Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2024 to Question 17263 on Prisons: Dogs, how many times the National Dog and Technical Support Group were deployed in prisons in each year since 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2024 to Question 17264 on Prisons: Restraint Equipment, how many Nico 9 stun grenades were used in prisons in each year since 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison staff required hospital treatment following a prisoner assault in each year since 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of incidents of a prisoner assault leading to a prison staff member requiring hospital treatment 2018-2022 can be found in the attached table. Data on staff assaults for the calendar year 2023 is subject to future publication on 25 April, in ‘Safety in custody: quarterly update to December 2023’.
Changes were made to the recording of assaults in April 2017 that affects the reporting of hospitalisation. This change means that a comparable time series for this question can only be provided from 2018 onwards.
Staff must be able to expect a safe and decent work environment. We will not tolerate any violence against prison officers, and prisoners who are violent towards staff will face the full consequences of their actions.
We are committed to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right support, training and tools to empower them to do their jobs.
To protect staff and prisoners in very serious assaults, we have rolled out PAVA – a synthetic pepper spray – for use by prison officers in the adult male estate. Staff are able to use the PAVA spray where there is serious violence or an imminent or perceived risk of it.
We have rolled out a new Body Worn Video Camera system which has increased the overall number of cameras across public sector prisons to over 13,000. This enables every operational band 3-5 officer on shift to wear a camera. They are supported by a new Policy Framework which mandates the wearing of the cameras.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hours of unpaid work handed down as part of suspended sentences were cancelled as a result of not having been completed within 12 months of the sentence being handed down, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The disruption caused by the pandemic added to a backlog of Unpaid Work hours. The Government is investing an additional £93m in Community Payback over three years. This will allow us to increase delivery of Community Payback back to pre-covid levels of delivery.
We have launched a national campaign to recruit more than 500 additional Community Payback staff to bolster resources in every probation region and new staff are arriving in post. The additional staffing will enable us to boost delivery of Community Payback to pre-covid levels.
There will be a particular focus on delivering more outdoor projects that improve local areas, sustainability focussed and allow the public to see justice being done.
Suspended Sentence Orders cannot legally be extended beyond the length of the operational period of the order which is set by the judiciary. A Suspended Sentence Order ceases the moment the operational period expires, regardless of any outstanding requirements such as unpaid work. Robust processes have been developed to ensure unpaid work requirements are completed in a timely manner, including prompt enforcement action where required.
It is important to note that these hours have not been “cancelled” but due to the legal limitations of a Suspended Sentence Order, the Probation Service is unable to apply for an extension in order to work hours once the operational period has expired.
Calendar Year | Hours remaining on Expired Suspended Sentence Orders |
2019 | 91,588.2 |
2020 | 171,124.4 |
2021 | 386,845.2 |
2022 | 405,800.8 |
2023 | 279,639.8 |
Data as at 27/02/2024
The expired Suspended Sentence Orders detailed here should be viewed in context of the total completed hours delivered as detailed in PQ 171423.
By way of comparison, in 2023, 279,640 hours remained on expired Suspended Sentence Orders, while during the twelve months 01/04/2022 to 31/03/2023, over 4.7 million hours of Unpaid Work were delivered.
A number of these expired orders will be as a result of persons being remanded in custody or otherwise unable to complete their hours within the operational period. Additionally, others may have expired due to delays in enforcement, particularly as a result of Covid.
Data are sourced from nDelius and while these data have been assured as much as practical, as with any large administrative dataset, the data should not be assumed to be accurate to the last value presented.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a contract and schedule of requirements for the contract with procurement reference tender_422492/1326965.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The contract and schedule of requirements for reference tender_422492/1326965 was published on 20 March 2024 and can be found via the following link: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d08dc21c-90ec-4912-bc7b-766b17bf266b.
HMPPS does not tolerate violence under any circumstance, therefore it is vital we do everything in our power to eradicate dangerous behaviour behind bars. This information relates directly to an early-stage trial of equipment, which alongside wider investments into prison security measures such as body warn cameras and x-ray body scanners, will ensure we enhance prison safety and security for our hardworking staff and prisoners.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people given Community Payback as a community sentence did not complete the work assigned to them in each year since 2014.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is investing an additional £93m in Community Payback over three years. This will allow us to increase delivery of Community Payback back to pre-covid levels of delivery.
We have launched a national campaign to recruit more than 500 additional Community Payback staff to bolster resources in every probation region and new staff are arriving in post. The additional staffing will enable us to boost delivery of Community Payback to pre-covid levels.
There will be a particular focus on delivering more outdoor projects that improve local areas, sustainability focussed and allow the public to see justice being done.
The table below shows how many Community Payback requirements and the proportion that were not completed in each year since 2014. The data covers all reasons why Community Payback requirements may not have been completed including offender deaths, deportation, orders revoked and resentenced, successful appeals and Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) activated (i.e. offender imprisoned for the remainder of their sentence).
Year | Community Payback Requirements Not Completed | Proportion of Community Payback Requirements Not Completed |
2014 | 13,521 | 42.5% |
2015 | 14,384 | 34.6% |
2016 | 14,535 | 32.5% |
2017 | 16,417 | 39.8% |
2018 | 16,088 | 45.1% |
2019 | 16,541 | 43.3% |
2020 | 14,154 | 52.2% |
2021 | 15,776 | 44.4% |
2022 | 17,949 | 35.4% |
2023 | 19,135 | 34.1% |
Data as of 7 March 2024.
Please note these data relate to Community Payback requirements, not individuals or hours. An individual may have had multiple Community Payback requirements across the time period and all of these have been counted separately. It is important to note that some of those incomplete Community Payback requirements may have a number of hours completed.
Owing to the amalgamation of multiple legacy IT systems, with the introduction of Transforming Rehabilitation back in 2014, a slightly different methodology has been utilised to identify those cases where Community Payback had not been completed, in the years 2014 and 2015. This has been utilised to ensure that data are accurate, representative and consistent across the period shown.
The year listed is when the Community Payback requirement was terminated.
Data are sourced from nDelius and while these data have been assured as much as practical, as with any large administrative dataset, the data should not be assumed to be accurate to the last value presented.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people did not complete community payback in each year since 2014.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is investing an additional £93m in Community Payback over three years. This will allow us to increase delivery of Community Payback back to pre-covid levels of delivery.
We have launched a national campaign to recruit more than 500 additional Community Payback staff to bolster resources in every probation region and new staff are arriving in post. The additional staffing will enable us to boost delivery of Community Payback to pre-covid levels.
There will be a particular focus on delivering more outdoor projects that improve local areas, sustainability focussed and allow the public to see justice being done.
The table below shows how many Community Payback requirements and the proportion that were not completed in each year since 2014. The data covers all reasons why Community Payback requirements may not have been completed including offender deaths, deportation, orders revoked and resentenced, successful appeals and Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) activated (i.e. offender imprisoned for the remainder of their sentence).
Year | Community Payback Requirements Not Completed | Proportion of Community Payback Requirements Not Completed |
2014 | 13,521 | 42.5% |
2015 | 14,384 | 34.6% |
2016 | 14,535 | 32.5% |
2017 | 16,417 | 39.8% |
2018 | 16,088 | 45.1% |
2019 | 16,541 | 43.3% |
2020 | 14,154 | 52.2% |
2021 | 15,776 | 44.4% |
2022 | 17,949 | 35.4% |
2023 | 19,135 | 34.1% |
Data as of 7 March 2024.
Please note these data relate to Community Payback requirements, not individuals or hours. An individual may have had multiple Community Payback requirements across the time period and all of these have been counted separately. It is important to note that some of those incomplete Community Payback requirements may have a number of hours completed.
Owing to the amalgamation of multiple legacy IT systems, with the introduction of Transforming Rehabilitation back in 2014, a slightly different methodology has been utilised to identify those cases where Community Payback had not been completed, in the years 2014 and 2015. This has been utilised to ensure that data are accurate, representative and consistent across the period shown.
The year listed is when the Community Payback requirement was terminated.
Data are sourced from nDelius and while these data have been assured as much as practical, as with any large administrative dataset, the data should not be assumed to be accurate to the last value presented.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Nico 9 stun grenades were used in prisons in each year since 2015, broken down by institution.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people received a second life sentence after being released from prison in each year since 2010; and if he will list the offences which resulted in the (a) first and (b) second life sentence for each person.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The answer to this question could only be provided at a disproportionate cost, as it involves linking prison data with the Ministry of Justice extract of the police national computer.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders sentenced to a suspended sentence order were subsequently sent to immediate custody for (a) breaching the conditions of the order and (b) reoffending in each year since 2017.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. The below detail is provided as background information.
A 2019 Ministry of Justice analysis of a matched cohort of over 30,000 offenders shows that those who serve sentences of immediate custody of less than 12 months reoffend at a rate higher than similar offenders given community orders and suspended sentence orders by the courts.
Our latest quarterly statistics, January – March 2022, suggest that 55.5% of people given a custodial sentence of less than 12 months reoffend within one year. For offenders punished with suspended sentence orders with requirements that are served in the community, the reoffending rate is significantly lower at 24.2%.
Based on this evidence, the Government introduced the presumption to suspend short sentences as part of the Sentencing Bill, currently before Parliament. The courts will retain a wide discretion to impose immediate custody in many circumstances.
Offenders will then serve their sentence in the community. When the court imposes a suspended sentence, they can impose requirements on the offender and the sentencing framework provides a flexible range of requirements, such as unpaid work, drug and alcohol treatment, curfew, and electronic monitoring, with the intention of punishing the offender, providing reparation to the community, and addressing any criminogenic or rehabilitative needs of the offender which may otherwise increase the likelihood of their reoffending.