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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
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
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
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
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.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether (1) biologically female suspects or prisoners can insist on being strip-searched by, and in the presence of, biological females only, and (2) biologically female police or prison officers can refuse to strip-search prisoners or suspects who are biologically male.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
There are lawful and effective procedures in place for the searching of prisoners, visitors and staff to ensure the detection of contraband. HMPPS conduct all searches in accordance with PSI 2016-07 Searching of the Person. All full searches must take place out of sight of the opposite sex, as such, staff must not conduct full searches on persons of the opposite sex.
Transgender prisoners who hold a GRC and who are fully post-operative, should be searched by a member of staff of the same gender of the prisoner’s acquired gender; that is, male to female transgender prisoners should be searched by female officers. The prison can insist that there is no discretion in these circumstances, as the prisoner will be both physically and legally of the acquired gender. Male to female transgender prisoners who hold a GRC will be searched according to the women’s full search procedures unless otherwise agreed as part of a voluntary written agreement
Transgender prisoners who do not hold a Gender Recognition Certificate and have not received any treatment (surgical or non surgical) for gender dysphoria, would normally be expected to be full searched by staff of the same legal gender. However, all transgender prisoners must be encouraged to enter into a voluntary written agreement in respect of their searching arrangements on arrival to an establishment. The voluntary agreement should be drawn up by local management and must clearly set out the arrangements for searching the prisoner. The establishment must decide if the agreement is suitable, taking into account such factors as legal considerations, possession of a GRC, sex characteristics of the prisoner, views of the prisoner and staff and the likelihood of the prisoner cooperating with a voluntary compact. It should be recognised that as a voluntary agreement the prisoner may withdraw from it any point in time. The details of the compact may need to change as circumstances change.
Staff may only be exempt from searching transgender prisoners in exceptional circumstances, for example, where there are genuine religious or cultural reasons for an objection.
We are investing £100m in prison security to stop contraband such as drugs, weapons and mobile phones from entering prisons. This includes X-ray baggage scanners and metal detection equipment to enhance searching of visitors and staff and the recently announced X-ray body scanners to detect prisoners concealing contraband inside their body. Searching remains a key element of the range of measures we are deploying to prevent this activity.
PSI 2016-07 Searching of the Person is currently under review and searching arrangements for Transgender prisoners may be revised as part of that review.
I am unable to comment on your question in relation to Police procedures.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on housing people with (1) functioning male sexual organs in the female prison estate, and (2) functioning female sexual organs in the male prison estate.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
In 2019 the Ministry of Justice conducted a review into the care and management of individuals who are transgender, and this led to the publication of a revised Policy Framework which strengthens the risk and safeguarding process. This was fully implemented on 31st October 2019 across all men’s and women’s prisons.
The Policy Framework provides staff with clear direction in the care and management of transgender individuals, including managing potential risks both to and presented by transgender individuals. Part of this process ensures that a complex case board must be held for an individual to transfer between the male and female estates. This decision is made by taking into account a wide range of individual factors such as risk, offending history and an individual’s personal circumstances, medical history and what stage they are at in their transgender status. The Policy Framework also enables risk to be managed when an individual is placed into a prison which is different to that of their legal gender. The policy can be found on the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-care-and-management-of-individuals-who-are-transgender.
The safety of all prisoners is of paramount concern and it is our priority and commitment to ensuring that those under our care and management are treated fairly, lawfully and decently, with their rights properly respected.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether female victims of sexual assault who refuse to use their attacker's preferred pronouns in court are denied compensation.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
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.
Sentencing in individual cases is entirely a matter for the independent courts taking into account the circumstances of the case.