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 Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department of 22 March 2019, Official Report, column 1404, how much of the £100 million in funding will be allocated to the police, by each police force.
Answered by Nick Hurd
On 13 March the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £100 million of funding for serious violence in 2019/20 to help the police’s immediate response to the rise in serious knife crime, and also to support investment in Violence Reduction Units. It is important that we recognise that greater law enforcement on its own will not reduce serious violence and that we must continue to focus on prevention.
The majority of the investment will go towards supporting police forces where violent crime is impacting the most, to take immediate action to suppress the violence we are seeing, to make our streets safer. We are engaging with partners including the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and we are developing the criteria by which forces will receive this funding.
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.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many former prisoners who have had support via the resettlement plan were (a) sleeping rough, (b) other homeless and (c) in unsettled accommodation after (i) four, (ii) 12 and (iii) 26 weeks in each year since introduction of Community Rehabilitation Companies.
Answered by Rory Stewart
This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans are in place to support local authorities to work closely with Community Rehabilitation Companies and the National Probation Service in identifying homeless ex-offenders.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) are required to facilitate access to housing for the offenders that they are managing. This includes working together with local partners to help offenders find and maintain accommodation as part of a package of support tailored to meet their individual needs.
We know that Through The Gate provision is not currently meeting the standard we require. That is why we are investing an additional £22m per annum over the remaining life of the CRC contracts to ensure that CRCs deliver an enhanced Through The Gate service to offenders leaving prison. This investment will support approximately 500 additional CRC staff to deliver Through The Gate in prisons. Alongside this investment there will be a new specification, to be introduced shortly, which will ensure that CRCs complete specific tasks, including to help every prisoner to secure and maintain settled accommodation.
We are also investing £6m as part of the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy in pilot schemes bringing together prisons, local authorities, probation providers and others to plan, secure and sustain accommodation for offenders on release.
We regularly publish the performance of CRCs, including measures showing the percentage of offenders who have settled accommodation on release from custody. The latest information can be found in the ‘Community Performance Quarterly Management Information Release: update to June 2018’ on Gov.uk at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-june-2018
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any targets are in place for Community Rehabilitation Companies and the National Probation Service to reduce the number of ex-offenders that are homeless.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) are required to facilitate access to housing for the offenders that they are managing. This includes working together with local partners to help offenders find and maintain accommodation as part of a package of support tailored to meet their individual needs.
We know that Through The Gate provision is not currently meeting the standard we require. That is why we are investing an additional £22m per annum over the remaining life of the CRC contracts to ensure that CRCs deliver an enhanced Through The Gate service to offenders leaving prison. This investment will support approximately 500 additional CRC staff to deliver Through The Gate in prisons. Alongside this investment there will be a new specification, to be introduced shortly, which will ensure that CRCs complete specific tasks, including to help every prisoner to secure and maintain settled accommodation.
We are also investing £6m as part of the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy in pilot schemes bringing together prisons, local authorities, probation providers and others to plan, secure and sustain accommodation for offenders on release.
We regularly publish the performance of CRCs, including measures showing the percentage of offenders who have settled accommodation on release from custody. The latest information can be found in the ‘Community Performance Quarterly Management Information Release: update to June 2018’ on Gov.uk at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-june-2018
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) released from each prison and (b) recorded as homeless on release from each prison in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The exact information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost, but we have closely related data, detailed below.
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. Published statistics for 2017/18 showing the accommodation status for all offenders can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-march-2018
Published statistics on releases by prison can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
As part of the Government initiative to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping across England, we are investing up to £6.4 million over two years in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. The pilots will focus on male prisoners who have served shorter sentences, who have been identified as having a risk of homelessness. We have 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.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many meetings he has held with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss homelessness of ex-offenders.
Answered by Rory Stewart
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.