Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards preventing those needing letters from GPs to access legal aid being charged for such letters.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are working with the Department of Health and Social Care to identify what more we can do to help victims of domestic abuse access the help they need.
The Government has committed to reviewing Cross-Government Bureaucracy in General Practice, and will assess as part of this work, amongst other things, who the correct clinicians are to complete such documentation and what charge, if any, should be imposed. The British Medical Association have written to GPs to recommend that they do not charge victims of domestic abuse for the completion and signing of legal aid letters whilst this work is ongoing.
Earlier this year the Ministry of Justice widened the evidence requirements for domestic abuse victims, making it easier for victims to obtain and provide the evidence they need to access legal aid.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners have been released under the End of Custody Temporary Release scheme; and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the scheme.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
On 4 April, we announced the End of Custody Temporary Release scheme. This scheme enables risk-assessed prisoners, who are within two months of their release date, to be temporarily released from custody, as part of the national approach to managing public services during this challenging period. As of Friday 12 June, 113 offenders have been released under this scheme.
Alongside the careful release of low-risk offenders, we are also implementing our compartmentalisation strategy to manage different cohorts of the prison population, working to expedite remand cases and temporarily expanding the estate through the installation of single occupancy units. This is to strike a balance between limiting the spread of COVID-19 in prisons while ensuring the public is protected. We are providing ongoing monitoring of the scheme to assess its effectiveness as one of a number of measures in place to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in prisons.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what work they have done to look at offending behaviours and the reasons behind the cycle of crime and reoffending rates.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
We use data and evidence to understand why people offend and to design services to reduce reoffending.
We regularly review UK and international evidence to understand the drivers of offending and evaluate the interventions and services that are effective in leading people away from crime.
Evaluations of our rehabilitative initiatives such as offending behaviour programmes and education and employment services, show that they can reduce reoffending. Evaluations of our general offending behaviour programmes show that they can reduce reoffending by between 8 and 14 percentage points. Likewise, services to help get people back in to employment and prisoner learning have also shown a reduction of 6-9 percentage points on reoffending.
We also know that offending behaviour programmes work best when they are targeted according to a person’s risk of reoffending, the areas they need to address to stop offending and when the approach is adapted to their individual circumstances – for example where an offender has learning disabilities.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the effects of imprisonment for short sentences of less than six months on family relationships.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Strengthening the ties individuals have with their families and friends is an important factor in reducing reoffending. While we have not undertaken a formal assessment of the effects of short prison sentences on family relationships, we know that custody more generally can have an impact on family engagement.
We are considering options to restrict the use of short custodial sentences, but we have not at this stage reached any conclusions. There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 found that over a 1-year follow up period, a higher proportion of people re-offended having been sentenced to custody of under 12 months without supervision on release than other similar people given community orders.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of people who were on remand for non-violent offences and awaiting trial in each year from 2010 to the last year for which records are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The percentage of defendants on remand for non-violent offences and awaiting trial in the period from 2010 to 2018, at both the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court, can be obtained from the attached tables.
Non-violent offences has been interpreted as all the offences listed except violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of prison officers had more than two years experience in each year from 2010 to the last year for which records are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The percentage of band 3-5 officers who had two or more years’ experience in each year from March 2010 to June 2018 is presented in table 1 below.
Table 1: Percentage of band 3-5 prison officers1 with two or more years’ experience2, 31 March 2010 to 30 June 2018
As at | Percentage of band 3-5 officers1 with two or more years' service2 |
31 March 2010 | 92.7% |
31 March 2011 | 96.4% |
31 March 2012 | 97.0% |
31 March 2013 | 98.7% |
31 March 2014 | 98.5% |
31 March 2015 | 92.7% |
31 March 2016 | 85.3% |
31 March 2017 | 81.0% |
31 March 2018 | 70.1% |
30 June 2018 | 67.2% |
1 Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
2 Length of service in HMPPS calculated from most recent hire date. Where staff have transferred in from another Government Department or have transferred in through HMPPS taking over a function, length of service is calculated from entry to HMPPS.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of suicides in prison were by people held on remand in each year from 2010 to the last year for which records are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Figures for each full year up to 2017, the latest for which data is available, are given in the table below.
Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Assaults on prison officers | 2,848 | 3,132 | 2,987 | 3,266 | 3,640 | 4,963 | 6,844 | 8,429 |
Incidents of self-harm | 26,979 | 24,647 | 23,158 | 23,230 | 25,843 | 32,313 | 40,160 | 44,651 |
Self-inflicted deaths | 58 | 58 | 61 | 76 | 89 | 90 | 122 | 70 |
Remand prisoners % of self-inflicted deaths | 55% | 40% | 31% | 38% | 29% | 40% | 27% | 29% |
These figures include Immigration Removal Centres run by Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS). “Remand” includes both prisoners who have not been convicted, and those who have been convicted but not yet sentenced. Classifications of deaths are provisional until confirmed by an inquest. “Self-inflicted death” includes any death of a person who has apparently taken their own life, irrespective of intention. This includes not only suicides but also accidental deaths resulting from the person’s own actions. This classification is used because it is not always known whether a person intended to kill themselves.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many suicides there were in prisons and young offender institutions in each year from 2010 to the last year for which records are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Figures for each full year up to 2017, the latest for which data is available, are given in the table below.
Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Assaults on prison officers | 2,848 | 3,132 | 2,987 | 3,266 | 3,640 | 4,963 | 6,844 | 8,429 |
Incidents of self-harm | 26,979 | 24,647 | 23,158 | 23,230 | 25,843 | 32,313 | 40,160 | 44,651 |
Self-inflicted deaths | 58 | 58 | 61 | 76 | 89 | 90 | 122 | 70 |
Remand prisoners % of self-inflicted deaths | 55% | 40% | 31% | 38% | 29% | 40% | 27% | 29% |
These figures include Immigration Removal Centres run by Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS). “Remand” includes both prisoners who have not been convicted, and those who have been convicted but not yet sentenced. Classifications of deaths are provisional until confirmed by an inquest. “Self-inflicted death” includes any death of a person who has apparently taken their own life, irrespective of intention. This includes not only suicides but also accidental deaths resulting from the person’s own actions. This classification is used because it is not always known whether a person intended to kill themselves.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incidents of self-harm were recorded in prisons and young offender institutions in each year from 2010 to the last year for which records are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Figures for each full year up to 2017, the latest for which data is available, are given in the table below.
Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Assaults on prison officers | 2,848 | 3,132 | 2,987 | 3,266 | 3,640 | 4,963 | 6,844 | 8,429 |
Incidents of self-harm | 26,979 | 24,647 | 23,158 | 23,230 | 25,843 | 32,313 | 40,160 | 44,651 |
Self-inflicted deaths | 58 | 58 | 61 | 76 | 89 | 90 | 122 | 70 |
Remand prisoners % of self-inflicted deaths | 55% | 40% | 31% | 38% | 29% | 40% | 27% | 29% |
These figures include Immigration Removal Centres run by Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS). “Remand” includes both prisoners who have not been convicted, and those who have been convicted but not yet sentenced. Classifications of deaths are provisional until confirmed by an inquest. “Self-inflicted death” includes any death of a person who has apparently taken their own life, irrespective of intention. This includes not only suicides but also accidental deaths resulting from the person’s own actions. This classification is used because it is not always known whether a person intended to kill themselves.