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Written Question
Reoffenders: Sentencing
Thursday 24th October 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of six month prison sentences for criminals on re-offending rates.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

We are clear that sentencing must match the severity of a crime and public protection is our priority.

The latest proven reoffending rate for offenders released from sentences of six months or less in the quarter July to September 2017 was almost two thirds (64.8%).

That is why, one of the first acts by this Prime Minister was to order an urgent review of sentencing, which included looking at changes to sentencing for the most prolific offenders which could help break the cycle of re-offending. Based on the findings of this review, we have announced a Sentencing Bill, which will contain proposals for community penalties that offer an appropriate level of punishment, while tackling the underlying drivers of re-offending.

Custody should be available as a last resort, but if we are to break the cycle of reoffending, solutions will often lie in community sentences, including those which address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, or provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Health
Tuesday 22nd October 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department uses ONS estimates of personal wellbeing in formulating policy; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve personal well-being in the last 12 months.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

We use ONS wellbeing statistics to inform Health and Wellbeing policy within the Civil Service. The Ministry of justice also measures personal wellbeing through the annual Civil Service People Survey using the same national statistics that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) use for the UK population as a whole.

The four personal well-being questions are: Life Satisfaction, Worthwhile, Happiness, and Anxiety. Further details can be found here.

The People Survey is one source of data used to inform the department’s wellbeing agenda and the development of our wellbeing strategy. More information can be found within the department’s published voluntary report on disability mental health and wellbeing. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/827763/moj-voluntary-reporting.pdf

Since the launch of the department’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy in November 2015, we have produced a wide range of toolkits and guidance to support personal wellbeing. Most are based on cross government products developed by Civil Service Employee Policy (CSEP). The main polices/guidance we have introduced in the last 12 months are:

  • Domestic Abuse – guidance and support for employees and their managers
  • cross-government toolkits – supporting staff through menopause
  • Support guidance for EU Nationals working in MoJ.
  • A wellbeing and resilience toolkit for staff working on EU exit work.

Written Question
Prison Sentences
Tuesday 8th October 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of phasing out six month custodial sentences in England and Wales.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Protecting the public will always be our priority. One of the first acts by this Prime Minister was to order an urgent review of sentencing. The focus of the review has been on the sentencing for the most serious violent and sexual offenders and the rules governing when and how those offenders are released. The review has also looked at changes to sentencing for the most prolific offenders which could help break the cycle of reoffending.

Based on the findings of the review, we will be bringing forward proposals shortly for a comprehensive package of legislative reform. This will include amending the automatic release point for the most serious sexual and violent offenders (where the offence carries a maximum life sentence) from the half-way point to two thirds of the sentence.

As part of this package of reform, we also plan to bring forward proposals for community penalties that offer an appropriate level of punishment, while tackling the underlying drivers of offending. We know that prolific offenders generally have multiple and complex needs which are linked to their offending behaviour, in particular drugs, alcohol and mental health needs. If we are to break the cycle of reoffending, solutions will often lie in community sentences, including those which address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, or provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.


Written Question
Youth Offending Teams: Mental Health Services
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to ensure a child psychologist is in place in every youth offending team.

Answered by Wendy Morton

Local Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) are multi-agency partnerships (which include health services) and they determine which services are needed to address the needs of the children who offend in their area. As of June 2017, there were 127 full time equivalent posts for seconded mental health practitioners working in YOTs in England and Wales. This included 59.7 part time and 68 full time posts.

Additionally, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England, are expected to work with NHS England and local partners across the NHS, public health, children and adult social care, youth justice and the education sectors, to jointly develop and take forward local plans to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, including children going through the youth justice system. In Wales, Local Health Boards (LHBs) are responsible for planning and delivering medical services, and aim to integrate specialist, secondary, community and primary care and health improvements. Even where there is no child psychologist or mental health professional embedded within the youth offending team, areas should have provision for children to access appropriate mental health support.


Written Question
Prisons: Mental Health Services
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what use his Department has made of mindfulness-based techniques for (a) reducing stress and (b) improving well-being among prison staff.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Mindfulness workshops forms part of a range of mental and physical health wellbeing workshops on offer to prison staff, with over 200 wellbeing days provided to prison establishments over the last two years. The workshops are also available on request through the HMPPS bespoke wellbeing initiative, Wellness Together programme which provides a series of workshops to selected prison establishments over a 12-week period.

Some prisons also provide local independently organised staff mindfulness training sessions for instance, at lunch times.

More widely, confidential counselling, wellbeing/lifestyle advice, wellbeing workshops, training and coaching to prison staff are also available to prison staff.


Written Question
Administration of Justice and Prisons: Mental Health Services
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of any pilot projects undertaken by his Department on the use of mindfulness-based therapies in prisons and the justice system.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Mindfulness-based therapy techniques are used in prisons in England and Wales. A summary of evidence relating to the impact of mindfulness on people in prison and on probation has been published and can be found at the following link; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mindfulness-in-prison-and-probation In addition to this, HMPPS Wales commissioned 2 studies in 2016 evaluating the impact of a mindfulness intervention at HMP Parc, Wales and within the National Probation Service Wales. Both staff and offenders took part in these studies. The research was led by Swansea University and the full reports, alongside a report from findings in the community, will be published later this year.

Our work on mindfulness is just part of our efforts to reduce recidivism and improve the prison estate. Over the past 3 years, we have invested £100m to provide additional Prison Officers to improve frontline safety, security and rehabilitation.


Written Question
Prisons: Mental Health Services
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what use his Department has made of mindfulness-based therapy techniques in (a) improving well-being and (b) reducing recidivism in the prison population.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Mindfulness-based therapy techniques are used in prisons in England and Wales. A summary of evidence relating to the impact of mindfulness on people in prison and on probation has been published and can be found at the following link; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mindfulness-in-prison-and-probation In addition to this, HMPPS Wales commissioned 2 studies in 2016 evaluating the impact of a mindfulness intervention at HMP Parc, Wales and within the National Probation Service Wales. Both staff and offenders took part in these studies. The research was led by Swansea University and the full reports, alongside a report from findings in the community, will be published later this year.

Our work on mindfulness is just part of our efforts to reduce recidivism and improve the prison estate. Over the past 3 years, we have invested £100m to provide additional Prison Officers to improve frontline safety, security and rehabilitation.


Written Question
Powers of Attorney: Registration
Tuesday 3rd September 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of Lasting Powers of Attorneys which were registered with the Office of Public Guardian in each year since 2010.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The below figures show the number of Powers of Attorney the Office of the Public Guardian has registered in each year since 2010. The figures are split into Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA) (which could not be made after October 2007 but can still be registered) and Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA). As of the end of March 2019 there are 3,847,008 POAs on the register of registered documents consisting of 159,356 EPAs and 3,687,652 LPAs.

LPAs registered

EPAs registered

Total POAs registered

2010-2011

151,629

18,752

170,381

2011-2012

181,302

16,405

197,707

2012-2013

229,852

16,783

246,635

2013-2014

257,257

15,056

272,313

2014-2015

390,952

14,012

404,964

2015-2016

471,350

13,060

484,410

2016-2017

632,696

11,786

644,482

2017-2018

698,461

10,058

708,519

2018-2019

739,650

9,432

749,092


Written Question
Prisons: Staff
Monday 24th June 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's findings of the Joint Unions in Prisons Alliance survey; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Robert Buckland

The safety of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service staff working in prisons is a priority. The Joint Unions Alliance have written to us regarding the survey and we will give careful consideration to the findings. Her Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service has commenced research into the effects of second-hand exposure of prison staff to psychoactive substances. Initial research is focused on post-exposure testing of staff across ten prisons and it has been agreed that the testing programme will be expanded to include a further 10 prisons.

Across the prison estate we have invested an additional £70m in a raft of measures designed to improve safety, security and decency – including body-scanners, enhanced searches and new investigative teams – while the 4,700 additional staff we have recruited since October 2016 are making a real difference.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Statistics
Friday 21st June 2019

Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions his Department has received representations from the UK Statistics Authority on his Department's presentation and use of statistics in each year since 2010.

Answered by Robert Buckland

Details of the UK Statistics Authority’s interventions are published in the correspondence, publications, and issues log sections of their website since 2010 and can be found here:

https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence-list/

https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publications-list/

https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/reports-and-correspondence/issues-log/

The Authority’s Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) also carry out regular assessments and systemic reviews, details of which can also be found on the Authority’s website here: https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/osr/.

In September 2018, the Authority published the first annual summary of its interventions for the financial year 2017/18. The report for 2018/19 will be published in the autumn.