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Written Question
Offenders: Females
Wednesday 4th July 2018

Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the establishment of women’s buildings, particularly following the closure of HMP Holloway.

Answered by Lord Keen of Elie

We are committed to addressing the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation. That is why we have published a female offenders’ strategy, setting out a new programme of work, with investment of £5m over two years in community provisions for women. The strategy also gives a commitment to work with local and national partners to develop pilots for ‘residential women’s centres’ in at least five sites across England and Wales. This supports our vision to see fewer women in custody by developing more options for supporting women in the community. We are not proceeding with plans to build five Community Prisons for Women.


Written Question
Terrorism
Tuesday 3rd July 2018

Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average length of sentence for (1) Muslim, and (2) non-Muslim women convicted under any terrorism legislation since 2010.

Answered by Lord Keen of Elie

It is not possible to determine the average sentence length of a cohort that includes indeterminate sentences. The Home Office releases statistics quarterly on The Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation. The most recent publication was released on 14 June 2018 and includes public statistics relating to sentence length of all offenders convicted under this Act since 2009-10 until 2017-18. These can be found using the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/716000/police-powers-terrorism-mar2018-hosb0918.pdf.


Written Question
Prisoners: Females
Tuesday 3rd July 2018

Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times ambulances have been required to take women prisoners to hospital in the two most recent years for which information is available; and what support is provided to women prisoners after any return from hospital.

Answered by Lord Keen of Elie

The Government publishes statistics on safety in custody quarterly, and updated detailed tables annually. The most recent tables were published on 26 April 2018 and cover the period to the end of December 2017. In 2017 there were 8,317 incidents of self-harm in the women’s prison estate. In 2016 there were 7,670 such incidents.

The total number of times ambulances have been required to take women prisoners to hospital could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the published figures reveal that there were 183 self-harm incidents that required hospital attendance in the women’s prison estate in 2017, and 138 such incidents in 2016.

The support available to prisoners when they return from hospital depends on the cause of their injury or illness. Continuing medical treatment or observation is provided where necessary. The Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) case management process is used to provide support for prisoners who have self-harmed, and where the prisoner was subject to the ACCT process prior to the incident, there is a review by the multi-disciplinary team to identify any changes that need to be made to the support that is being provided.

The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep prisoners safe, and the recent increase in the number of self-harm incidents shows that we can and must do more. We have established a prison safety programme through which we are taking forward a comprehensive set of actions to improve safety in custody, including: rolling out revised and improved training for staff in assessing and managing the risk of suicide and self-harm amongst prisoners (which has already reached more than 15,500 staff); improving support for prisoners in their early days in custody; revising the ACCT case management process for those identified as being at risk; and renewing our partnership with the Samaritans by confirming a further three years' grant funding for their valuable Listeners Scheme.


Written Question
Prisoners: Females
Tuesday 3rd July 2018

Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incidents of self-harm occurred in the women's prison estate in the two most recent years for which information is available.

Answered by Lord Keen of Elie

The Government publishes statistics on safety in custody quarterly, and updated detailed tables annually. The most recent tables were published on 26 April 2018 and cover the period to the end of December 2017. In 2017 there were 8,317 incidents of self-harm in the women’s prison estate. In 2016 there were 7,670 such incidents.

The total number of times ambulances have been required to take women prisoners to hospital could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the published figures reveal that there were 183 self-harm incidents that required hospital attendance in the women’s prison estate in 2017, and 138 such incidents in 2016.

The support available to prisoners when they return from hospital depends on the cause of their injury or illness. Continuing medical treatment or observation is provided where necessary. The Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) case management process is used to provide support for prisoners who have self-harmed, and where the prisoner was subject to the ACCT process prior to the incident, there is a review by the multi-disciplinary team to identify any changes that need to be made to the support that is being provided.

The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep prisoners safe, and the recent increase in the number of self-harm incidents shows that we can and must do more. We have established a prison safety programme through which we are taking forward a comprehensive set of actions to improve safety in custody, including: rolling out revised and improved training for staff in assessing and managing the risk of suicide and self-harm amongst prisoners (which has already reached more than 15,500 staff); improving support for prisoners in their early days in custody; revising the ACCT case management process for those identified as being at risk; and renewing our partnership with the Samaritans by confirming a further three years' grant funding for their valuable Listeners Scheme.


Written Question
Terrorism
Tuesday 3rd July 2018

Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) Muslim, and (2) non-Muslim women have been remanded or convicted under any terrorism legislation since 2010.

Answered by Lord Keen of Elie

28 women have been remanded or convicted under terrorism legislation since 2010. Of these, 27 were Muslim and 1 was non-Muslim.


Written Question
Prisoners: Mothers
Thursday 28th June 2018

Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 11 June (HL Deb, cols 1499–1501), how many women prisoners with dependants under 16 years old are in custody as result of their association with men imprisoned under anti-terrorism legislation; and what support, if any, is provided to their families under the Prevent strategy or by any other providers within any other government programmes.

Answered by Lord Keen of Elie

HMPPS do not hold information on which women prisoners are in custody as a result of their association with men imprisoned under anti-terrorism legislation, nor do we hold information regarding the ages of prisoners’ children. We are only obliged to record information about the prisoner, so prisoners are not required to divulge information relating to the age of their children.

The Prevent strategy seeks to safeguard people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Support through programmes under the strategy can be provided to address the vulnerabilities and needs of the person concerned, on a case-by-case basis.


Written Question
Criminal Proceedings: Autism
Monday 17th November 2014

Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they currently provide training to staff in the criminal justice system who engage with people with autism spectrum disorder; and, if not, whether they have any plans to do so.

Answered by Lord Faulks

In March 2010 the Department of Health published the three year cross-Government strategy, Fulfilling and rewarding lives: the strategy for adults with autism in England. The strategy was updated in April 2014 and the Ministry of Justice is one of the signatories. As a result, a variety of different pieces of online training guidance were published for those delivering public services in order to meet the needs of those with autism. The criminal justice system has benefited from this guidance and training, which continues to be available. The guidance can be accessed at the following web address: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/autism-training-resources

A number of charities have developed guidance on Autism specifically for criminal justice professionals, and, the MoJ provides disability and diversity guidance and training, including on learning disabilities that staff can access.