Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether HM Prisons and Probation Service’s Pride in Prison and Probation staff network has (a) full-time and (b) part-time staff employed to support it; and whether that staff network receives funding from the service to cover its (i) operating costs and (ii) activities.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Pride in Prison and Probation (PiPP) staff network has a full-time national lead, on loan from their usual business area in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). No HMPPS staff are employed in a part time capacity to support the network. Staff networks are not allocated a budget: if funding is requested to deliver specific activities, a business case would need to be submitted.
PiPP is represented on HMPPS’ Transgender Advisory Board, which reviews HMPPS policy on the care and management of individuals who are transgender.
HMPPS policy sets out that transgender individuals must be subject to a robust risk assessment when considering to which part of the estate they are allocated. This assessment considers a wide range of factors including offending history and anatomy. Currently, over 90% of transgender women are held in the men’s prison estate.
We are strengthening this policy so that transgender women who have birth genitalia and/or have committed sexual offences cannot be held in the general women’s estate, subject to an exemption policy for truly exceptional cases.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether HM Prisons and Probation Service has had recent discussions with the Pride in Prison and Probation staff network on the care and management of transgender people within the Prison and Probation service.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Pride in Prison and Probation (PiPP) staff network has a full-time national lead, on loan from their usual business area in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). No HMPPS staff are employed in a part time capacity to support the network. Staff networks are not allocated a budget: if funding is requested to deliver specific activities, a business case would need to be submitted.
PiPP is represented on HMPPS’ Transgender Advisory Board, which reviews HMPPS policy on the care and management of individuals who are transgender.
HMPPS policy sets out that transgender individuals must be subject to a robust risk assessment when considering to which part of the estate they are allocated. This assessment considers a wide range of factors including offending history and anatomy. Currently, over 90% of transgender women are held in the men’s prison estate.
We are strengthening this policy so that transgender women who have birth genitalia and/or have committed sexual offences cannot be held in the general women’s estate, subject to an exemption policy for truly exceptional cases.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government plans to introduce provisions in the Bill of Rights to help (a) control the UK's borders and (b) deter people entering the county in breach of immigration laws though Channel crossings.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Home Office and Ministry of Justice are working together to deliver the Government’s strategy to tackle illegal migration by deterring illegal entry into the UK whilst breaking the business model of people smugglers, and removing more easily those with no right to be in the UK.
The Bill of Rights will support the Government’s work on illegal migration. The Bill will empower UK courts to apply human rights in a UK context, affirming the Supreme Court’s independence from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It will make explicit that the UK Supreme Court is the ultimate judicial arbiter of the meaning and effect of rights in domestic law. The Bill will also affirm that interim measures of the European Court of Human Rights do not have any domestic legal effect, and will prevent UK courts from having any regard to an interim measure indicated by the Strasbourg Court when deciding whether to grant relief.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish the Government's response to the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review.
Answered by Edward Argar
Last year the government commissioned an independent expert, Clare Wade KC, to undertake a review of domestic homicide sentencing. The Terms of Reference stated that the review would be submitted to the Secretary of State for Justice by the end of 2021 and that we would then consider the review and its recommendations before determining whether further consultation is needed or publishing the report.
The independent reviewer required more time than anticipated to complete the review and it was delivered to the department in June this year. The Review examines a number of important and complex issues. Therefore prior to publication of the review and response, the government is carefully considering its recommendations and next steps.
This government is fully committed to ensuring that the sentencing framework responds appropriately to cases of domestic homicide and that sentences reflect the severity of these crimes.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to publish the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review by Clare Wade QC.
Answered by Edward Argar
Last year the government commissioned an independent expert, Clare Wade KC, to undertake a review of domestic homicide sentencing. The Terms of Reference stated that the review would be submitted to the Secretary of State for Justice by the end of 2021 and that we would then consider the review and its recommendations before determining whether further consultation is needed or publishing the report.
The independent reviewer required more time than anticipated to complete the review and it was delivered to the department in June this year. The Review examines a number of important and complex issues. Therefore prior to publication of the review and response, the government is carefully considering its recommendations and next steps.
This government is fully committed to ensuring that the sentencing framework responds appropriately to cases of domestic homicide and that sentences reflect the severity of these crimes.