Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many persons are presently serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection in England and Wales; and how many of them are more than 80 years of age.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
As at 31 December 2016 there were 3,683 prisoners serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP). Of the 3,683 IPPs, 599 were pre-tariff and 3,081 were post-tariff. There are currently fewer than 3 IPP prisoners in prisons aged over 80 years old.
We are working hard to reduce the backlog of parole hearings involving IPP prisoners. We have set up a new unit within the Ministry of Justice to tackle this issue and are working with the Parole Board to improve the efficiency of the process.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the criteria approved by Ministers for use by the Parole Board when considering whether to authorise the release of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Ministers do not set criteria for use by the independent Parole Board when considering the release of indeterminate sentence prisoners. They must serve the minimum term, or tariff, set by the sentencing court after which they may be considered for release by the Parole Board. The Board is required to apply the statutory test for release contained in section 28 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. The Board must assess the level of risk to the public – using reports and assessments from prison, probation and other professionals involved in the management of the offender – and will only direct release if they conclude that the prisoner could safely be managed on licence in the community.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what powers are available to ministers to order the release of prisoners duly sentenced and held in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Prisoners are held in accordance with the type and length of sentence they are given by the courts and legislation prescribes when and how they are to be released. The majority are released automatically, with standard determinate sentence prisoners released at the half-way point in their sentence. Some prisoners are released at the discretion of the independent Parole Board – for example, all prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence and some extended sentence prisoners – once they have reached the point in their sentence when they are eligible to be considered for parole.
Legislation also gives the Secretary of State discretion to release sentenced prisoners in certain circumstances. In practice, these decisions are taken on behalf of the Secretary of State by prison governors or other officials in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). For example, some shorter sentenced, low risk offenders may be considered for release before their automatic release date under the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme, at the discretion of prison governors.
There is also a statutory power for the Secretary of State to release any sentenced prisoner if there are exceptional circumstances which justify release on compassionate grounds. Decisions on whether to grant early compassionate release are taken on a case-by-case basis by senior officials in NOMS.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the Criminal Cases Review Commission to make and publish a decision in respect of the case of Sgt Alexander Blackman.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is independent of Government and it would be inappropriate for me to comment on specific cases. I understand the average time that it takes the CCRC to reach an initial decision is seven months, although the length of time will depend upon the complexity of the application and the individual case.
I am informed that the CCRC has assessed Mr Blackman’s case as a level one priority case and this has been communicated to him and his representatives
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 17 December (HL4250), whether they now have any additional information about the number of women responsible for one or more young children who are currently serving prison sentences in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Whilst the specific information requested is not held, the Ministry of Justice recently published statistics on child dependents of female offenders, which can be found at gov.uk on the Statistics at MOJ pages under the topic Ad-hoc justice statistics. A copy of the report is attached here.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many women responsible for one or more young children are currently serving prison sentences in England and Wales, and what assessment they have made of the sentencing guidelines relating to such women.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The specific information requested is not held.
Sentencing guidelines are issued by the independent Sentencing Council. They are available on the Sentencing Council website.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the Criminal Cases Review Commission to conclude its investigation and report on the case of Sergeant Alexander Blackman.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Criminal Cases Review Commission has not received an application from Sergeant Alexander Blackman.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the latest figure for (1) the number of prisoners being held at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and (2) the number of prison officers normally available for duty at that prison.
Answered by Lord Faulks
There were 1,261 prisoners held at HMP Wormwood Scrubs on Friday 25 September 2015.
There were 230 full-time equivalent Band 3-5 Prison Officers employed HMP Wormwood Scrubs as at 30 June 2015. The staff number is rounded to the nearest 10 in line with how published figures are presented.
Individual prison population and capacity information for every prison in England and Wales (such as HMP Wormwood Scrubs) as well as the total population and useable capacity of the prison estate is published monthly on gov.uk in the prison population statistics.
Information on staffing can also be found on gov.uk in our NOMS workforce statistics.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 16 September (HL1895), how many male prisoners over the age of 80 who are currently serving prison sentences were over the age of 70 when sentenced.
Answered by Lord Faulks
As at 30 June 2015, of the 133 male prisoners over the age of 80 who are currently serving prisons sentences in England and Wales, 123 were sentenced when they were over the age of 70 years.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) males, and (2) females, over the age of 80 are currently serving sentences in prisons in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Faulks
As at 30 June 2015 there were 133 male, and 1 female, prisoners aged over 80 years serving sentences in England and Wales.