Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of Crown immunity for HM Prison Service on the adequacy of the mitigation of systemic issues identified following deaths in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Every death in custody is a tragedy and we continue to do all we can to improve the safety of prisoners. Deaths in custody are subject to a police investigation on behalf of the Coroner in all cases and, where necessary, a criminal investigation, an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman; and a Coroner’s inquest (before a jury in non-natural deaths).
After each death that is apparently self-inflicted and any other unexpected death that is not obviously from natural causes, an internal Early Learning Review is conducted to identify lessons that can immediately be learned in order to improve local practice and prevent further death.
HMPPS also provides additional support to prisons where there has been a cluster of self-inflicted deaths, and fund Samaritans to provide support to prisoners and staff.
We are looking into the issue of Crown Immunity, although it is an incredibly complex matter.
Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the backlog of cases within the probate service.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in more staff, alongside system and process improvements, which has seen record levels of grants of probate issued during the last 6 months.
Management Information published by HMCTS shows, despite continued high levels of receipts, the open workable caseload (cases not waiting for more information from the applicant) has reduced by over 50% (36,000 cases) since August 2023 and currently stands at 31,842 in June 2024.
The average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate (following receipt of the documents required) has reduced by 4.5 weeks in June 2024 compared to August 2023. The average timeliness for cases completing in June was 8.5 weeks.