Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report by HM Inspectorate of Probation entitled Domestic abuse: the work undertaken by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), published in September 2018, what assessment he has made of the quality of care provided by CRCs as a result of that report's conclusions.
Answered by Edward Argar
We take seriously the findings of the HM Inspectorate of Probation report on the work undertaken by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) in relation to domestic abuse. We will publish a detailed action plan in November to address the recommendations made by the Inspectorate, and we require CRCs to develop their own robust action plans in response to specific recommendations. These plans will be closely monitored by the department’s contract management assurance and governance process.
Our reforms to probation mean we are now monitoring around 40,000 offenders who would previously have been released with no supervision at all. However, we have been clear that CRCs need to improve across a range of areas. In September we concluded a public consultation on proposals to end current CRC contracts early and introduce new arrangements for delivering probation services. As part of these changes we are considering how to ensure probation plays its full part in tackling domestic abuse and protecting victims.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to (a) conduct a review on the number of deaths of women following release from prison and (b) seek to identify his Department can take to protect women upon release.
Answered by Edward Argar
We publish annual statistics on deaths of offenders in the community, which include the deaths of women under post-release supervision. The data for 2017-18 was published on 25 October 2018. It shows that 40 women under post-release supervision died in 2017-18, down from 44 in 2016-17.
It is existing policy for all such deaths to be reviewed. Probation providers are required to examine the circumstances of each death and to determine whether the way that they work with offenders could be improved in order to make future deaths less likely. We are considering whether this requirement could be strengthened, particularly to improve the sharing of learning nationally.
On 27 June we published our strategy for female offenders, which sets out our vision and plan to improve outcomes for women both in the community and in custody. A key theme in the strategy is the need for a joined-up approach to addressing female offenders’ often complex needs. We know that we will make progress in meeting these needs only by adopting a partnership approach at both national and local level. We hope to publish our National Concordat on Female Offenders by the end of the year. This will be a cross-governmental statement of intent and commitment to improve the outcomes for female offenders in a holistic, whole-systems approach.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timescale is for implementation of the Female Offender Strategy which was published in June 2018; and how the success of that strategy is planned to be measured.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Female Offender Strategy launched a programme of work that will take some years to deliver. It included some early key deliverables, such as the £3.5m Community Investment Fund competition which is part of our wider £5m investment in community provision between 2018-2020. We expect to announce successful grant bids in November. Lord Farmer’s Review of family ties for female offenders in custody and the community is due to report by the end of the year.
We are currently engaging with stakeholders on our plans for Residential Women’s Centre pilots to refine our thinking around the potential design and delivery of the pilots. After this period of market engagement, we will look to open a procurement process. Our timeline is subject to the findings of our engagement process.
We are putting robust governance in place, to ensure delivery of the strategy’s aims. This includes a strengthened minister-led Advisory Board, with new stakeholder members to ensure that we have the right expertise to provide advice and challenge to Government. Plans for monitoring and evaluating the progress of the strategy are currently in development.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the document entitled Self-harm by adult men in prison: A rapid evidence assessment, published by HM Prison and Probation Service in September 2018, whether he plans to provide training on self-harm in male prisoners for staff working in prisons as a result of the statement in that document that poor staff knowledge and attitudes play a role in influencing self-harm.
Answered by Rory Stewart
This report helpfully draws together the findings of the key research on self-harm in prisons in the UK and beyond, and its conclusions have informed the development of our prison safety programme, including the training that we provide for staff.
In 2017 we introduced an improved course known as Introduction to Suicide and Self-Harm prevention, which is being delivered to all new prison officers, and as refresher training to existing staff with prisoner contact. So far it has reached over 17,000 staff, and over 8,000 have been trained in all six modules. We have also worked with the Samaritans to develop a suicide prevention learning tool, which uses a series of short films to build staff understanding of self-harm and suicide and give them greater confidence to engage with prisoners who may be at risk.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the September 2018 report by HM Inspectorate of Probation into Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Company, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of Community Rehabilitation Companies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) report into Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Company, published on 26 September 2018, awarded the service a rating of ‘requires improvement’. The Ministry of Justice takes seriously the findings of HMIP in relation to Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and will work with the provider to ensure that an appropriate plan is in place to address the identified areas for improvement.
We have been clear that overall CRC performance must improve, and are taking decisive action to stabilise and improve the delivery of probation services, including by investing £22m per year to enhance ‘Through The Gate’ services and introducing minimum standards so that all providers offer monthly face-to-face meetings with offenders during the first 12 months of supervision.
In September we concluded a public consultation on proposals to end current CRC contracts early and introduce new arrangements for delivering probation services that will better integrate public, private and third sector probation providers, and better support probation staff who have a key role to play in reducing re-offending and protecting the public. We will bring forward more detailed plans early next year.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report by HM Inspectorate of Probation into Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Company that rated that Community Rehabilitation Company as inadequate.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) report into Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Company, published on 26 September 2018, awarded the service a rating of ‘requires improvement’. The Ministry of Justice takes seriously the findings of HMIP in relation to Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and will work with the provider to ensure that an appropriate plan is in place to address the identified areas for improvement.
We have been clear that overall CRC performance must improve, and are taking decisive action to stabilise and improve the delivery of probation services, including by investing £22m per year to enhance ‘Through The Gate’ services and introducing minimum standards so that all providers offer monthly face-to-face meetings with offenders during the first 12 months of supervision.
In September we concluded a public consultation on proposals to end current CRC contracts early and introduce new arrangements for delivering probation services that will better integrate public, private and third sector probation providers, and better support probation staff who have a key role to play in reducing re-offending and protecting the public. We will bring forward more detailed plans early next year.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies to tackle sexual assaults in prisons of the report by his Department entitled, Sexual Assaults Reported in Prisons: Exploratory Findings from Analysis of Incident Descriptions, published in September 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The report includes the exploratory findings of a study based on staff descriptions of reported sexual assaults as part of the incident reporting process. It provides important contextual information - for instance, that a proportion of incidents reported as sexual assault involved multiple assailants attempting to retrieve contraband.
We take all assaults in custody extremely seriously, including sexual assaults. All incidents that are reported as sexual assault are referred to the police for investigation. We provide a range of support to those who report them and we take appropriate action to prevent repeat victimisation.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking in response to the Independent Monitoring Board report on HMP Parc.
Answered by Rory Stewart
I have written to the Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board to express my gratitude for their hard work and observations.
I was encouraged by the comments that HMP/YOI Parc remains a well-managed prison where prisoners are treated respectfully and their safety is of paramount importance. The new initiatives including the introduction of mental health pathways aimed at prioritising referrals and improving support, and the regular Healthcare Newsletter are to be applauded.
HMPPS has taken decisive action to combat the threat of drugs on prisons and has formed a Drugs Taskforce, working with law enforcement and health partners across government, to restrict supply, reduce demand and build recovery. The Taskforce is providing support across the estate but is focused on the prisons with the worst drug problems.
Locally at HMP/YOI Parc, a dedicated group of staff have been recruited to cover the visits CCTV and visitor searching; this has provided greater continuity of cover and has led to an improvement in the quality of searching. The prison continues to work closely with South Wales Police and other National Crime Agencies gathering intelligence in order to disrupt organised crime both within the prison and outside. G4S are also in the process of recruiting 35 new officers as part of the HMPPS Offender Management in Custody (OMIC) Model.
It is recognised that levels of violence remain too high, with a disproportionate percentage still taking place across the Youth Secure Estate. As the Board has observed, one factor which exacerbates this is the ever-changing population of challenging children and young people, many from further afield than the local catchment area. However, from July 2017 to June 2018, only 25.2% of placements into Parc YOI on average were young people who did not belong to Welsh or South Western Youth Offending teams.
A Behaviour Management Strategy is being developed, which aims to address risks and needs at the lowest possible level through early intervention and an initial universal approach, with increasing levels of intensity and specialisation based on individual need to prevent further deterioration in behaviour. In addition to this, HMP/YOI Parc is developing a Behaviour Management Strategy in conjunction with the University of South Wales and working with the Children’s Commissioner for Wales to embed the Rights of the Child into the Strategy.