Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capital threshold for means testing legal aid for domestic violence victims; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Victims of domestic abuse must have access to the help they need - including legal aid, which is subject to a means and merits test. Our comprehensive review of the legal aid means test commenced in February 2019. The review is considering how the current arrangements adequately protect access to justice, and as part of this we have explicitly committed to look at means testing for victims of domestic abuse, including the existing capital thresholds.
Whilst the Government had previously committed to complete the review by Summer 2020, and to mark this with publication of a consultation paper, the impact of the Covid-19 crisis has meant this work has been temporarily paused and a revised timetable for delivery of the review will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of legal aid applications made by victims of domestic violence have been rejected as a result of capital threshold means testing in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking in response to the publication of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report entitled Inclusive Justice, published on 22 April 2020, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government welcomes the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report, Inclusive Justice, the interim findings of which were published on 22 April, and the full report on 11 June 2020. The recommendations made in the report are being carefully considered.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) judges, (b) magistrates, (c) prison officers, (d) probation officers and (e) prison governors employed in 2020 and for each of the last five years broken down by (i) ethnicity and (ii) gender.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the recommendations of the Lammy Review, we have appointed a Senior BAME Staff Recruitment and Progression Lead to the MoJ Resourcing Team working closely with four BAME Progression Leads in HMPPS.
We have implemented improvements to our recruitment processes to reduce time and cost to hire, increase the diversity of new recruits and ensure we attract the right people with the right skills.
The number of court and tribunal judges and magistrates as at 1 April in the five years from 2015 to 2019 is shown in the tables, based on data held by Judicial Office. Data for April 2020 is scheduled for publication in September 2020.
Table 1a: Court judges in England and Wales1 by gender and ethnicity2, as at 1 April 2015 to 2019
|
| 1 April 2015 | 1 April 2016 | 1 April 2017 | 1 April 2018 | 1 April 2019 |
Gender |
|
|
|
|
| |
| Female | 817 | 882 | 890 | 875 | 1013 |
| Male | 2,421 | 2,320 | 2,244 | 2,103 | 2,197 |
Ethnicity |
|
|
|
|
| |
| All BAME groups | 159 | 174 | 173 | 171 | 205 |
| Of which |
|
|
|
|
|
| Asian or Asian British | 71 | 79 | 78 | 78 | 100 |
| Black or Black British | 26 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 30 |
| Other ethnic group | 27 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 26 |
| Mixed Ethnic Groups | 35 | 41 | 39 | 41 | 49 |
| White | 2,527 | 2,506 | 2,438 | 2,338 | 2,564 |
| Unknown | 552 | 522 | 523 | 469 | 441 |
Total | 3,238 | 3,202 | 3,134 | 2,978 | 3,210 | |
Table 1b: Tribunal judges in England and Wales1 by gender and ethnicity2, as at 1 April 2015 to 2019
|
| 1 April 2015 | 1 April 2016 | 1 April 2017 | 1 April 2018 | 1 April 2019 |
Gender |
|
|
|
|
| |
| Female | 878 | 846 | 806 | 775 | 861 |
| Male | 1,126 | 1,048 | 980 | 928 | 993 |
Ethnicity |
|
|
|
|
| |
| All BAME groups | 177 | 177 | 168 | 167 | 192 |
| Of which |
|
|
|
|
|
| Asian or Asian British | 76 | 77 | 75 | 75 | 96 |
| Black or Black British | 33 | 34 | 32 | 31 | 31 |
| Other ethnic group | 41 | 37 | 33 | 33 | 30 |
| Mixed Ethnic Groups | 27 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 35 |
| White | 1,691 | 1,580 | 1,485 | 1,404 | 1,530 |
| Unknown | 136 | 137 | 133 | 132 | 132 |
Total | 2,004 | 1,894 | 1,786 | 1,703 | 1,854 | |
Table 2: Serving magistrates in England and Wales1 by gender and ethnicity2, as at 1 April 2015 to 2019
|
| 1 April 2015 | 1 April 2016 | 1 April 2017 | 1 April 2018 | 1 April 2019 |
Gender |
|
|
|
|
| |
| Female | 10,413 | 9,299 | 8,712 | 8,220 | 8,019 |
| Male | 9,221 | 8,253 | 7,417 | 6,783 | 6,329 |
Ethnicity |
|
|
|
|
| |
| All BAME groups | 1,828 | 1,723 | 1,686 | 1,655 | 1,653 |
| Of which |
|
|
|
|
|
| Asian or Asian British | 959 | 820 | 889 | 874 | 868 |
| Black or Black British | 591 | 507 | 548 | 533 | 536 |
| Other ethnic group | 142 | 319 | 120 | 119 | 115 |
| Mixed Ethnic Groups | 136 | 77 | 129 | 129 | 134 |
| White | 17,803 | 15,662 | 13,958 | 12,726 | 11,823 |
| Unknown | 0 | 167 | 485 | 622 | 872 |
Total | 19,634 | 17,552 | 16,129 | 15,003 | 14,348 | |
Notes to tables 1-2
Source: Judicial Office e-HR system
The number of prison officers, probation officers and prison governors employed in HMPPS as at 31 March 2015 to 2020 are provided in the following tables.
Table 3: Band 3-5 prison officers1 in post by gender and ethnicity2, as at 31 March 2015 to 2020
|
| 31 March 2015 | 31 March 2016 | 31 March 2017 | 31 March 2018 | 31 March 2019 | 31 March 2020 |
Gender |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Female | 4,553 | 4,716 | 4,897 | 5,836 | 6,495 | 6,487 |
| Male | 14,405 | 14,373 | 14,277 | 15,985 | 16,963 | 16,314 |
Ethnicity |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| All BAME groups | 927 | 923 | 928 | 842 | 1,138 | 1,431 |
| Of which |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Asian or Asian British | 206 | 206 | 204 | 182 | 262 | 338 |
| Black or Black British | 401 | 396 | 410 | 387 | 505 | 628 |
| Other ethnic group | 199 | 213 | 214 | 190 | 275 | 363 |
| Mixed Ethnic Groups | 121 | 108 | 100 | 83 | 96 | 102 |
| White | 16,180 | 15,525 | 14,992 | 13,661 | 15,267 | 17,059 |
| Not Known / Prefer not to say | 1,851 | 2,641 | 3,254 | 7,318 | 7,053 | 4,311 |
Total | 18,958 | 19,089 | 19,174 | 21,821 | 23,458 | 22,801 | |
Table 4: Band 4 probation officers in post by gender and ethnicity2, as at 31 March 2015 to 2020
|
| 31 March 2015 | 31 March 2016 | 31 March 2017 | 31 March 2018 | 31 March 2019 | 31 March 2020 |
Gender |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Female | 2,580 | 2,651 | 2,951 | 2,836 | 2,802 | 2,907 |
| Male | 928 | 936 | 964 | 893 | 847 | 836 |
Ethnicity |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| All BAME groups | 71 | 145 | 234 | 251 | 375 | 429 |
| Of which |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Asian or Asian British | 23 | 52 | 85 | 86 | 118 | 133 |
| Black or Black British | 27 | 55 | 85 | 97 | 162 | 191 |
| Other ethnic group | ~ | 34 | 56 | 60 | 84 | 94 |
| Mixed Ethnic Groups | ~ | 4 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 11 |
| White | 683 | 1,362 | 1,936 | 1,896 | 2,421 | 2,762 |
| Not Known / Prefer not to say | 2,754 | 2,080 | 1,745 | 1,582 | 853 | 552 |
Total | 3,508 | 3,587 | 3,915 | 3,729 | 3,649 | 3,743 | |
Table 5: Band 10-11 Governing Governors3 in post by gender and ethnicity2, as at 31 March 2015 to 2020
|
| 31 March 2015 | 31 March 2016 | 31 March 2017 | 31 March 2018 | 31 March 2019 | 31 March 2020 |
Gender |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Female | 30 | 26 | 32 | 32 | 30 | 33 |
| Male | 70 | 71 | 66 | 68 | 58 | 64 |
Ethnicity |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| All BAME groups | 7 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Of which |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Asian or Asian British | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Black or Black British | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Other ethnic group | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| Mixed Ethnic Groups | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| White | 89 | 84 | 83 | 84 | 72 | 77 |
| Not Known / Prefer not to say | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
Total | 100 | 97 | 98 | 100 | 88 | 97 | |
Notes to tables 3-5
1. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
2. All staff have gender assigned but ethnicity is a self-declared field and is optional to complete.
3. Includes Governing Governors working in prison establishments and excludes those based in HQ. Figures do not include deputy governors or those acting up as a Governing Governor on a temporary promotion basis.
~ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer or other values which would allow values of 2 or fewer to be derived by subtraction. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of instances in prisons of (a) self-harm and (b) suicide by (i) region, (ii) ethnicity and (iii) gender for each of the last five years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Please see the attached tables showing the number of instances of (a) self-harm and (b) self-inflicted deaths in prisons by (i) region, (ii) ethnicity and (iii) gender for each of the last five years. Our condolences are with the family and friends of the prisoners who have died.
The figures on self-harm have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level. The figures on self-inflicted deaths are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. As classification of deaths may change following inquest or as new information emerges, numbers may change from time to time.
Far too many prisoners are self-harming or taking their own lives and it is one of the reasons we introduced the key worker scheme in 2018, supported by the recruitment of extra prison officers, so that every offender can get dedicated support and have someone to talk to.
We have also given over 25,000 staff better training to spot and prevent self-harm and are investing an extra £2.75 billion to modernise prisons, combat drug use and improve the environment in which offenders live.
As well as this, we have refreshed our partnership with the Samaritans, awarding a grant of £500k each year for the next three years. This supports the excellent Listeners scheme, through which selected prisoners are trained to provide emotional support to their fellow prisoners.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff in his Department had caring responsibilities in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The MoJ HR systems do not capture this information regarding caring responsibilities.
We can provide data from the Civil Service People Survey for the last 4 years. This is not a workforce statistic, so only representative of those who completed the survey each year, but it is the best available information the department has.
The question answered is below:
“Do you look after or give help or support to any family members, friends, neighbours or others who have a long-term physical or mental illness or disability, or problems related to old age?”
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Yes | 6740 | 8970 | 7620 | 10021 |
No | 21960 | 21910 | 25380 | 23006 |
People Survey Response Rate | 46% | 48% | 49% | 49% |
The department aims to support those with caring responsibilities. We’ve been recognised for the support we provide to carers and run the Carers Network, which is open to all staff, offering support and guidance.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department is spending on a public information campaign to prepare people for the potential effects of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has a duty to inform citizens and businesses about how leaving the EU might affect them, and to advise on the steps they may need to take to prepare for EU Exit.
Cabinet Office has developed a cross-departmental public information campaign to help achieve this. Over the coming weeks, departments will be using a range of channels to direct UK citizens, businesses, EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU to a dedicated area on GOV.UK at Gov.uk/euexit
Information on the costs associated with this campaign will be released in due course as part of normal data transparency releases
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) he, (b) Ministers of his Department and (c) officials in his Department have held meetings with (i) representatives of (a) Cambridge Analytica, (b) SCL Group and (c) Global Science Research and (ii) Alexander Nix.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Secretary of State for Justice and the Ministers of his department have not met with any representatives of Cambridge Analytica, SCL Group and Global Science Research or Alexander Nix.
Departments publish quarterly details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations on GOV.UK. These can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/moj-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings#2017
As well as ministerial meetings, departmental officials meet external organisations on a regular and ongoing basis.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendation of the Chief Coroner, set out in his Annual Report 2016 - 2017, that coroner areas should provide an out-of-hours service to meet the needs of those whose faiths require early burial.
Answered by Phillip Lee
Out of hours services in London are funded and arranged by local authorities and the Metropolitan Police Service. The Government is clear about the importance of out of hours’ coroner services and in recent years it has worked with local authorities and the police to encourage the deployment of additional staff. Last October eight additional members of staff who will work out of hours took up post, recruited and employed by the police, but the Government will continue to work with local authorities and the police on this.
The availability of out of hours services in London will benefit the whole community, not just people of any particular faith.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions Tornado teams have been deployed to prisons since September 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Between September 2010 and November 2017 Tornado teams have been deployed a total of 97 times to provide incident management support to custodial establishments in England and Wales.
Tornado teams are not necessarily launched in response to violent incidents. They can be called on to provide a visible presence when dealing with a large number of prisoners.