Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will have discussions with the organisers of the Letters to Heaven project launched in Derry and Strabane cemeteries on the potential merits of expanding that project (a) nationally and (b) in Romford constituency.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Government is responsible for law and policy relating to burial in England and Wales only. It does not have day-to-day operational responsibility for burial grounds, which is matter for local authority and private burial authorities.
I understand this initiative has been implemented in Derry and Strabane by the local authority and has previously been taken up in other parts of the UK. It would be a matter for individual burial authorities to decide whether they wish to implement the scheme.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for tribunal hearings.
Answered by Mike Freer
Tribunals within the Ministry of Justice are administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and incorporate a wide range of administrative and civil & commercial jurisdictions. The largest jurisdictions are responsible for appeals in Employment, Immigration & Asylum and Social Security & Child Support matters.
HMCTS aims to hear tribunal cases as quickly as possible and we are introducing online digital services in our larger tribunals to enable faster processing of cases and improve the customer experience. HMCTS is also recruiting additional Judges where required together with Legal Officers who will actively manage cases; and creating virtual regions in the Employment and Immigration & Asylum tribunals to hear remote cases from any region and provide additional capacity.
If an expedited hearing is requested, a Judge or Legal Officer will make a decision on that issue, taking all the circumstances into account.
Tribunal statistics are published by MoJ on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics#tribunal-statistics-quarterly.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of criminal offences committed by prisoners on temporary release in the last 12 months.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The table below shows the number of temporary release failures due to an alleged offence for the year 2022-2023 was 31.
Temporary Releases 2022-23
Total number of temporary releases | 386,435 |
Number of temporary release failures(1) | 746 |
Temporary release failures percentage of total releases | 0.19% |
of which, number where the failure was due to an alleged offence(2) | 31 |
Failure due to an alleged offence percentage of total releases | less than 0.01% |
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.
(1) A temporary release failure after a release on temporary licence (ROTL) occurs when a prisoner fails to adhere to any condition written into the licence that permits their temporary release. Such conditions include the date and time by which the prisoner is required to return to the prison and may also place restrictions on where the prisoner may go and whom they may visit during the period of release, etc.
(2) The number of failures due to an offence is a count of the number of prisoners who have been arrested for an offence that allegedly took place during a period of ROTL, not the number of offences, one prisoner may have committed multiple offences while on temporary release.
Public protection is our priority. All offenders must meet strict criteria and pass a full risk assessment, involving all relevant agencies, before being considered for ROTL.
By providing opportunities to work, learn and build family ties, temporary release from prison helps ensure offenders don't return to crime when they leave prison. Evidence shows the vast majority abide by their temporary release conditions, with the compliance rate standing at well over 99%. Non-compliance is, and will continue to be, dealt with robustly.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prison officers there were in 2021-22; and how many and what proportion of prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for assaulting a prison officer in that period served their sentence concurrently with a sentence already being served.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The data on prison officer assaults is recorded in our published Safety in Custody Statistics.
The number and rates of assaults on staff across the estates are published in the Safety in Custody Summary Table which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1173764/Safety-in-custody-summary-q1-2023-final-tables.xlsx.
Sentencing data does not produce a breakdown of types of emergency worker for all violent offences. Consequently, we are unable to confirm within cost what proportion of prisoners sentenced for assaulting prison officers served their sentence concurrently.
However, the relevant sentencing guideline, issued by the independent Sentencing Council, makes clear that sentences for offences committed in prison will generally be served consecutively and, for any act of violence in prison custody, any reduction to take account of the principle of totality is likely to be minimal.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to help ensure parity in sentencing for assaults on (a) police and (b) prison officers.
Answered by Edward Argar
When deciding what sentence to impose the courts take into account the circumstances of the offence, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines issued by the independent Sentencing Council. The guidelines are designed to increase consistency and transparency in sentencing.
The Council’s Totality guideline sets out that offences committed within a prison context should generally run consecutively to any sentence currently being served.
The Government does not tolerate assaults against our emergency workers, including police and prison officers. That is why we doubled the penalty for assault of an emergency worker through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 from 12 months to two years’ imprisonment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has held with the Sentencing Council on the adequacy of sentencing guidelines for people who have purchased online videos of the graphic torture of animals abroad.
Answered by Edward Argar
Ministers have not discussed the topic raised in this question with the Sentencing Council.
Sentencing guidelines are developed by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so. Where behaviours constitute a criminal offence, it is open to the Council to issue guidelines on factors that should be considered which may affect the sentence given. The Government cannot require the Council to develop or review particular guidelines.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison places were occupied by prisoners born overseas since 2021; and what steps his Department is taking to deport these people to their country of origin once their sentence has concluded.
Answered by Damian Hinds
HMPPS does not routinely collect data on a prisoner’s country of birth. However, data is collected on nationality. Information on the number of Foreign National Offenders in prisons in England and Wales is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to encourage a higher number of younger people to become magistrates.
Answered by Mike Freer
The recruitment of more magistrates is one of the Government’s top priorities for the magistracy. The Ministry of Justice has invested over £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of 4,000 new and diverse magistrates over the next few years.
On 17 January 2022, we launched a digitised, more efficient, recruitment process. This has been supported by a carefully designed, targeted national marketing campaign designed to raise the profile of the magistracy and attract more applicants, particularly amongst underrepresented groups such as younger people.
We recognise that young people are likely to be employed and have other responsibilities to manage. We have developed a suite of materials to support magistrates or prospective magistrates who are employed, to balance their work responsibilities and judicial duties.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) impact of the prison officer retirement age on safety in prisons and (b) merits of aligning the retirement age of prison officers with police officers.
Answered by Damian Hinds
We highly value our hardworking prison officers and take very seriously the safety of all staff working within prisons, whatever their age. The Ministry continues to review and roll out new safety equipment and provide new skills to prison officers to deal with challenging situations and reduce the risk of assault.
The pension age in all public sector pension schemes is set under legislation by HM Treasury and the merits of any review in pension age would be for them to consider. I am committed to listening to and working with officers, staff and trade unions on a range of issues.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce attacks on prison officers.
Answered by Damian Hinds
We will not tolerate any violence against prison officers – staff must be able to expect a safe work environment. Prisoners who are violent towards staff will face the full consequences of their actions and will be dealt with swiftly and effectively. As of 28 June 2022 the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act has doubled the maximum penalty to up to two years’ imprisonment for those who assault emergency workers, including prison officers.
To protect staff and prisoners in very serious assaults, we are rolling 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 next generation Body Worn Video Camera solution which has increased the availability across public sector prisons from 6,000 to over 13,000 cameras, enabling every band 3-5 officer on shift to wear one. The cameras will provide high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against prisoners who commit assaults.