Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women were sent to immediate custody from the (a) Crown Court and (b) Magistrates' Courts for sentences of (i) less than and (ii) more than six months for each offence classification in each police force area in England and Wales in 2018-19.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of female offenders sentenced to custody by court level and police force area, including North Wales, in 2017, can be found in the Court outcomes by Police Force Area data tool, which can be found at the below link:-
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2017
Select the drop down boxes referring to custodial sentence length in order to establish sentence lengths. Select female from the sex drop box and, once having done this, young adults and adults to establish women. Offence classification can be found in both the Offence Type and Offence group boxes, depending on which specific definition applies here.
The number of female offenders with no previous convictions sentenced to immediate custody by court type, sentence length, and offence type in England and Wales in 2017 can be found in the attached table.
Court proceedings data for 2018 are planned for publication on 16 May 2019, with data for 2019 planned for publication in May 2020.
Our vision, as set out in our Female Offender Strategy, is to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system and a greater proportion managed successfully in the community.
There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 involved around 350,000 sentencing occasions over 4 years and used 130 different variables to construct matched groups of offenders and examine the effect of short sentences relative to community sentences. This study found a reduction of around 3 percentage points in proven reoffences if offenders receiving sentences of less than 12 months were to get a community order instead. This is statistically significant and equates to around 30,000 proven reoffences in total over a one-year period. This means fewer victims of crime.
Unless we tackle the underlying causes of offending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. Effective community orders can address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, and provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women with no previous convictions were sent to immediate custody from the (a) the Crown Court and (b) Magistrates' Courts for sentences of (i) below 6 months and (ii) 6 months and above in each police force area in England and Wales in 2018-19; and what the offence classification was in each of those cases.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of female offenders sentenced to custody by court level and police force area, including North Wales, in 2017, can be found in the Court outcomes by Police Force Area data tool, which can be found at the below link:-
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2017
Select the drop down boxes referring to custodial sentence length in order to establish sentence lengths. Select female from the sex drop box and, once having done this, young adults and adults to establish women. Offence classification can be found in both the Offence Type and Offence group boxes, depending on which specific definition applies here.
The number of female offenders with no previous convictions sentenced to immediate custody by court type, sentence length, and offence type in England and Wales in 2017 can be found in the attached table.
Court proceedings data for 2018 are planned for publication on 16 May 2019, with data for 2019 planned for publication in May 2020.
Our vision, as set out in our Female Offender Strategy, is to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system and a greater proportion managed successfully in the community.
There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 involved around 350,000 sentencing occasions over 4 years and used 130 different variables to construct matched groups of offenders and examine the effect of short sentences relative to community sentences. This study found a reduction of around 3 percentage points in proven reoffences if offenders receiving sentences of less than 12 months were to get a community order instead. This is statistically significant and equates to around 30,000 proven reoffences in total over a one-year period. This means fewer victims of crime.
Unless we tackle the underlying causes of offending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. Effective community orders can address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, and provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women in the North Wales police force area received an immediate custodial sentence of (a) less than and (b) more than six months for each category of offence from the (i) Crown Courts and (ii) Magistrates Courts in 2018-19.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of female offenders sentenced to custody by court level and police force area, including North Wales, in 2017, can be found in the Court outcomes by Police Force Area data tool, which can be found at the below link:-
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2017
Select the drop down boxes referring to custodial sentence length in order to establish sentence lengths. Select female from the sex drop box and, once having done this, young adults and adults to establish women. Offence classification can be found in both the Offence Type and Offence group boxes, depending on which specific definition applies here.
The number of female offenders with no previous convictions sentenced to immediate custody by court type, sentence length, and offence type in England and Wales in 2017 can be found in the attached table.
Court proceedings data for 2018 are planned for publication on 16 May 2019, with data for 2019 planned for publication in May 2020.
Our vision, as set out in our Female Offender Strategy, is to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system and a greater proportion managed successfully in the community.
There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 involved around 350,000 sentencing occasions over 4 years and used 130 different variables to construct matched groups of offenders and examine the effect of short sentences relative to community sentences. This study found a reduction of around 3 percentage points in proven reoffences if offenders receiving sentences of less than 12 months were to get a community order instead. This is statistically significant and equates to around 30,000 proven reoffences in total over a one-year period. This means fewer victims of crime.
Unless we tackle the underlying causes of offending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. Effective community orders can address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, and provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether time spent in court cells as a disposal to a conviction in lieu of a fine is categorised as a custodial sentence for the purposes of determining that the conviction cannot be filtered from a standard or enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Police Act 1997 sets out the circumstances for the disclosure of certain convictions and cautions on a standard or enhanced criminal record certificate issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). In particular, the Act provides for the disclosure of any conviction receiving a custodial sentence. The DBS relies on information recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC) that determines whether a conviction should be disclosed under the Act.
Time spent in court cells as a disposal to a conviction in lieu of a fine is not categorised as a custodial sentence. The sentence is treated as a fine and any time spent in custody is a committal in default of payment of the fine.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Community Rehabilitation Companies in delivering resettlement plans.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The latest performance statistics can be found in the ‘Community Performance Quarterly Management Information Release: update to September 2018’ on Gov.uk at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-update-to-september-2018
These figures show that CRC performance against target for completion of resettlement plans was at 95.5% for this period.
The Government has acted decisively in response to issues with CRC performance by bringing forward the end of CRC contracts and consulting on a range of proposals to better integrate probation provision. The contract changes we agreed with CRCs last year include £22m per year in additional funding for Through The Gate services, which will mean approximately 500 more staff working with offenders in prison after April 2019.
We have launched a consultation on proposals to introduce more effective future delivery arrangements. We want to learn from what has worked well and what hasn’t and better integrate public, private and third sector providers in future arrangements. Our changes will put in place a more stable and resilient probation system, which works effectively to protect the public and tackle reoffending.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been assessed by Community Rehabilitation Companies and National Probation Services for a resettlement plan in the 12 weeks prior to release from prison in each of the last three years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The Department regularly publishes data showing the percentage of offenders who have had a resettlement plan written by Community Rehabilitation Companies (SLM013). The latest release can be found via the following link;
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-update-to-september-2018
It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe, stable and secure to live. Overcoming the many barriers offenders face to securing suitable accommodation is something that Ministry of Justice cannot do in isolation.
The Secretary of State for Justice and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government are both members of the cross-Government Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Taskforce and the Reducing Reoffending Board. Homelessness of ex-offenders is a key issue that is discussed at these meetings.
Through this work, we are investing up to £6.4m in a joint pilot scheme to support individuals released from three prisons, namely Bristol, Leeds and Pentonville. We have now launched our Invitation to Tender, to secure suppliers in the three pilot areas. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.