Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, when the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber makes a serious adverse ruling against a school but the judgment is not made public, it communicates the judgment to the relevant inspectorate; and, if not, why.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The provision of written reasons for decisions in Special Educational Needs and Discrimination (SEND) proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal is governed by the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008. The rules can be found at the following link: The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008.
Rule 30 provides that written reasons must be provided to the parties where (i) the decision finally disposes of all issues in proceedings or (ii) the Tribunal makes a determination in a preliminary issue. The decision in individual cases on whether to disclose a written decision to someone other than a party to the proceedings is a judicial one and not something in which Ministers can intervene.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 12 August (HL426), whether the Ministry of Justice has received such representations from the Public and Commercial Services Union; and what was their response.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Public and Commercial Services Union has not made any representations to the Ministry of Justice regarding this motion and therefore no response was given.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the licence conditions of prisoners who have been released on licence are always held on the Police National Computer; and, if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Prisons are required to share licences with the Police National Computer Bureau at the point a prisoner is released. Police officers are alerted by the licence flag on the PNC to request the specific details of conditions from the Probation Service in individual cases.
In 2022, a new digital platform to manage licences was rolled out across Prisons and Probation called Create and Vary a Licence (CVL). This includes additional prompts to remind prison staff to share licence information with the PNC Bureau.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an individual who is convicted of (1) rape, or (2) sexual assault, is recorded in crime statistics under their (a) gender identity, or (b) biological sex.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
In the courts proceedings database we use binary sex rather than gender, because the binary classification better reflects how individuals are generally reported or managed through the CJS. Sex refers to whether someone is male or female based on their physiology, with ‘gender’ representing a social construct or sense of self that takes a wider range of forms. For example, prisons are either male or female institutions, with prisoners normally placed based on their legally recognised gender. However, given the range of recording practices throughout the CJS, it is likely that most recording includes a mixture of physiological and personal identity.
The recorded sex of defendants dealt with for rape and sexual assault offences can be found in our outcomes by offence tool here (search the drop down list in ‘offence’ and ‘sex’):[DXW1]
Offences of aiding, abetting, or conspiracy to, rape are recorded as rape offences in our outcomes by offence tool, but are not separately identifiable.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 13 March (HL2225), what is their policy on limiting the discretion of courts to refuse to make a compensation order on the basis of the behaviour of the victim; and what information they hold on the percentage of cases in which compensation was refused for such reasons in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Under the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, courts are required to consider making a compensation order in cases involving personal injury, loss or damage, and to give reasons where no such order is made. There are no current plans to amend the court’s powers in respect of compensation orders.
Sentencing in individual cases is entirely a matter for the independent courts taking into account the circumstances of the case.
The Ministry of Justice has published information on convictions and sentencing up to December 2018, which is available in the ‘Outcomes by Offence data tool’, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/802314/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2018.xlsx
Information on the sentencing considerations for individual cases is not held centrally and would require a manual search of court records which would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 13 March (HL2223), what guidance is given to prison governors on how to assess the balance between the rights of transgender individuals in custody and those of others in custody around them, as referred to in the Ministry of Justice Policy Framework on The care and management of individuals who are transgender; what examples are provided to illustrate this guidance; and how this guidance enables prison governors to assess the appropriate balance between the risk to inmates of a women's prison from being housed with a biologically male transgender prisoner who has a history of sexual offending and the risk of serious harm to the transgender prisoner if they were housed in a men's prison.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Governors do not have jurisdiction over the estate that a transgender individual is housed within. Rather, Complex Case Boards (CCBs) assess cases of transfers of transgender individuals between the male and female estates. These are chaired by Prison Group Directors (PGDs), who hold the ultimate responsibility for decisions. They are aided by experts and staff who have expertise on transgender identity and/or on the individual in question.
All PGDs who chair such boards are specially trained—in part using case studies, and many also have direct experience of cases. Additionally, there are core members of the CCB process who are invited to all CCBs and have experience of previous cases they have been involved with.
If a transgender female must legally be housed in the female estate, but a CCB deems their risk too high to be managed safely within the general population, HMPPS have alternative provision to enable this – namely through location on HMP Downview E Wing.
The ‘Care and management of individuals who are transgender’ Policy Framework was published on gov.uk within the Prison & Probation Policy Frameworks collection. Operational guidance was also published to accompany the Policy Framework which is available to all Governors and staff, to help them care for and manage transgender individuals. Additionally, E Learning on how best to care for and manage transgender individuals is also available to all Governors and staff.