Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the number, and (2) the humanitarian situation, of refugees, including Yazidis, who remain in camps in (a) the autonomous region of north-east Syria, and (b) Kurdistan, following the defeat of ISIS; and what steps they are taking to expedite their return home.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains committed to the safety and security of refugees, including Yazidis in North-East Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Due to the shifting circumstances on the ground we are not in a position to make an accurate estimate of their number. When appropriate we raise the troubling humanitarian situation in refugee camps with the relevant authorities. Durable solutions must be pursued for displaced populations, including return, relocation, or local integration, where appropriate. We regularly raise this with the relevant authorities, the Iraq Government, UN bodies, international partners and our development programming in Iraq will support these efforts.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all funds pledged through UN Agencies for reconstruction in northern Syria following the February earthquake are paid in full.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Following the February earthquakes, the UK continues to focus on providing urgent life-saving and life-sustaining assistance to those in need, as well as early recovery activities, including emergency rehabilitation under the UN Flash Appeal. We will not provide any reconstruction assistance until the regime and its backers have engaged seriously with the UN-backed political process. Our funding is being delivered by trusted partners, including UN agencies. The FCDO has rigorous and robust checks to ensure aid goes to the people that need it, delivers value for money and protects against aid diversion.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for adopting systems similar to (1) Humanitarian Parole, and (2) the Welcome Corps, used in the USA, in the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The UK has an approach in place to support individuals who do not meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules but where there are exceptional and compassionate reasons for allowing them to remain here. Discretionary Leave allows an individual to be granted leave outside the Immigration Rules if they do not qualify for refugee status or humanitarian protection, or due to exceptional circumstances relating to their family or private life.
The UK already operates two sponsorship schemes which share similarities with the United States’ Welcome Corps initiative. The first is the Community Sponsorship Scheme, launched in 2016, which enables civil society to directly support refugees resettled to the UK through identifying housing and providing integration support. This scheme provides sanctuary to refugees identified and referred by UNHCR for resettlement directly from regions of conflict and instability.
The second is Homes for Ukraine, which launched last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, allowing Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor in the UK who is willing to accommodate them for a minimum of six months.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will call on the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to publish its findings regarding the solitary confinement of Mr Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı Prison arising from the Committee's visit to the prison during its visit to Turkey from 20 to 29 September 2022; and if not, why.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is for State Parties to the Council of Europe Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to authorise publication of reports from the Committee on the Prevention of torture (the Committee). The UK hopes that Turkey, in line with its good practice of usually allowing publication, permits the Committee to publish the report of its September 2022 visit.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will sponsor independent observers of the elections in May in Turkey; and if so, whether this will be under the auspices of the Council of Europe or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are monitoring the run-up to the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey on May 14 and are in regular discussion with the Turkish electoral authorities, the government, opposition parties and civil society groups. We have stressed the need for the elections to be carried out in a free and fair manner and will continue our dialogue with Turkey throughout the process. Following an invitation from the Turkish authorities and in accordance with its mandate, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is deploying an Election Observation Mission to the 14 May 2023 general elections. We have no plans to sponsor independent observers.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to plan for the projected increase of 10,000 inmates in the prison population by March 2025.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As our public forecast sets out, we expect the prison population to rise over the coming years.
We are implementing a suite of measures to ensure we have sufficient prison capacity both in the immediate and the longer term. We are delivering 20,000 additional, modern prison places, the largest prison build programme since the Victorian era. This will ensure the right conditions are in place to rehabilitate prisoners, helping to cut crime and protect the public.
As of end of April, we have already delivered around. 3,400 of these additional places, including through the brand-new prison, HMP Five Wells, which opened last year. In addition, HMP Fosse Way will open this year, and construction is well underway on our newest prison HMP Millsike - bringing over 3,000 new prison places between them by 2025. We are undertaking major refurbishments at sites including HMP Birmingham, HMP Liverpool and HMP Norwich, delivering around 800 cells between them. Construction has started on new houseblocks at HMP Stocken, HMP Hatfield, HMP Sudbury and HMP Rye Hill which will add an estimated 850 places between them.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will reinforce the sentencing guidelines to encourage (1) the imposition of suspended sentences rather than short sentences, and (2) the imposition of fines and diversion to health institutions rather than custodial sentences.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The sentencing guidelines are a matter for the independent Sentencing Council. The Council is currently considering revisions to its guideline on the Imposition of Community and Custodial Sentences, and we understand it intends to consult on any changes later this year.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors. The courts also have a statutory duty to follow any relevant sentencing guidelines.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there has been a decrease in the rates of self-harm, assault and suicide in prisons since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions at the end of March 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The following tables show the rates of self-harm, assault and self-inflicted deaths in prisons.
For deaths the rate covers 12 monthly data to March for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. For self-harm and assaults this covers 9 months for April to December (latest available) for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Table 1; Rate of self-inflicted deaths per 1,000 prisoners, England and Wales1, April 2019 to March 2023
Year | Self-inflicted deaths2 |
2019-20 | 1.0 |
2020-21 | 1.0 |
2021-22 | 1.0 |
2022-23 | 1.0 |
(1) Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts, but exclude incidents at Medway STC
(2) All classifications of deaths remain provisional until confirmed at inquest.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. As classification of deaths may change following inquest or as new information emerges, numbers may change from time to time.
Table 2; Rate of self-harm and assault incidents per 1,000 prisoners1,2, England and Wales, April 2019 to December 20223
Time Period | Self-harm4 | Assaults |
April to December 2019 | 583 | 272 |
April to December 2020 | 503 | 170 |
April to December 2021 | 528 | 196 |
April to December 2022 | 530 | 201 |
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(1) Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts, but exclude incidents at Medway STC.
(2) Figures exclude incidents occurring within the youth estate. The youth estate includes incidents occurring within Cookham Wood, Werrington and Wetherby, as well as the youth wing at Feltham and Parc. Figures for incidents occurring within the youth estate are published within the ‘Safety in the children and young people secure estate’ statistics bulletin via the following link - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/safety-in-the-youth-secure-estate-bulletin
(3) The rates are based on the number of incidents and average prison population for the 9 months from April to December each year.
(4) In prisons, as in the community, it is not possible to count self-harm incidents with absolute accuracy. In prison custody, however, such incidents are more likely to be detected and counted. Care needs to be taken when comparing figures shown here with other sources where data may be less complete.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the Child Trust Fund payments for children born between 1 September 2022 and 2 January 2011 are taken up in full.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The government is committed to helping people access the savings and money they are entitled to and continues to explore new routes to reunite young people with their Child Trust Funds.
While primary responsibility for communicating with account holders and their registered contact lies with Child Trust Fund (CTF) providers, HMRC works closely with providers, the wider industry and the Money and Pensions Service to ensure that young people are aware of, and can access, their CTFs. This includes requiring CTF providers to write to their customers to inform them of their options in their 17th year and to provide statements annually after the account holder turns 18.
HMRC also issues a range of communications through regular press releases, social media posts and by providing resources for key intermediaries who have greater influence and visibility amongst the CTF audience.
The government’s current plans will reunite the vast majority of accounts with their owners, but there may be some cases where further action will be required. The government will monitor how many accounts remain open and judge when it is appropriate to intervene in other ways.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made in recent years with regard to implementing the principle of equivalence of healthcare received by prisoners with that received by the general public; and in particular, what steps they have taken to reduce the turnover of health personnel in prisons, thus reducing the need for agency personnel.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has a mandated responsibility to support the equivalence of healthcare across the detained estate. Since 2013, a number of measures have been introduced to ensure this equivalence. This includes people in contact with the justice system being a part of the CORE20+5 initiative to reduce health inequalities, as well as identifying areas for service improvement across the detained estate.
In 2020, NHS England and the Ministry of Justice introduced the Inclusive Workforce Programme, which has been designed to support regional commissioners with recruitment and retention across the health and justice workforce. This included a national benchmarking exercise to ensure that actions taken by the regions and services are informed by data and included the development of career and competence frameworks for all roles within prison healthcare, including online courses introducing people to the career options available in this setting.
The Inclusive Workforce Programme has recently undertaken a range of online events to promote and help address a range of recruitment and retention issues. There is also currently a marketing campaign being developed, under the larger ‘We are the NHS’ recruitment campaign, targeting student nurses to encourage them into prison healthcare services. There is ongoing work by Health and Justice commissioners to support retention of staff with all providers as well as market engagement to generate quality provider and staff capacity across England.