Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will ensure that her Department includes an extension to Northern Ireland of a pardon for gay and bisexual men convicted under now abolished offences and seeks a Legislative Consent Motion on this matter from the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Answered by Phillip Lee
I am proud that the Government is delivering its manifesto commitment to posthumously pardon gay and bisexual men convicted of now abolished sex offences. We are also going further and pardoning living individuals who have had their historical convictions deleted through the Home Office disregard process.
Lord Sharkey’s amendments to the Policing and Crime Bill on this issue extend to England and Wales only.
It is an established principle that the UK Parliament only legislates on devolved matters in Northern Ireland with the consent of the Northern Ireland Assembly. My officials are in preliminary discussions with the Northern Ireland Department of Justice regarding this.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of prison inspections in providing an accurate reflection of the work of prison service staff.
Answered by Andrew Selous
The Ministry of Justice welcomes the external scrutiny of the treatment of those in custody by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons. Annually, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons agrees with the Ministry of Justice the approach they intend for their inspection programmes. For each inspection completed, a report is published which includes recommendations for improvement. These reports are all in the public domain and available from the Inspectorate’s website. While the factual accuracy of information in inspection reports will be checked before publication, it is an important principle that the judgements expressed in reports are the Chief Inspector’s own, based on evidence collected by independent inspectors. After each inspection, recommendations made will inform an action plan adopted by those responsible for the management of the inspected establishment.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation claims against prison staff were made by prisoners in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Selous
NOMS defend robustly all claims brought and successfully defend two thirds of claims brought by prisoners. It is not possible accurately to separate prisoner compensation claims against prison staff from other similar claims (e.g. assaults by other prisoners).
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recent Inspectorate report of HM Prison Maghaberry.
Answered by Andrew Selous
Prisons are a devolved matter and responsibility for HMP Maghaberry lies with the Northern Ireland Department of Justice.