Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals serving custodial sentences were released homeless in 2018.
Answered by Robert Buckland
It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe and secure to live. Having somewhere stable to live acts as a platform for ex-offenders to be able to access the services and support needed to turn their back on crime for good. In 2017/18, 2,690 prisoners were released to rough sleeping and 8,139 were released to other forms of homelessness, together accounting for 15.8% of the total number of releases (68,632). |
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on finalising the location of the Problem Solving Courts across England and Wales.
Answered by Edward Argar
There are no plans to develop Problem Solving Courts in the criminal courts in England and Wales. Problem solving approaches are however being employed to address complex needs of offenders and resolve substance misuse/mental health problems in the community:
Problem-solving courts and initiatives are in use in family proceedings where families can get help to address their problems and reduce the likelihood of children being taken into care. Family, Drug and Alcohol Courts, which look to address substance misuse and related problems in the home, are operating in a number of local authority areas including London, Southampton, Coventry and Leeds. Family, Drug and Alcohol Courts and a number of other initiatives which are helping to keep families safely together have recently been given additional £15m funding from the Department for Education.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prison officers recruited in 2018 in Wales are still working for the prison service.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The total number of Band 3-5 Prison Officers recruited in Wales in 2018 was 219. 191 (87%) of those staff are still working for the Prison Service based on the latest available data.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals are serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence in England and Wales.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The information you ask for is available in the public domain in so far as it relates to those serving the IPP sentence in prison; however, I have provided it for ease of reference. As at 31 March 2019, 2,403 prisoners were serving IPP sentences and who have never been released, and a further 1,063 prisoners were in custody having been recalled from the community.
Data on prisoners serving IPP sentences are published quarterly as part of the Offender Management Statistics bulletin: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018
It is for the independent Parole Board to review the detention of those prisoners serving an IPP sentence who have completed their tariff period. The Board will direct the release of these prisoners only if it is satisfied that the levels of risk posed to the general public are reduced enough that the National Probation Service and its partner agencies can safely manage them in the community under supervision.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time is that a prison officer remains working in their role.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The average length of time a Band 3-5 prison officer working in their role, for those in post as at 31st March 2019 is 10.1 years.
Average working time in role is calculated by taking total length of service of all prison officers divided by the number of prison officers (Headcount), as at 31st March 2019.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what statistics his Department holds on the number of (a) perinatal women in custody and (b) babies born on prison estates.
Answered by Edward Argar
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Information relating to births and pregnancy is recorded locally. Work is currently underway to look at what information related to pregnancy and birth can be collected centrally.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on plans to revise the Prison Service Instruction for Mother and Baby Units which expired at the end of last year; and whether those plans will include mandatory standards for the care and support of all pregnant women and new mothers in custody, including those who are separated from their babies.
Answered by Edward Argar
There are plans to conduct a full review of the Mother and Baby Unit instruction imminently, and will consult with stakeholders in the summer. As part of the review we will look at what can usefully be included within the instruction to support all pregnant women and new mothers. This will also take account of mothers who are separated from their babies. The review will involve consultation from colleges in other government departments as well as our stakeholders.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how often the judiciary in family courts including the lay bench have mandatory specialist training on domestic abuse.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, responsibility for the training of the judiciary rests with the Lord Chief Justice as Head of the Judiciary. This is exercised through the Judicial College under judicial direction. The Lord Chief Justice requires judges and magistrates to attend induction training before sitting in Private Family law cases, which includes a module on dealing with domestic abuse, and thereafter attend continuation training for the family jurisdiction, which also includes a domestic abuse module, on a minimum of a three-year cycle. Judicial guidance on domestic abuse in child arrangements and contact cases is provided by Practice Direction 12J and vulnerable persons’ participation by Practice Direction 3AA which are available under the procedure rules on the justice website.
The Judicial College produces two core training packs on domestic abuse specifically for magistrates: one for the criminal jurisdiction, and one for the family jurisdiction about domestic abuse and its effects, including the effect of domestic abuse on children. The Family Court Bench Book to support magistrates was updated and re-published in 2018.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children are currently being represented by children and family court advisory and support service guardians in courts in England.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
In total, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) is acting as a Guardian for 25,440 children (22,007 in public law and 3,433 in private law Rule 6.4 cases).
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many fact-finding hearings where domestic abuse is alleged have been conducted since the revised Practice Direction PD12J – Domestic Abuse was introduced on 2 October 2017.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Ministry of Justice does not hold the requested data. Family court statistics are published on a quarterly basis in the Family Court Statistics Quarterly, which is publicly available on gov.uk. However, this data does not distinguish between fact-finding hearings and the number of hearings overall.