Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions a prison has had to be relocked because of the loss or theft of keys between (a) July 2015 and July 2020, (b) July 2020 and July 2021, (c) July 2021 and July 2022, (d) July 2020 and July 2023; and what the cost of each such incident was.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The table below shows the number of incidents and cost of relock within prisons in England and Wales due to loss or theft of keys, for the time period requested.
Date | Number of Relocks | Cost (excluding VAT) |
July 15 to July 20 | 6 | £117,211.50 £422,447.46 £438,525.29 £441,649.00 £21,304.70 £323,151.44 |
July 20-July 21 | 2 | £2,821.40 £313,139.66 |
July 21-July 22 | 0 | 0 |
July 22-July 23 | 2 | £28, 650 £29,187.59 |
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the target was for the number of random mandatory drug tests to be carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service staff in the year to March 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Between start March 2022 and end March 2023, the national Key Performance Indicator target of expected random mandatory tests to be completed was 54,138 based on an overall prison population ranging from 79,698 in March 2022 to 83,918 in March 2023.
All random mandatory drug testing (rMDT) was paused in March 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Low levels of testing resumed from September 2020 in line with establishments’ position within the National Framework for managing COVID-19 before formal performance expectations around rMDT volumes were re-instated in April 2022. As set out in the HMPPS Annual Digest 2022-23 publication, rMDT levels did not return to the pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23. The levels of testing delivered varies across the estate from month to month and was impacted by the level of regime being operated by prisons, in line with staffing resource and other operational pressures.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many random mandatory drug tests were carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service from March 2022-2023 by institution.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Between March 2022 and March 2023, a total of 41,308 random mandatory drug tests were carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service in 122 prison establishments. Please see the accompanying table.
All random mandatory drug testing (rMDT) was paused in March 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Low levels of testing resumed from September 2020 in line with establishments’ position within the National Framework for managing COVID-19 before formal performance expectations around rMDT volumes were re-instated in April 2022. As set out in the HMPPS Annual Digest 2022-23 publication, rMDT levels did not return to the pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23. The levels of testing delivered varies across the estate from month to month and was impacted by the level of regime being operated by prisons, in line with staffing resource and other operational pressures.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drug seizures took place in prisons from March (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 in each institution.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
In the 12 months to March 2023, the number of incidents where drugs were found in prisons decreased to 14,724 from 17,700 in the previous 12-month period, a decrease of 17%.
The accompanying table contains data on all drug finds in each prison across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 period.
This fall follows action by this Government. Our £100m Security Investment Programme to reduce crime and prevent drugs entering prisons completed in March 2022. This funded a range of security measures, including X-ray body scanners across the entire closed male estate. Since July 2020, these have resulted in over 10,000 positive scans, many finding multiple contraband items, preventing drugs and mobile phones and other illicit items from entering prisons. We are going further this year with £25m investment to restrict drug supply into prisons, including installing x-ray baggage scanners at 42 high priority sites, and enhancing our mobile blocking technology.
Alongside this, the Ministry of Justice is investing £120m over the next three years to get more offenders engaged in treatment, and support them towards abstinence. With this investment, we will enhance testing regimes in prison, expand the use of Drug Recovery Wings where prisoners commit to remain drug-free and undergo regular voluntary drug tests, support prisoners to engage with community treatment ahead of their release and increase the use of intensive drug rehabilitation requirements for those on community sentences.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for asylum submitted before 28 June 2022 are awaiting processing.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on applications awaiting an initial decision that were raised before 28 June 2022 can be found in table Asy_10a of the ‘asylum and resettlement summary tables’. The latest data relate to 30 June 2023. Data for 30 September 2023 will be published on 23 November 2023. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, on how many occasions (a) he and (b) the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales visited a (i) Government Hub and (ii) ministerial office outside London in (A) 2022 and (B) 2023.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
I have worked from the Hub on 21 occasions between 2022 and 2023 and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has done so twice. We both also attend a large number of events, meetings and visits across Wales on a regular basis.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of applicants that were eligible for the Streamlined Asylum Processing Questionnaire returned their application within 30 working days in each month since its introduction.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would require a manual trawl of case records to retrieve.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of applications to the Voluntary Returns Service were processed in each month between January 2021 and July 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We do not routinely publish the information you have requested.
The Home Office publishes statistics on all types of removals from the UK which includes voluntary departures. The latest statistics are available at:
Immigration statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Published datasets for Voluntary Returns are available at:
Returns and detention datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Returns data is published quarterly and the most recent publication provides information on return volumes to the end of Q1 2023.
Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The voluntary return category includes returns which are categorised as assisted and controlled. This includes such returns processed by all Home Office units, including the Voluntary Returns Service.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households received funding from the Warm Home Discount Scheme in 2022-23; and how much funding was made available for the Warm Home Discount Scheme in that year.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The official statistics showed that 2.50 million households received a rebate under the Core Group in winter 2022/23, providing £374 million of support to low-income and vulnerable households. Warm Home Discount statistics - GOV.UK.
This does not include part of the scheme in Scotland delivered by participating energy suppliers which is known as the Broader Group. The statistics also do not include spending on Industry Initiatives, which are other financial and energy-related measures that suppliers deliver.
The final figures on the support provided in the 2022/23 scheme year will be confirmed in Ofgem’s annual report towards the end of the year.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up on the termination of asylum support following asylum decisions.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Strategic Oversight Group, established in December 2022, is a cross-HMG group (along with the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and is co-chaired with the LGA Chief Executive. This group allows dialogue between national and local government within asylum and resettlement.
We continue to work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and local government, to mitigate asylum accommodation pressures. Additionally, we work with the Department for Work & Pensions to ensure those asylum seekers granted leave to remain can access benefits promptly.