Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2018 on Question 126904 on Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance, how many outstanding (a) preventative and (b) reactive maintenance actions on the prisons estates (i) at each location and (ii) under each facilities management contract there were on 1 December 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Data for 1 December 2018 is not yet available. I will write to the Rt Hon Member with the information requested once the figures can be provided and will place a copy of my letter in the Library.
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 prison at HMP Styal from courts in North Wales for (a) less than and (b) more than six months between (i) January and December 2017 and (ii) each of the previous four years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is persuasive evidence that short custodial sentences do not work in terms of rehabilitation and that community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective in reducing reoffending, and therefore keeping the public safe. We will therefore be looking at what more we can do to emphasise that short custodial sentences should be viewed as a last resort.
In June we published our female offender strategy which makes clear that we want fewer women serving short sentences in custody and more remaining in the community, making use of women’s centres to address needs such as substance misuse and mental health problems.
Table 1 shows the number of women admitted into HMP Styal following sentencing at a North Wales court, by sentence length; 2013 to 2017
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the effect on people on remand of the reduction under universal credit in the period for which they can claim housing benefit from 12 to six months; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
There are no current assessments either by the Ministry of Justice or the Department for Work and Pensions.
We recognise that having somewhere stable to live on release from prison can be a critical factor in supporting rehabilitation and reducing homelessness, and this is particularly acute for short-sentenced offenders. This is why Universal Credit continues to pay housing support for up to 6 months to support those benefit recipients who are imprisoned, whether on remand and/or sentenced.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were released from prison on each Friday in the last six months.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The information requested is extracted from the most recent data available and is detailed in the table attached.
Prisoners are released when they have a statutory entitlement to be released once they have reached their automatic release date, or are released on a discretionary basis by the Parole Board, the Secretary of State or through early release on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) by prison governors.
If the automatic release date – which for the majority of prisoners is the half-way point in their sentence – falls on a weekend or Bank holiday, the law (Section 23(3) Criminal Justice Act 1961) requires the release to be brought forward to the first preceding working day. To defer the release date would mean holding the person unlawfully.
The exception is where the sentence is 5 days or less. In such cases the law provides for release to be on the Saturday if the automatic release date falls on a weekend or Bank Holiday.
We have no evidence of any statistically significant difference in reoffending outcomes for prisoners released on a Friday.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were released from prison between 18 and 22 December 2017; and how many of those people were recalled within one month of release.
Answered by Rory Stewart
791(1) people were released from prison, from determinate and indeterminate sentences, on 22 December 2017.
Of those 791, 98 were recalled within one month of their release date.
1,777(1) people were released from prison, from determinate and indeterminate sentences, between 18 December and 22 December 2017 (inclusive).
Of those 1,777, 200 were recalled within one month of their release date.
(1) The number of offenders released do not include those re-released following recall.
Public protection is our priority and recall is used to ensure that offenders on licence who present a high risk of harm to the public or are at risk of re-offending are returned to custody as quickly as possible.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were released from prison on 22 December 2017; and how many of those people were recalled within one month of release.
Answered by Rory Stewart
791(1) people were released from prison, from determinate and indeterminate sentences, on 22 December 2017.
Of those 791, 98 were recalled within one month of their release date.
1,777(1) people were released from prison, from determinate and indeterminate sentences, between 18 December and 22 December 2017 (inclusive).
Of those 1,777, 200 were recalled within one month of their release date.
(1) The number of offenders released do not include those re-released following recall.
Public protection is our priority and recall is used to ensure that offenders on licence who present a high risk of harm to the public or are at risk of re-offending are returned to custody as quickly as possible.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women with a North Wales postal address that were held at HMP Styalwere had dependent children in 2017/18 .
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
111 women who were held at HMP Styal during the 2017-18 financial year had a reported North Wales address and are recorded as having children. The data from Prison-NOMIS, the system from which this information was obtained, only records if the prisoner has children (as of today) and does not state how old the children are or if they are dependents.
Our female offender strategy set out a dedicated approach to supporting female offenders and I am determined to build on this by shifting focus away from prisons to women’s centres with a range of support services, including for substance misuse and mental health problems.
We are investing an additional £5 million over two years on community provision so that, where appropriate, women are given the support they need to address their offending and turn away from a life of crime. Work is also ongoing to improve the quality pre-sentence reports to ensure that sentencers are made aware and can take account of whether an offender is a primary carer.
Note:
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 number of prison officers diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder in relation to their work in the prison service.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Information is not available on the number of prison officers diagnosed with PTSD in relation to their work in the prison service as there is no classification for PTSD available on the centralised recording of sick absence.
HMPPS is committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff in England and Wales, with all staff having access to a comprehensive occupational health service and employee assistance programme.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the level of funding required to ensure that HMP Birmingham meets the standards set out by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The contract with G4S has not been terminated. HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has, since 20 August, exercised its right under the contract to step in and take over the running of HMP Birmingham for an initial period of six months. The contract with G4S requires them to provide sufficient resources to manage the prison effectively.
The additional cost of the step-in action, including HMPPS staff, has yet to be finalised. However, the entire cost, together with any reduction in the price for cells taken out of operational use, will be recovered in accordance with our contract with G4S.
As part of developing the action plan in response to the Urgent Notification, we continue to consider the steps necessary to respond to the concerns raised. We will also need to further consider action required when the full inspection report is received in the coming months.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the Government’s takeover of HMP Birmingham after the termination of the contractual arrangements with G4S.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The contract with G4S has not been terminated. HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has, since 20 August, exercised its right under the contract to step in and take over the running of HMP Birmingham for an initial period of six months. The contract with G4S requires them to provide sufficient resources to manage the prison effectively.
The additional cost of the step-in action, including HMPPS staff, has yet to be finalised. However, the entire cost, together with any reduction in the price for cells taken out of operational use, will be recovered in accordance with our contract with G4S.
As part of developing the action plan in response to the Urgent Notification, we continue to consider the steps necessary to respond to the concerns raised. We will also need to further consider action required when the full inspection report is received in the coming months.