescriptive performance targets. Failure by the provider to meet performance targets results in performance points and, potentially, financial remedies being applied against the provider. It is important to recognise, however, that privately managed prison providers achieve the majority of their contractual targets.
Any decision to revoke a contract to operate a privately managed prison will be made after following a clear process and where the operator fails to improve performance despite this process. We do not currently anticipate any such action taking place against any privately managed prison.
Privately managed prisons have been a key feature of the prison estate for over 20 years and will continue to play an important role.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have been the trends in the last five years of violent incidents in prisons (1) between inmates, and (2) between prison staff and inmates; and what steps they are taking to remove dangerous weapons from inmates.
Answered by Lord Faulks
NOMS does not tolerate violence of any kind in prison and any assault is treated extremely seriously.
Trends on assaults in prisons (1) between prisoners and (2) by prisoners on officers are published in Table 3.8 of the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin. This can be found in the 'Assaults in prison custody 2000 to 2013' statistics. Statistics to show assaults in prison custody for 2014 can be found in ‘Safety in custody summary tables to September 2014’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-statistics-quarterly-update-to-june-2014
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has a duty of care to prevent illicit and unauthorised items from entering prisons. As such, prisons may deploy a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect weapons, both at the point of entry to the prison or concealed within the prison.
NOMS have put forward new legislation in the Serious Crime Bill to ensure that those who possess knives, bladed or pointed weapons and other offensive weapons in prison can face prosecution under a new criminal offence, punishable by up to four years in prison. The new legislation will provide a greater deterrent against the trafficking of weapons into prison and the possession and use of weapons in prison, strengthening the measures already available to tackle violence.