Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, of 5 December 2017, Official Report, column 882, on Female Offender Management, when he plans to publish the strategy for women and justice.
Answered by Phillip Lee
We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation.
Considering how we can best address the needs of female offenders to improve outcomes for them, their families and their communities, is a complex issue that we want to get right.
We are working hard to develop the Female Offender Strategy and we will publish in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, What assessment his Department has made of the appropriate ratio of staff to prisoners in each prison for operating a safe and rehabilitative prison regime.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
There are arrangements in place in every prison, taking into account population and accommodation, to set staffing levels which are sufficient to maintain safe and decent conditions.
We are significantly increasing staff numbers by recruiting a net 2,500 extra prison officers by December 2018.
This will allow us to introduce a new key worker role, in which all prison officers on wings will support a small caseload of prisoners, improving the quality of staff-prisoner relationships and tackling the drivers of each prisoner’s offending.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which private companies have used labour from the prison population, and for what roles, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
We want prisons to be places of hard work, rigorous education and high ambition, with incentives for prisoners to learn and for prison staff to prioritise education and work. We work with a significant number of private companies to provide opportunities for offenders to work and learn new skills which can help them find a job on release and support their rehabilitation. This includes supporting work in prison, providing work placements in the community on temporary licence and employment on release.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2016 to Question 47485, whether member states will be bound by Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in respect of property rights, where the owner is a UK national, after the UK has left the EU.
Answered by Oliver Heald
I refer the Hon member to the response to PQ 47485.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2016 to Question 44521, what information her Department holds on how many (a) petitioners and (b) respondents who were ineligible for legal aid were unable to afford legal representation in applications to the family court for child contact or residence applications in 2015; how many such petitioners and respondents alleged that they were victims of domestic violence from the other party; and whether her Department has undertaken monitoring of the effect of a lack of legal representation on those victims and their children.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The representation status of unsuccessful applicants for legal aid is not centrally recorded. The Government is absolutely clear that victims of domestic violence must have access to the help they need, including access to legal aid. The operation of, and expenditure on, the legal aid scheme is continually monitored by the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency. Since the reforms were introduced thousands of people have applied for legal aid where domestic violence is involved and the majority have been granted it. Since the LASPO Act was introduced we have twice made changes so it is easier for people to get the evidence they need to claim legal aid.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what monitoring her Department has carried out to ensure that no one is denied access to justice, regardless of ability to pay for legal representation.
Answered by Oliver Heald
We have made sure that legal aid continues to be available in the most serious cases, for example where people’s life, liberty, or housing is at stake or where their children may be taken into care. The operation of, and expenditure on, the legal aid scheme is continually monitored by the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions there have been under legislation on female genital mutilation.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
There has been one prosecution under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 since it came into force.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has for the provision of rehabilitation and re-education for perpetrators of coercive control and intimate partner violence who are serving (a) custodial and (b) non-custodial sentences.
Answered by Andrew Selous
The Ministry of Justice works with its partners to deliver a range of services and programmes across custody and community which aim to reduce and manage the risk posed by perpetrators of coercive control and intimate partner violence. We use structured risk assessment to understand the risks, needs and circumstances of individual offenders. We then match individuals to appropriate interventions and services, such as the Building Better Relationships accredited programme, to reduce their risk, protect the community and ensure public money is spent in the best way.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans to close HM Prison Bristol.
Answered by Andrew Selous
On 9 November 2015, the Chancellor and Secretary of State announced their intention to build a prison estate which allows prisoners to be rehabilitated, thereby enabling them to turn away from a life of crime. This will involve building nine new prisons and closing old and inefficient prisons.
No decisions have yet been made on which prisons will be closed.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the value for money of its contracts with the private sector.
Answered by Mike Penning
As part of improving the MoJ’s overall commercial capability a Contract Management Improvement Programme has been running across the department since early 2014, in order to implement and embed best practices in contract management. As part of this programme we have established new governance committees to strengthen our assurance of major contracts.
We have also renegotiated or retendered a number of our significant contracts to improve value for money from our private sector contractors.