Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were required to attend residential detoxification facilities as a condition of their sentence in each year since 2010 for which information is available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no specific requirement for an offender to attend residential detoxification as a condition of their sentence. However, residential treatment may be provided within a Drug Rehabilitation Requirement (DRR) or Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR) through locally commissioned residential addiction recovery services. In England, these services are funded by local authorities, as part of their public health responsibilities. In Wales, health, including substance misuse services, is devolved to the Welsh Government. The table below shows the overall number of DRRs and ATRs commenced under community orders and suspended sentence orders in England and Wales since 2010.
|
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of prisoners being released on a (a) Friday and (b) Saturday to ensure that they are able to access housing and employment-related services on the day of release.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Prisoners are released when they have a statutory entitlement to be released once they have reached their automatic release date, or are released on a discretionary basis by the Parole Board, the Secretary of State or through early release on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) by prison governors.
If the automatic release date falls on a weekend or Bank holiday, the law (Section 23(3) Criminal Justice Act 1961) requires the release to be brought forward to the first preceding working day. Prisoners released on Fridays have the same access to support from probation providers as those released on any other day, including help in finding suitable accommodation and employment related services. Where appropriate, offenders may also be released on temporary licence (ROTL) in the run up to their release to facilitate appointments for resettlement purposes. I continue, however, to explore ways to reduce the burden of Friday release.
We are taking decisive action to improve the delivery of probation services in England and Wales, including investing £22million in extra support for offenders leaving prison. We are also investing £6m as part of the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy in pilot schemes bringing together prisons, local authorities, probation providers and others to plan, secure and sustain accommodation for offenders on their release.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish the results of his Department's consultation on the creation of a new offence of failure to prevent economic crime.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Call for Evidence on Corporate Criminal Liability for Economic Crime contained a number of different options for reform, including a proposal to extend the failure to prevent offence to wider economic crimes other than bribery or tax evasion. The Government’s response will be issued in 2019.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to establish an independent, transparent complaints procedure for people affected by enforcement agents.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Ministry of Justice intends to launch a Call for Evidence on the implementation of the enforcement agent reforms which were introduced in 2014. The purpose of the Call for Evidence will be to seek views from all interested parties about how the reforms are working in practice.
Following the Call for Evidence, the Ministry will respond to the recommendations made in the report “Taking control, the need for fundamental bailiff reform”, including the recommendation that the complaints procedure should be improved.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will respond to the recommendations in the report, Taking control, the need for fundamental bailiff reform, published in March 2017.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Ministry of Justice intends to launch a Call for Evidence on the implementation of the enforcement agent reforms which were introduced in 2014. The purpose of the Call for Evidence will be to seek views from all interested parties about how the reforms are working in practice.
Following the Call for Evidence, the Ministry will respond to the recommendations made in the report “Taking control, the need for fundamental bailiff reform”, including the recommendation that the complaints procedure should be improved.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the trends in the level of county court judgements; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Registry Trust which maintains the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines collates and publishes quarterly reports including analysis and commentary on County Court Judgments on behalf of the Lord Chancellor. The statistics are available at www.trustonline.org.uk.
The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly statistics available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-justice-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2017
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of county court actions for debt recovery, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The latest data published in the ‘Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly’ by the Ministry of Justice shows that in England & Wales from July to September 2017 there were 445,000 specified money claims (where the claimant seeks to recover a specific sum of money), an increase of 15% compared to the same period in 2016. This increase is driven by low value (£1000 or less) specified money claims.
The Ministry of Justice continues to engage with court users to gain further insight on the increase.