Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department holds data on the number of applications for leave to appeal against conviction for each offence type in each year between 2016 and 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The following table gives a breakdown of the number of applications for leave to appeal against conviction for each offence category in each full year between 2016 and 2021. Data for 2022 is incomplete and has not therefore been included.
Offence Category | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Total |
Offences against person | 304 | 313 | 346 | 298 | 229 | 294 | 1,784 |
Sexual Offences | 454 | 461 | 377 | 292 | 224 | 254 | 2,062 |
Dishonesty/Theft/ Robbery/Burglary | 313 | 266 | 217 | 216 | 147 | 181 | 1,340 |
Arson/Damaging Property | 10 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 41 |
Public Order | 32 | 26 | 42 | 28 | 14 | 21 | 163 |
Firearms/Explosives/Offence Weapon | 41 | 54 | 53 | 48 | 39 | 33 | 268 |
Contempt/Perverting Justice/Public Office | 35 | 29 | 29 | 23 | 3 | 12 | 131 |
Environment/H&S/Planning | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 17 |
Computer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Drugs | 129 | 101 | 115 | 107 | 63 | 79 | 594 |
Driving/Road Traffic incl. Fatality | 20 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 6 | 13 | 102 |
Racially Aggravated | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
Terrorism | 6 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 34 |
Breach of order | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 32 |
Slavery and Trafficking | 2 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 27 |
Unspecified or breach offence | 28 | 11 | 17 | 37 | 29 | 18 | 140 |
Not recorded | 11 | 26 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 48 |
Total | 1,399 | 1,347 | 1,253 | 1,099 | 774 | 930 | 6,802 |
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department holds data on the number of applications for leave to appeal against conviction and sentence that were (a) considered, (b) granted and (c) refused each year between 2016 and 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HMCTS publishes annual statistics for the Royal Courts of Justice, including those requested, through the link below:
Civil justice statistics quarterly: January to March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department holds data on the number of High Court judges that sit as Single Justices of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) for the purposes of determining applications for permission to appeal against conviction and sentence under section 31 of the Criminal Appeals Act 1968.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All High Court judges assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division may be called upon to determine applications for permission to appeal against conviction and sentence under section 31 of the Criminal Appeals Act 1968. There are about 70 High Court judges in the Queen’s Bench Division although the number of these judges that are available to determine these applications may vary from year to year and throughout the year, depending on their workload requirements and other responsibilities.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on potential revisions to the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 to help ensure fitness for purpose and to improve protection for victims.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There has been no recent discussion with Cabinet colleagues on reforming the Offences against the Person Act 1861.
The Government has, however, introduced several measures in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 in connection with offences against the person including filling a gap in the law on non-fatal strangulation by creating a new offence and clarifying that a person has no defence if they claim a victim consented to behaviour intended to cause serious harm. We also supported the creation of a new form of assault with an increased maximum penalty where the victim is an emergency worker carrying out their duties and proposed - in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – to increase the maximum penalty for assault on emergency workers to 2 years’ imprisonment. In the same Bill, the Government additionally proposed a new statutory requirement on the courts to consider, as an aggravating factor in sentencing, an assault on a public facing worker serving the public.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) people in total and (b) women were sent to prison for the non-payment of a magistrates’ court fine arising from a conviction for evasion of payment of TV licence fees in 2019.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The number of people admitted to prison for failing to pay magistrates’ court fines in respect of the non-payment of a TV licence in 2019 was two or fewer (the actual number has not been released in order to protect against personal identification), none of whom were women.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to update the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Although the Government has no current plans for a comprehensive update to the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, it has introduced several measures in connection with offences against the person including: filling a gap in the law on non-fatal strangulation by creating a new offence and clarifying that a person has no defence if they claim a victim consented to behaviour intended to cause serious harm in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and supported a Private Members Bill to create a new form of assault with an increased maximum penalty where the victim is an emergency worker carrying out their duties. The Government also proposes in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to create a statutory requirement to consider, as an aggravating factor in sentencing, an assault on a public facing worker serving the public.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people with down syndrome are imprisoned in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland as of 2 December 2021.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Ministry of Justice does not hold this type of data as robust information on diagnoses would form part of a prisoner’s medical records rather than being held in prison administrative systems. Further, prison policy in Scotland is a devolved matter and so all data for those held in Scottish prisons, does not sit with the Ministry of Justice or HMPPS.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on introducing teaching about joint enterprise law into the national curriculum.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There have been no recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on the doctrine of joint enterprise and its inclusion on the national curriculum.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that high-status and wealthy public figures are accountable under the law.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
It is a fundamental principle of our justice system and the rule of law that there is equality under the law. Any matter brought before the courts will be treated in line with this principle.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department holds annual data on the rates of committal proceedings, committal orders and days spent in prison with regard to unpaid Council Tax for the period of 2018-2021.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The department does not hold information on how many proceedings have been started.
Data on the number of committals to prison for Council Tax non-payment since 2018 can be found in the attached table.
On average (mean) civil prisoners received into custody for non-payment of Council Tax from 2018-2020 spent 25 days in custody.