Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average delay in terms of weeks before solicitors are able to consult their clients in prison via video link.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the future of the Youth Justice Board.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Youth Justice Board will continue to fulfil its role in overseeing the youth justice system. Once a new chair is appointed, they may wish to discuss their vision for the future of the Youth Justice Board with Ministers.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of current funding streams to fund youth diversion activity undertaken by youth offending teams.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Ministry of Justice funding for Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) is delivered through the Youth Justice Board (YJB), which provides an annual grant to local authorities to deliver youth offending services. Though varying by YOT, on average this makes up less than a third of the funding YOTs receive. Local authorities and partner agencies provide the rest of their funding. The YJB does not specify how the grant should be spent.
Local authorities hold the statutory responsibility to deliver youth justice services in their area and services are designed according to local context and needs. Diversion from the criminal justice system is not a statutory requirement for Youth Offending Teams, however they may choose to pay for these activities based on locally identified needs and priorities.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the problem-solving approach used in Family Drug and Alcohol Courts to other areas such as domestic violence.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government announced in the Budget that £5 million has been allocated to piloting integrated domestic abuse courts over the coming financial year, and we will announce more detailed proposals shortly. Problem solving approaches are being employed outside court proceedings to address complex needs of offenders and resolve substance misuse/mental health problems in the community.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they plan to fulfil the Conservative Party's 2019 General Election manifesto commitment to "pilot integrated domestic abuse courts that address criminal and family matters in parallel".
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Separately to my response to your question in HL2395, the Government announced in the Budget that £5 million has been allocated to piloting integrated domestic abuse courts over the coming financial year, and we will announce more detailed proposals shortly. We believe that such courts have real potential to reduce the trauma of court and improve outcomes for domestic abuse victims.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they propose to appoint a new Chair for the Youth Justice Board.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
A recruitment campaign to appoint a new Chair of the Youth Justice Board was launched at the end of August 2019 and is in its final stages. The recruitment process for this role is governed by the Public Appointments Governance Code.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which police forces in England and Wales have implemented Checkpoint programmes to reduce reoffending and custodial sentences.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
We are aware of several locally-led out of court disposal initiatives, including the Checkpoint scheme initiated by Durham Constabulary. However, Government does not collect information at national level on such programmes.
The Government takes an interest in evidence from the police and their partners about the effectiveness of such novel approaches. Government officials are in contact with colleagues in Durham Constabulary’s Checkpoint programme and we look forward to reviewing Durham’s forthcoming peer-reviewed findings of the randomised control trial phase. It is for operationally independent police forces to determine how they choose to use the flexibility in their gift to adapt their own local policy and practice around the use of Out of Court Disposals, within the constraints of national rules and guidance.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the use of the Checkpoint programme to all police forces in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
We are aware of several locally-led out of court disposal initiatives, including the Checkpoint scheme initiated by Durham Constabulary. However, Government does not collect information at national level on such programmes.
The Government takes an interest in evidence from the police and their partners about the effectiveness of such novel approaches. Government officials are in contact with colleagues in Durham Constabulary’s Checkpoint programme and we look forward to reviewing Durham’s forthcoming peer-reviewed findings of the randomised control trial phase. It is for operationally independent police forces to determine how they choose to use the flexibility in their gift to adapt their own local policy and practice around the use of Out of Court Disposals, within the constraints of national rules and guidance.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pre-sentence reports were issued in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17 in cases where the index offence was (1) a drug offence, (2) a possession of weapons, (3) a public order offence, (4) a fraud offence, (5) a summary non-motoring offence, and (6) a summary motoring offence.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The information requested, where possible, has been provided in the attached table. The total number of pre-sentence reports produced for eligible offenders over the last few years correlates with the fall in overall offenders in the criminal justice system.
The breakdowns requested in HL6522 are not available due to differences in offence recording in the database. The breakdown for possession of weapons, public order offences and summary non-motoring requested in HL6525 are also not available. Otherwise, the table covers all of the offences categories, with theft labelled as ‘theft and handling’.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pre-sentence reports were issued in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17 in cases where the index offence was (1) violence against the person, (2) a sexual offence, (3) robbery, (4) a theft offence, and (5) criminal damage.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The information requested, where possible, has been provided in the attached table. The total number of pre-sentence reports produced for eligible offenders over the last few years correlates with the fall in overall offenders in the criminal justice system.
The breakdowns requested in HL6522 are not available due to differences in offence recording in the database. The breakdown for possession of weapons, public order offences and summary non-motoring requested in HL6525 are also not available. Otherwise, the table covers all of the offences categories, with theft labelled as ‘theft and handling’.