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Written Question
Offenders
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that offenders are prepared for life outside prison.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Effective resettlement is a core part of our efforts to reduce reoffending.

We are introducing resettlement passports, bringing together key information and services in one place, to address individual drivers of repeat offending and enable continuity of support on release.

We have introduced ID and Banking Administrators in 93 prisons to ensure prisoners leave custody with the basics required to start work, find accommodation and claim Universal Credit, with over 26,000 IDs arranged since April 2022.


Written Question
Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board: Public Appointments
Monday 13th March 2023

Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason his Department has not appointed a Chair to the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board as recommended in the Independent Review into Criminal Legal Aid; and what his Department's timetable is for making that appointment.

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

The Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board (CLAAB) was established following Lord Bellamy’s Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR) recommendation that an Advisory Board be established to take a wider view and encourage a more joined-up approach to criminal legal aid within the criminal justice system.

Board meetings take place quarterly and there have been two meetings to date - the first on 28 October 2022 and the second on 24 January 2023.

The CLAAB’s membership currently includes representatives from the Bar Council, the Law Society, Criminal Bar Association, London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) and Ministry of Justice officials.

We are currently considering the issue of the Chair of the Board and will make an announcement in due course.


Written Question
Reoffenders: Community Orders
Wednesday 3rd April 2019

Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of commencing Section 151 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to allow courts to deal more appropriately with low-level offences by repeat offenders through the use of community orders rather than fines.

Answered by Rory Stewart

There are no current plans to commence Section 151 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which allows courts, in certain circumstances, to use community orders for repeat offenders who might otherwise expect to receive fines.

Section 143(2) of that Act requires courts to treat previous convictions as an aggravating factor when sentencing. For shop theft offences, the Sentencing Council’s guideline on theft offences came into force in 2016. This guideline allows for the imposition of community sentences for shop theft in a wide range of circumstances. In cases involving significant persistent offending, the community and custodial thresholds may be crossed even though the offence otherwise warrants a lesser sentence.


Written Question
Coroners
Friday 20th July 2018

Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) Jewish and (b) Muslim deaths have been processed in each coroner area in the last 12 months.

Answered by Rory Stewart

The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for coroner services and therefore only holds information that it has decided to collect from coroners on the basis that it would be useful in policy making. We collect annual data on deaths reported to coroners, including inquests and post-mortem examinations held. The figures for the number of post mortems held in 2017 which involved less invasive techniques are available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706047/coroners-statistics-2017-csvs.zip.

The Ministry of Justice does not currently collect from coroners information on the number of less invasive post-mortem examinations which have been requested, Jewish or Muslim deaths investigated by coroners, and release of bodies or out of hours services.


Written Question
Post-mortems
Friday 20th July 2018

Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many non-invasive autopsies have been (a) requested and (b) provided in each coroner area in the last 12 months.

Answered by Rory Stewart

The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for coroner services and therefore only holds information that it has decided to collect from coroners on the basis that it would be useful in policy making. We collect annual data on deaths reported to coroners, including inquests and post-mortem examinations held. The figures for the number of post mortems held in 2017 which involved less invasive techniques are available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706047/coroners-statistics-2017-csvs.zip.

The Ministry of Justice does not currently collect from coroners information on the number of less invasive post-mortem examinations which have been requested, Jewish or Muslim deaths investigated by coroners, and release of bodies or out of hours services.


Written Question
Coroners
Friday 20th July 2018

Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions the three-day target for the release of bodies after initial report has not been met in each coroner area in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Answered by Rory Stewart

The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for coroner services and therefore only holds information that it has decided to collect from coroners on the basis that it would be useful in policy making. We collect annual data on deaths reported to coroners, including inquests and post-mortem examinations held. The figures for the number of post mortems held in 2017 which involved less invasive techniques are available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706047/coroners-statistics-2017-csvs.zip.

The Ministry of Justice does not currently collect from coroners information on the number of less invasive post-mortem examinations which have been requested, Jewish or Muslim deaths investigated by coroners, and release of bodies or out of hours services.


Written Question
Coroners: Working Hours
Friday 20th July 2018

Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and which coroner areas offer an out-of-hours service for cases other than homicide, mass fatalities and organ or tissue donation.

Answered by Rory Stewart

The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for coroner services and therefore only holds information that it has decided to collect from coroners on the basis that it would be useful in policy making. We collect annual data on deaths reported to coroners, including inquests and post-mortem examinations held. The figures for the number of post mortems held in 2017 which involved less invasive techniques are available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706047/coroners-statistics-2017-csvs.zip.

The Ministry of Justice does not currently collect from coroners information on the number of less invasive post-mortem examinations which have been requested, Jewish or Muslim deaths investigated by coroners, and release of bodies or out of hours services.


Written Question
Sexual Offences
Tuesday 3rd February 2015

Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how the Government is supporting the victims of the sex abuse cases that came to light in 2014.

Answered by Mike Penning

In December 2014, the Government committed an additional £7m dedicated to supporting victims of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). £2.15m has been given to the 84 rape support centres funded by the Female Rape Support Fund 2014-16 to ensure more victims are able to access support. In addition, over £1 million has been awarded to twelve organisations over two years to provide face-to-face and internet-based support for Male rape victims. The remaining £4.85m is being used by the Home Office to commission support such as counselling for victims of CSA during 2015.