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Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Offenders
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil servants in his Department have a criminal conviction.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

As of September 2023, there were 101,276[1] (FTE) staff in post across the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

To provide the quantitative base to answer this PQ, this could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. This would require manually entering each individual record to extract the data and engaging with all workplaces across England and Wales to ascertain locally managed/ recorded information.

All Ministry of Justice staff are held to high levels of professional and personal conduct and are subject to pre-employment vetting checks to ensure suitability for employment into post. Across the MoJ, all directly employed roles require a minimum of Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) level to enter the organisation and this includes a request of criminal conviction history. For any roles requiring a higher security level, roles may require an enhanced DBS check or be subject to National Security Vetting (NSV) checks which are carried out externally by UK Security Vetting (UKSV).

Across the MoJ, we must act in accordance with the high expectations that the Government and members of the public expect from us to ensure we drive our vision to deliver a world-class justice system that works for everyone. People are at the heart of what we do, and security and safety considerations are paramount in ensuring we welcome the right people to come to work for us to deliver our objectives. This might mean that some people may not ever be considered suitable to hold employment with us because of their background. Criminal conviction history of the applicant, including offence type and length of time since conviction will be assessed during vetting decision making to assess suitability for the role applied.

[1] Workforce management information: MOJ - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Crimes against the Person: Domestic Abuse
Friday 15th December 2023

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people convicted of assault in a domestic context who were charged with the offence of common assault under Section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice does not hold the data requested. Offences involving domestic abuse can take various forms and are prosecuted under the offence in law that best reflects their nature and circumstances, for example, assault or harassment. These offences can take the form of domestic abuse or non-domestic abuse and data collected from courts does not distinguish between the two.

This Government continues to take concerted action to pursue perpetrators of domestic abuse. We have:

  • Introduced a new wider statutory definition of domestic abuse, recognising all forms of abuse beyond physical violence, such as emotional and economic abuse, in law for the first time.
  • Created new offences such as non-fatal strangulation or suffocation, and extended the coercive and controlling behaviour offence to include former partners.
  • Extended the time in which victims are able to report domestic abuse-related assaults, so that more can seek justice.

Written Question
Suspended Sentences
Friday 15th December 2023

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will provide specific examples of exceptional circumstances relating to the (a) offence and (b) offender under the proposed duty to impose suspended sentence orders for sentences of 12 months or less in the Sentencing Bill.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Where the presumption to suspend short sentences applies, the courts will still impose a sentence of immediate custody where there are exceptional circumstances which would justify not passing a suspended sentence.

It will be for the independent judiciary to determine what constitutes exceptional circumstances in this context.


Written Question
Judges and Prison Officers: Disciplinary Proceedings
Monday 30th January 2023

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what happens to the disciplinary records of (a) judges and (b) prison officers when they change (i) gender and (ii) name.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

  1. The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice are jointly responsible for judicial discipline. They are supported by the independent Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, which keeps a record of disciplinary findings made against Judicial Office Holders. Those records are kept indefinitely, and any disciplinary sanctions taken against Judicial Office Holders are published on the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office website. A subsequent change of gender and/name by a Judicial Office Holder would have no bearing on the retention of disciplinary records. Should a Judicial Office Holder with a published disciplinary sanction against them subsequently change their name, a note would be made to the published sanction which would identify this.

  1. In relation to prison officers, processes are available to support the changing of an individual’s name and other characteristics within departmental HR records. Regardless of an individual’s gender or name, disciplinary records are retained in line with departmental document retention policies.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Civil Servants
Monday 21st November 2022

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the civil service headcount for their Department was on (a) 15 November 2022 and (b) 1 February 2020.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice’s monthly workforce data is published here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/workforce-management-information-moj

We report as at the last day of the month so the nearest available date is 31st January 2020.

On 31st January 2020 there were 76,441 payroll staff in post (headcount) in the Ministry of Justice and its executive agencies. The latest available data is for 30th September 2022 when there were 88,713 payroll staff in post. Payroll staff are made up of frontline staff working in prisons, courts and in probation services as well as civil servants in HQ functions.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Coronavirus
Thursday 17th November 2022

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employees in his Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice does not hold centrally a figure for how many employees in the department work on matters related to COVID-19. However, I can confirm that there are currently 12.7 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees working on the department’s response to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry.

There is also a network of Single Points of Contact (SPOCs) and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) across the department. They assist with the preparation for the response to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry alongside other roles and responsibilities.


Written Question
Prisoners
Thursday 16th June 2022

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) male and (b) female prisoners have (i) mental health issues; (ii) a physical health condition; (iii) a learning disability; (iv) a physical disability; (v) unemployment histories; (vi) housing issues or are homeless; (vii) family or relationship difficulties; (viii) social isolation; (ix) financial issues; (x) substance misuse issues; (xi) experienced physical, psychological or social trauma and (xii) two or more of these needs or issues.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The answer to question (ii) is information held by the Department for Health and Social Care. We can provide information from individuals in prison as, at 30 June 2021, who have a detailed assessment (Layer 3) completed on the Offender Assessment System (OASys). Individuals have been excluded where there is missing data for any of the assessment items required to answer questions (i) and (iii) to (xii). Definitions used for specific needs areas are given below.

Numbers

Issue(s)

Count - Female

Count - Male

Mental health issues

628

7,555

Learning disabilities

35

889

Physical disabilities

163

3,391

Unemployment histories

783

15,590

Housing issues or homeless

1,521

34,705

Relationship difficulties

1,841

40,614

Social isolation

298

5,058

Substance misuse

1,341

31,267

Financial issues

1,299

35,680

Physical or psychological trauma

1,694

21,883

Two or more issues

1,973

47,050

Number of prisoners with full assessment

2,090

55,564

Proportions

Issue(s)

Proportion - Female

Proportion - Male

Mental health issues

30%

14%

Learning disabilities

2%

2%

Physical disabilities

8%

6%

Unemployment histories

37%

28%

Housing issues or homeless

73%

62%

Relationship difficulties

88%

73%

Social isolation

14%

9%

Substance misuse

64%

56%

Financial issues

62%

64%

Physical or psychological trauma

81%

39%

Two or more issues

94%

85%

Definitions used

Item (i), mental health issues: OASys reports significant difficulties (score of 2) on question 10.2 psychological problems and/or question 10.6 psychiatric problems.

Item (iii), a learning disability: the disabilities listed on Delius include a learning disability.

Item (iv), a physical disability: the disabilities listed on Delius include hearing difficulties, a progressive condition, reduced mobility, reduced physical capacity, severe disfigurement, speech impairment or visual impairment.

Item (v), unemployment histories: OASys reports significant difficulties (score of 2) on question 4.3 employment history.

Item (vi), housing issues or are homeless: OASys reports a criminogenic need in the accommodation section.

Item (viii), social isolation: OASys reports significant difficulties (score of 2) on question 10.3 social isolation.

Item (ix), financial issues: OASys reports that the assessor judges financial issues to be linked to “risk of serious harm, risks to the individual and other risks” and/or linked to offending behaviour.

Item (x), substance misuse issues: OASys reports a criminogenic need in the drug misuse and/or alcohol misuse sections.

Item (xi), experienced physical, psychological or social trauma: OASys reports that any of the following were present – question 2.10, current offence disinhibited by a traumatic life event; significant difficulties (score of 2) on question 6.3, experience of childhood; question 6.7, victim of domestic violence, and question 10.7, history of severe head injuries, fits, periods of unconsciousness.

Item (xii) checks how many of (i) and (iii) to (xi) are present, and is counted as present if two or more of these ten items are present.


Written Question
Prisoners: Parents
Thursday 16th June 2022

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of (a) male and (b) female prisoners who have children.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

An MoJ study estimated that there were approximately 200,000 children in England & Wales who had a parent in prison at some point during the year 2009. Looking at the number of children with a parent in prison at a single point in time, approximately 90,000 children had a parent in prison at the end of June 2009. No recent annual estimate has been made of the number of children affected by the imprisonment of a parent or main caregiver.

The Prisons Strategy White Paper includes a commitment to improve the quality of the data collected and to improve the support provided. We are investigating opportunities for data sharing between Government organisations, to facilitate targeted support for offenders and their families.

Changes have been made to the Basic Custody Screening Tool to enable us to collect data on entry to prison about how many primary carers are in custody and how many children under the age of 18 are affected by their imprisonment. As this data is self-reported, we will monitor the quality of the data over the next year and make a decision as to what format the data will be published.


Written Question
Prisoners: Domestic Abuse
Thursday 16th June 2022

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the data his Department holds on the number and proportion of women in prison who have been perpetrators of domestic abuse.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service collects information on both victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse where a full risk and needs assessment is undertaken, in accordance with the Offender Assessment System (OASys). Only by means of a full assessment can a victim or perpetrator of domestic abuse be definitively identified. A full assessment is made only on certain offenders, having regard to their risk and sentence type/length. Consequently, the Department is not in a position to publish comprehensive data on victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse currently in prison.

HM Prison and Probation Service will continue to look at ways to expand and enhance data held.


Written Question
Prisoners: Domestic Abuse
Thursday 16th June 2022

Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish data his Department holds on the number and proportion of men in prison who have been victims of domestic abuse.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service collects information on both victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse where a full risk and needs assessment is undertaken, in accordance with the Offender Assessment System (OASys). Only by means of a full assessment can a victim or perpetrator of domestic abuse be definitively identified. A full assessment is made only on certain offenders, having regard to their risk and sentence type/length. Consequently, the Department is not in a position to publish comprehensive data on victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse currently in prison.

HM Prison and Probation Service will continue to look at ways to expand and enhance data held.