Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support the mental wellbeing of prison officers.
Answered by Rory Stewart
HMPPS recognises the importance of staff wellbeing and offers a range of support that includes access to specialist Mental Health Advisers provided by our Occupational Health supplier.
HMPPS offers further staff support through its Employee Assistance Programme which includes a 24hr/365 days per year confidential helpline and access to mental health support by way of confidential counselling together with a, Structured Professional Support service which has been developed to provide individual or group sessions facilitated by Mental Health Advisers or Therapists. The aim of the sessions are to help to reduce the likelihood that staff will experience adverse effects as a result of working on programmes with offenders or on high risk cases.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2018 to Question 186964 on Prisons: Crimes of Violence and Self-harm, if he will place a copy of those tables in the Library.
Answered by Rory Stewart
I refer the Hon. Member to the Answer given to Question 186964, which now includes the tables requested.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of (a) self harm, (b) violence against prisoners and (c) violence against prison staff per 100 prisoners there were in each prison in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The tables show the numbers of self-harm incidents, assault incidents on prisoners, and assault incidents on staff, per 100 prisoners, for each prison from 2013 to 2017 inclusive.
The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep prisoners safe, and we are committed to reducing the incidence of self-harm across the estate. This is why we have established a prison safety programme through which we are taking forward a comprehensive set of actions to improve safety in custody. We have invested in over 3,000 additional staff in order to deliver consistent, purposeful regimes. We have also introduced the new key worker role, under which staff can give prisoners more effective challenge and support.
Our prison staff work incredibly hard and we are under no illusions about the challenges they face. We are taking urgent action to make prisons safer, and assaults on our staff will never be tolerated. That is why we are working with the Police and Crown Prosecution Service to ensure successful prosecutions of those who assault them. It is also why the Government supported the recently passed Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act, which increases sentences for those who attack emergency workers, including prison officers.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many successful (a) fines and (b) prosecutions have been made as a result of evidence obtained from ANPR cameras in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. |
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference the report, Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2018, published by his Department on 25 October 2018, what assessment he has made of the factors that have contributed to the increase in recorded (a) assaults, (b) assaults on wardens, and (c) instances of self-harm in prisons.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The causes of self-harm and violence in prisons are complex. They include “imported factors”, such as the characteristics of the population coming into prison, and “custodial factors”, such as the nature of the prison environment and regime.
The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep staff and prisoners safe, and we are committed to reducing the incidence of self-harm, suicide and violence across the estate. This is why we have established a prison safety programme through which we are taking forward a comprehensive set of actions to improve safety in custody.
Our prison staff work incredibly hard and we are under no illusions about the challenges they face. Assaults on our staff will never be tolerated. That is why we are working with the Police and Crown Prosecution Service to ensure successful prosecutions of those who assault them. It is also why the Government supported the recently passed Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act, which increases sentences for those who attack emergency workers, including prison officers. We are taking further measures to protect our staff, including investing in 5,600 body-worn cameras and in rigid-bar handcuffs. Early next year we will begin to equip every prison officer in the adult male prison estate with PAVA incapacitant spray. PAVA can help to prevent serious harm to staff and prisoners alike, as well as being a tool to persuade prisoners in the act of violence to stop.
But the key to this must be consistent management of prisoner behaviour with clear expectations.
We have invested in over 3,000 additional staff in order to deliver consistent, purposeful regimes. We have also introduced the new key worker role, under which staff can give prisoners more effective challenge and support. We are taking action in a number of ways to identify and support prisoners at risk, including:
renewing our partnership with the Samaritans by confirming a further three years' grant funding for their valuable Listeners Scheme.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Welsh-speaking staff were employed in each prison in Wales in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Information on Welsh-speaking staff in prisons is not, and has never been, collected and so the data requested is not available.
Our Welsh Language Scheme is currently under review, and we will continue to work with the Welsh Language Commissioner to ensure that the linguistic needs of Welsh speaking prisoners are met.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons in England and Wales have operated at a level above their certified normal accommodation in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) publishes monthly individual prison population and capacity information through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-population-statistics
The following table identifies each prison in England and Wales which has operated with a population above its Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA) on the last working Friday in any month in each of the last seven years.
CNA, or uncrowded capacity, is the Prison Service’s own measure of accommodation. It represents the good, decent standard of accommodation that the Service aspires to provide all prisoners. CNA differs to the Operational Capacity of a prison which is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. Although CNA is ideal in practice it has in many cases not been possible for the last two decades due to the significant population growth.
Where the Operational Capacity of a prison is higher than the CNA it will be classed as having the potential to be crowded, which can mean prisoners share cells. In the financial year 2017/18, 24.2% of the prison population was being held in crowded conditions, down from 24.5% in the previous year.
We have an ambitious plan to reduce prison crowding by introducing new places that are safe, decent, and uncrowded. In February 2017 HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Berwyn was opened which, when full, will provide 2,100 uncrowded prison places. The government has also committed to building up to 10,000 decent prison places which will provide the physical conditions for Governors to achieve better educational, training and rehabilitative outcomes.
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 average cost to the public purse of administering a (a) social security and child support tribunal and (b) a PIP appeal tribunal.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information requested is not held centrally. The cost of personal independence payment hearings is included in the overall cost of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support Appeal).
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 copies of the (a) guidance and (b) procedures his Department has issued to tackle long waiting times for personal independence payment appeal tribunal dates.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
I will place a copy of the general listing guidance, together with supplementary guidance issued in relation to case management “triage” sessions (introduced with the aim of reducing the time taken for appeals to reach final determination), in the Library. Listing is the responsibility of the independent Judiciary and the guidance is issued in support of this.
Tackling long waiting times in response to increased volumes of appeals is achieved through additional capacity. In order to achieve this we have recruited extra fee paid judicial office holders: 250 Judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members and 230 medical members (subject to confirmation of appointment) and are developing a new digital system which enables speedier processing of appeals and a better service for all parties to the tribunal.
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 average waiting time for personal independence payments appeals at tribunal in (a) Caernarfon County Court and Family Court, (b) Prestatyn Justice Centre, (c) Chester Magistrates' Court, (d) Chester Civil and Family Justice Centre and (e) Welshpool County Court and Family Court.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information requested is set out in the tables below.
HMCTS VENUES | . Average time (weeks) receipts HMCTS to Outcome1 Personal Independence Payment Appeals2 | |||
April - June (Quarter 1) 2017_2018 3 | July- September (Quarter 2) 2017_2018 3 | October to December (Quarter 3) 2017_2018 3 | April to December (Quarter 1-3 ) 2017_2018 3,4 | |
Caernarfon | 21 | 37 | 40 | 37 |
Chester5 | 19 | 23 | 27 | 22 |
Prestatyn | 33 | 37 | 48 | 39 |
Welshpool | 21 | 25 | 31 | 26 |
HMCTS VENUES | Outstanding load of all SSCS appeals as at 31st December 2017 3,4 |
Caernarfon | 258 |
Chester | 944 |
Chester Magistrates' Court | 23 |
Prestatyn | 658 |
Welshpool | 46 |
1 Includes cases cleared with and without a tribunal hearing.
2 Personal Independence Payment (New Claim Appeals) which replaces Disability Living Allowance was introduced on 8 April 2013, also includes Personal Independence Clams (Reassessments).
3 Provisional data
4 The latest period for which data are available
5 Chester venue is Chester Civil Justice Centre. For the period April-December (Quarter 1-3) 2017_2018 there were no PIP clearances for appeals listed for Chester Magistrates Court.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that is available.
The data may differ slightly to that of the published stats as theses data were run on a different date.
Clearance times, and caseload, are dependent on several factors, such as hearing capacity at the venue closest to the appellant, or the local availability of Tribunal panel members. Other factors might include the availability of the appellant or their representative, or the provision of further evidence. Additionally, a decision on the appeal may be reached after a hearing has been adjourned (which may be directed by the judge for a variety of reasons, such as to seek further evidence), or after a hearing has been postponed (again, for a variety of reasons, often at the request of the appellant). An appeal may also have been referred back to the First-tier Tribunal by the Upper Tribunal for disposal.
HMCTS has been working with the Tribunal’s judiciary both to appoint additional judges and panel members and take forward initiatives with potential to increase the capacity and performance of the Tribunal. These include reviewing current listing practices to increase the number of cases being listed on a Tribunal session, and introducing case management “triage” sessions, with the aim of reducing the time taken for appeals to reach final determination. All these measures will increase the capacity of the Tribunal with the aim of reducing waiting times for appellants.