Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers are employed at HMP Wormwood Scrubs; how many are absent on grounds of sickness; and how many are absent as a result of having to self-isolate or having tested positive for covid-19 as of 11 January 2021.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has been working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS, and health authority colleagues in England and Wales for a number of months on providing access to Covid-19 tests in a prison environment. More recently, additional testing capacity has been made available to limit the importation of infection into prisons. This includes the regular testing of staff across all prisons and carrying out testing of all new receptions to stop the virus spreading into and between jails.
The most recently published figures included in the HMPPS workforce quarterly statistics provided data for HMPPS staff in post by establishment, as at 30 September 2020. On that date there were 485 directly employed staff in post, by headcount, at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, 91 of which were off sick for non-COVID reasons. The average non-COVID days lost at the prison were lower for the 12 months ending in September 2020, the most recently published data, compared to the prior period ending in March for 2020.
30 staff were absent from work due to self-isolation or quarantine on official health advice on 30th October. This includes both directly and non-directly employed staff. It does not, however, include staff who were off work due to COVID related sickness, caring responsibilities due to COVID or any other COVID related absences.
The table below shows the most recent verified data for HMP Wormwood Scrubs. HMPPS do not hold complete data for the number of individual staff members or prisoners who have been tested. It should be noted that staff numbers include both those directly and non-directly employed. Where values of two or fewer are present they have been suppressed (~) in order to prevent disclosure of personal information. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Much of the data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic has been done at pace, with recording practices evolving as we understand more about the requirements and conditions we are facing. In order to present the timeliest information, the data presented has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics.
| May 20 | Jun 20 | Jul 20 | Aug 20 | Sep 20 | Oct 20 |
Staff testing positive | ~ | 0 | ~ | ~ | 0 | 19 |
| Jul 20 | Aug 20 | Sep 20 | Oct 20 | Nov 20 | Dec 20 |
Prisoners testing positive | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 7 | 6 |
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many proven offences were committed by children who turned 18 prior to conviction in the 12 months to March (a) 2019 and (b) 2020.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions and sentences for offences committed by children up to December 2019; 2020 data is not yet available.
Published information is available in the ‘Outcomes by Offence’ data tool, available here:
Detailed information on the circumstances of cases, including age at time of offence vs. age at time of conviction, may be held on court record. However, to be able to identify these cases, we would have to access individual court records, which would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish a final proposed tariff for compensation for whiplash injuries.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 will include the tariff for compensation for whiplash injuries and will be published in due course.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the number of staff absences by establishment throughout the youth secure estate as a result of the covid-19 outbreak for each month since 1 April 2020.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Published data on staff absent due to Covid-19 was first published in August on gov.uk for the period up to 31 July 2020. These figures can be found under the Covid annex, via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/her-majestys-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-june-2020
Number of staff absent due to COVID-19 from April 2020
Establishments | 30.04.2020 | 29.05.2020 | 30.06.2020 | 31.07.2020 |
| |
Adel Beck | 6 | 13 | 12 | 12 |
| |
Aldine House | ~ | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
Aycliffe | 4 | 6 | ~ | ~ |
|
|
Barton Moss | 24 | 22 | 23 | 23 |
| |
Clayfields House | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| |
Cookham Wood | 47 | 28 | 30 | 29 |
| |
Feltham A | 12 | 4 | ~ | ~ |
| |
Hillside | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| |
Lincolnshire | ~ | ~ | 0 | ~ |
| |
Oakhill (STC) | 8 | 10 | 11 | 8 |
| |
Parc (YOI) | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| |
Rainsbrook (STC) | ~ | 4 | 0 | ~ |
| |
Vinney Green | 11 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| |
Werrington | 5 | ~ | 19 | 12 |
| |
Wetherby | 38 | 36 | 59 | 53 |
| |
Total | 171 | 149 | 178 | 160 |
| |
(1) Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Much of the data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic has been done at pace, with recording practices evolving as we understand more about the requirements and conditions we are facing. In order to present the timeliest information, the data presented has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics.
(2) Numbers of 3 or less have been supressed and so have totals where the supressed number could be calculated.
(3) The types of COVID absences recorded are Sickness Absence, Self Isolation or Quarantine on Official Health Advice, Caring Responsibilities and Other reasons.
Closed settings such as prisons pose particular challenges in managing outbreaks, but we have had to introduce a number of necessary restrictions, guided by public health advice to limit the spread of COVID-19 in establishments and to protect both staff and residents, with necessary adaptions to manage infection.
We will be introducing a testing regime for staff and those in our care across all establishments in England and Wales to help identify and isolate cases early and control the spread of coronavirus. Routine staff testing will also be rolled out from November for both directly employed and non-directly employed staff who work with service users on a weekly basis.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2020 to Question 106239 on Civil Proceedings, if he will publish details of the new accessible bespoke court process which will be used to settle disputes in cases made through the Official Injury Claims portal.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government will publish details of its new accessible bespoke court process alongside the new Civil Procedure Rules and Pre-action Protocol in due course.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the number of hours of time out-of-cell per child by establishment throughout the youth secure estate for each day since 1 April 2020.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Data on ‘time out of room’ is not collected centrally across the whole of the youth secure estate, as Secure Training Centres and Secure Children’s Homes operate standardised regimes where children and young people are ‘unlocked’ throughout the course of an establishment’s daily regime.
The Youth Custody Service collects ‘time out of room’ information from under 18 Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) for management information purposes. Improvements to data collection processes were made in August this year to ensure data robustness and to enable comparability between the YOIs. There are no current plans to publish YOI ‘time out of room’ figures as a specific dataset.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to section 3(11) of the Civil Liability Act 2018, what consultation has taken place with the Lord Chief Justice about the proposed tariff for compensation for whiplash injuries; and if he will publish the details of that consultation.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A consultation is currently underway with the Lord Chief Justice as required by section 3 paragraph (11) of the Civil Liability Act 2018. We will carefully consider the response received and will publish details of the tariff of damages.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans the Government has to reduce the small claims limit for (a) employer liability and (b) public liability injuries to a maximum of £2,000 for (i) vulnerable road users, (ii) children, (iii) protected parties and (iv) other claimants.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Government consulted on increasing the small claims track (SCT) limit for all personal injury claims in November 2016. Following consideration of the responses received, the Government announced its decision in February 2017 that the SCT limit for road traffic accident (RTA) related personal injury claims would be increased from £1,000 to £5000 and for all other personal injury claims, including employment and public liability, from £1,000 to £2,000 in line with inflation.
This issue was raised and debated in both Houses during the Parliamentary passage of the Civil Liability Act 2018, where the Government re-stated its position.
The RTA related personal injury claims SCT limit will be increased to £5,000 in April 2021.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners held in HMP Wormwood Scrubs have (a) been tested and (b) tested positive for covid-19 in each of the last six months.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Closed settings such as prisons pose particular challenges in managing outbreaks, but we have implemented strong measures to mitigate this risk, guided by public health advice, and with the safety of staff and prisoners remaining the absolute priority.
As of 30 September, there were six positive prisoner cases at HMP Wormwood Scrubs. Out of the six cases, three of these received their result in April and the other three in May.
As mentioned in the previous answer, verified data on the number of prisoners that have tested positive for Covid-19 for September and October is due to be published in November, as part of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) national Covid-19 statistics and workforce statistics on gov.uk:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-prison-and-probation-service-covid-19-statistics-monthly
Out of 1118 prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs, 866 of those prisoners who are not required to isolate or quarantine for reasons linked to Covid-19, have access to between 2-3 hours out of their cell each day.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners held in HMP Wormwood scrubs are permitted to leave their cells for two or more hours a day as at 21 October 2020.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Closed settings such as prisons pose particular challenges in managing outbreaks, but we have implemented strong measures to mitigate this risk, guided by public health advice, and with the safety of staff and prisoners remaining the absolute priority.
As of 30 September, there were six positive prisoner cases at HMP Wormwood Scrubs. Out of the six cases, three of these received their result in April and the other three in May.
As mentioned in the previous answer, verified data on the number of prisoners that have tested positive for Covid-19 for September and October is due to be published in November, as part of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) national Covid-19 statistics and workforce statistics on gov.uk:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-prison-and-probation-service-covid-19-statistics-monthly
Out of 1118 prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs, 866 of those prisoners who are not required to isolate or quarantine for reasons linked to Covid-19, have access to between 2-3 hours out of their cell each day.