Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will include an evaluation of its effect on people with (a) mental health problems and (b) other disabilities.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The evidence based review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) has now commenced and the evidence gathering phase is ongoing.
The review will consider how LASPO has targeted legal aid at those who need it most – one of the objectives set out during the passage of the Act. Alongside the review, the Government plans to use this opportunity of engagement with stakeholders to inform its wider consideration on the future of legal support in the justice system.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 were discharged after being automatically referred to the First-Tier Mental Health Tribunal by (a) a hospital manager and (b) the Secretary of State in each of the last five years for which information is available.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the proposals by the Tribunal Procedure Committee to abolish pre-hearing examinations in First-Tier Mental Health Tribunals.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Ministry of Justice agrees with the Tribunal Procedure Committee and awaits the outcome of the Committee’s consultation which closes on 14 June.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The number of staff recorded on a leave of absence from work due to a Mental Health related illness or stress in each month of the last three years is tabled below.
Sickness absence in MOJ staff due to mental and behavioural disorders1, 12 months to March 2015 to 12 months to 31 December 2017
| Number of staff who took sick leave due to mental & behavioural disorders (FTE) | Proportion of staff who took sick leave due to mental & behavioural disorders | Total working days lost due to mental & behavioural disorders |
12 months to 31 March 2015 | 3,671 | 5.5% | 171,543 |
12 months to 31 March 2016 | 4,254 | 6.4% | 167,463 |
12 months to 31 March 20172 | 4,228 | 6.5% | 163,023 |
12 months to 31 December 20172 | 4,457 | 6.8% | 148,864 |
1 Includes stress related absences.
2 Between January and March 2017, during migration of data to the Single Operating Platform, an under-recording of sickness absence records occurred. There is therefore likely to be an undercount of working days lost for the 12 months to 31 March 2017 and the 12 months to 31 December 2017.
This data includes staff employed by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Headquarters, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, HM Prison and Probation Service, Legal Aid Agency, Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and Office of the Public Guardian. Individuals are included if they were absent for any part of the month. Where an absence straddles more than one month it is included in each.
MoJ has been working with Civil Service Employee Policy (CSEP) to benchmark our mental wellbeing interventions and mental health support against the recommendations of the Farmer/Stevenson independent mental health review ‘Thriving at Work’, published in October 2017.
A key priority for Sir Jeremy Heywood and all Permanent Secretaries is the mental health and wellbeing of all civil servants, and in line with the ambition for the Civil Service to be a leading employer in relation to mental health, MoJ has a range of initiatives and policies in place to support our staff. These include a:
a) Wellbeing Strategy
b) Employee Assistance Programme
c) Occupational Health provision
d) Mental Health Strategy & Action Plan
e) Mental Health Allies Network – to offer support and signposting to staff on mental health issues
f) Board-level senior Health and Wellbeing Champion, supported by a network of wellbeing champions across the Department
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 Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, published in February 2016, what progress his Department has made in implementing recommendation 24.
Answered by Phillip Lee
MoJ remains committed to ensuring offenders are able to access appropriate support and treatment throughout the criminal justice pathway, and we are responding to this recommendation in a number of ways.
We continue to support NHS England’s roll out of Liaison and Diversion services, which were operating across 82% of the country at the end of March 2018, with full rollout expected by 2020/21.
We are working with Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and Public Health England to develop a protocol for community sentence treatment requirements (CSTRs). This will ensure pathways into appropriate treatment are in place, and that greater use is made of CSTRs, including Mental Health Treatment Requirements. Health is a devolved matter in Wales, where the goal to improve the use of MHTRs is captured in the Welsh Government’s “Together for Mental Health” delivery plan.
The National Partnership Agreement for Prison Healthcare in England (2018-2021) was published on the 10th April 2018. This agreement between MoJ, HMPPS, Public Health England, DHSC, and NHS England, confirms our commitment to delivering a high-quality health service in prisons, marked by a deeper level of cooperation and cohesiveness.
We are also working with the DHSC, and NHS England, to identify improvements that can be made to the process by which prisoners are transferred to hospital for treatment under the Mental Health Act 1983 to ensure that people with severe mental health problems are moving through the secure health care system to the most appropriate place for their needs.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many deaths in prison custody occurred in each year since 2010; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Government publishes statistics on deaths in custody quarterly, and updated detailed tables annually. The most recent tables were published on 26 January 2018 and cover the year to the end of December 2017. They can be viewed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-september-2017.
The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep prisoners safe, and while these latest figures show a welcome fall in the number of deaths in total and self-inflicted deaths in particular, we can and must do more. We have established a prison safety programme through which we are taking forward a comprehensive set of actions to reduce deaths in custody, including: rolling out revised and improved training for staff in assessing and managing the risk of suicide and self-harm amongst prisoners (which has already reached nearly 15,000 staff); improving support for prisoners in their early days in custody; revising the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork case management process for those identified as being at risk; and renewing our partnership with the Samaritans by confirming a further three years' grant funding for their valuable Listeners Scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of suicides which took place in prisons were by people who were not on the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork programme in prison in each year since 2010.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Government publishes statistics on deaths in custody quarterly, and updated detailed tables annually. They can be viewed at gov.uk.
Self-inflicted deaths1 where prisoners were not on an open ACCT2, England and Wales, 2010 to 2017
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
number | 45 | 39 | 41 | 49 | 59 | 55 | 79 | 40 |
proportion | 78% | 67% | 67% | 64% | 66% | 61% | 65% | 57% |
Notes:
1 Because of the number of deaths that remain unclassified (awaiting further information) in more recent years, caution should be used when comparing with earlier periods.
2 If a prisoner was not subject to the ACCT (Assessment Care in Custody and Teamwork) process at the time of the incident that resulted in death, the prisoner is described as not being on an open ACCT.
Every death in custody is a tragedy. The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep prisoners safe. We have established a prison safety programme that includes a comprehensive set of actions, including: rolling out revised and improved training for staff in assessing and managing the risk of suicide and self-harm amongst prisoners; improving support for prisoners in their early days in custody; revising the ACCT case management process for those identified as being at risk; and funding the Samaritans to provide their valuable Listeners Scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of (a) community sentences and (b) suspended prison sentences included a Mental Health Treatment Requirement in each year since 2010.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The table below shows the proportion of offenders starting (a) community orders or (b) suspended sentence orders under probation supervision in each year since 2010 where a mental health treatment requirement (MHTR) was attached to the order. These figures cover both England and Wales.
| Community order | Suspended sentence order |
Year |
| |
2010 | 0.6% | 0.5% |
2011 | 0.5% | 0.5% |
2012 | 0.5% | 0.4% |
2013 | 0.6% | 0.5% |
2014 | 0.7% | 0.6% |
2015 | 0.5% | 0.5% |
2016 | 0.4% | 0.6% |
Working with the Department for Health and Social Care, NHS England and Public Health England, we are developing a Community Sentence Treatment Requirement ‘Protocol’ that will set out what is expected from all agencies involved and improve access to mental health and substance misuse services for offenders who need them. This includes a new maximum waiting time for court ordered treatment which is in line with waiting times for the general population. It also includes a new single point of contact within local mental health and substance misuse services.
We are going to test the Protocol in a number of areas to make sure that it works and offers people the right support to end the cycle of reoffending.
Health is a devolved matter in Wales. The goal to improve the use of MHTRs there is captured in the Welsh Government’s “Together for Mental Health” delivery plan.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many places existed for children and young people under 18 years old needing to be housed in a secure accommodation unit for each year for which data is available since 2010.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The number of children entering the youth justice system for the first time continues to decline year on year and we now have a concentrated mix of young people in custody – many of whom demonstrate very challenging and complex behaviour.
We are investing an additional £64m to improve youth custody, including boosting the number of frontline staff in public sector Young Offender Institutions by 20% - all of whom will be specially trained to work in the youth estate.
The table below shows the number of commissioned beds for the youth estate in England and Wales for the years ending March 2010 to March 2017.
| Year ending March | |||||||
Occupancy rate | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Secure Children's Homes | 194 | 191 | 183 | 166 | 167 | 138 | 138 | 117 |
Secure Training Centres | 301 | 301 | 301 | 301 | 301 | 243 | 243 | 223 |
Young Offender Institutions | 3,007 | 2,285 | 2,024 | 2,024 | 1,154 | 970 | 970 | 896 |
Total | 3,502 | 2,777 | 2,508 | 2,491 | 1,622 | 1,351 | 1,351 | 1,236 |
*These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.