Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training juries receive on dealing with historical sexual abuse cases; and how regularly that training is provided.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Juries are randomly selected, independent and make decisions purely on the basis of the facts presented to them by the prosecution and defence. Jury members receive no advice or training prior to being called to serve on any case. However, they are guided and supported by the trial judge who advises them on the relevant points of law and reminds them of their role. Judges hearing serious sex offence cases are required to have specialist training.
There is guidance provided to judges in the Crown Court Compendium (a publicly available document) as to what directions may be given to juries in appropriate circumstances. This includes guidance on how to advise juries in serious sexual offence cases.
https://www.judiciary.uk/publications/crown-court-compendium-published/
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his Department's policy in on the use of character witnesses during trials for (a) victims and (b) perpetrators of historical sexual abuse.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In criminal trials, including of offences of historical sexual abuse, rules of evidence do not permit the Crown to call evidence of the good character of a prosecution witness in order to bolster their credibility. The law assumes victims to be truthful and credible, and restricts the ways in which their veracity and credibility can be challenged by the defence; evidence of a victim’s good character is therefore not relevant to what is in issue, and is not admissible.
Defendants also are assumed to be of good character unless there is evidence to the contrary. Where the prosecution does rely on bad character evidence against the defendant (and there are fewer restrictions on the admissibility of evidence of a defendant’s alleged bad character than there are in relation to a witness’ bad character), then character evidence might be relevant to contradict it.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2020 to Question 4350 on Children: Restraint Techniques, when the Charlie Taylor review on restraint techniques and children will be published; and what the time table is for the publication of the Government's response to that review.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We are considering Charlie Taylor’s findings and recommendations and will shortly publish the report and the Government’s response together.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to ensure that children who have been subjected to unlawful restraint in Medway Secure Training Centre are informed of their right to seek legal advice and redress.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The safety and welfare of young people held in custody is our highest priority, and we take seriously any incident of restraint of children in the youth secure estate, including at Medway Secure Training Centre . There are already processes and mechanisms in place at Medway STC to support Children and Young People following incidents of restraint that facilitate them to seek legal advice and redress. Every incident of restraint, including those involving personal safety techniques, is reviewed by the local Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint (MMPR) co-ordinator. Any serious injury or warning sign (SIWS) is also appraised by the national team, with any issue of concern leading to a child protection referral and, potentially, the local authority and police for investigation.
Furthermore, the Independent Children’s Rights and Advocacy Services (ICRAS) at Medway Secure Training Centre is commissioned to follow and adhere to the legal frameworks of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Human Rights to promote the rights of Children and Young People (CYP). These services support CYP in helping them understand and exercise their rights throughout their time in custody.
ICRAS has local protocols in place so that the establishment notifies them as soon as possible following the first restraint incident. The child will be proactively supported by an advocate, including discussing whether the child or young person has any concerns about how or why they were restrained, and whether they wish to make a complaint or safeguarding referral.
Restraint is only ever to be used in accordance with the Secure Training Centre Rules 1998 and as a last resort, where there is a risk of harm, and no other form of intervention is possible or appropriate.
Charlie Taylor, Chair of the Youth Justice Board but acting in an independent capacity, has reviewed our policy in relation to pain-inducing techniques. The Government will respond to his review in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children categorised as restricted status have been held in (a) Feltham A and (b) Wetherby prisons in each of the last five years.
Answered by Wendy Morton
A Restricted Status prisoner is any female, young person or young adult prisoner under the age of 18, convicted or on remand, whose escape would present a serious risk to the public and who is required to be held in designated secure accommodation. Separate procedural security arrangements apply to Restricted Status prisoners.
Unlike Category A prisoners, Restricted Status prisoners do not have escape risk classifications. The designated secure accommodation and security procedures are deemed sufficient to achieve the aim of making escape impossible for these prisoners.
There have been a total of 25 Offenders categorised and held as Restricted Status in the past 5 years. Offenders are allocated between both sites;
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
HMYOI Feltham ‘A’ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
HMYOI Wetherby | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what date he (a) received and (b) plans to publish Charlie Taylor’s report on the use of pain-inducing restraint on children.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Charlie Taylor undertook to submit his findings and recommendations on the use of pain-inducing techniques in the restraint of children in the secure estate by the Summer, and I expect to receive his report shortly.
The Department will of course need to consider Charlie Taylor’s findings and recommendations carefully and we will publish both the report and the Government response as soon as we have done so.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much (a) capital and (b) revenue funding will be allocated to Oasis Charitable Trust to operate Medway secure school for the next academic year, which Government budget line that funding will come from; and what the duration of the contract will be.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Earlier this month we were delighted to announce that Oasis, which runs 52 Academies with 30,000 students across England, have been selected to operate the first secure school in Medway. They have been appointed to preopening, and we will now work with Oasis to develop the operating model for the secure school, and subject to progress, will then agree the arrangements to operate the secure school next year.
We are investing c. £5m investment to repurpose the existing site, which will include extensive refurbishment of classrooms and residential areas. The provider will be awarded an annual budget of c. £9m to operate it. Both capital and revenue costs will be funded by MOJ.
Medway Secure Training Centre will close in early 2020 so that it can be re-purposed to allow the first secure school to open.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what date he plans to close Medway secure training centre to prepare for its reopening as a secure school.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Earlier this month we were delighted to announce that Oasis, which runs 52 Academies with 30,000 students across England, have been selected to operate the first secure school in Medway. They have been appointed to preopening, and we will now work with Oasis to develop the operating model for the secure school, and subject to progress, will then agree the arrangements to operate the secure school next year.
We are investing c. £5m investment to repurpose the existing site, which will include extensive refurbishment of classrooms and residential areas. The provider will be awarded an annual budget of c. £9m to operate it. Both capital and revenue costs will be funded by MOJ.
Medway Secure Training Centre will close in early 2020 so that it can be re-purposed to allow the first secure school to open.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department collects data on the use of personal safety techniques on children in young offender institutions and secure training centres.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Youth Custody Service does collect data on the use of personal safety techniques. The reasons for using these techniques are outlined in Prison Service Instruction 30/2015 (Amendment to Use of Force Prison Service Order 1600). The department publishes data on the use of force, and Non-Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint on young people in custody. The data is published annually and can be found via the link below. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/youth-justice-statistics-2017-to-2018 The safety and welfare of young people held in custody is our highest priority. Restraint is only ever used as a last resort, where there is a risk of harm, and no other form of intervention is possible or appropriate. Every incident of restraint, including those involving personal safety techniques is reviewed individually by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) staff to consider whether any lessons can be learned for the future. Charlie Taylor has been asked to review the Department’s policy on the use of pain-inducing techniques in the restraint of children and young people in the secure estate to ensure that our approach remains appropriate for the youth estate and in line with the latest research. He is due to report back to Ministers with his findings in the coming months. |
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department collects data on the reasons for non-Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint techniques being used on children in young offender institutions and secure training centres.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Youth Custody Service does collect data on the use of personal safety techniques. The reasons for using these techniques are outlined in Prison Service Instruction 30/2015 (Amendment to Use of Force Prison Service Order 1600). The department publishes data on the use of force, and Non-Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint on young people in custody. The data is published annually and can be found via the link below. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/youth-justice-statistics-2017-to-2018 The safety and welfare of young people held in custody is our highest priority. Restraint is only ever used as a last resort, where there is a risk of harm, and no other form of intervention is possible or appropriate. Every incident of restraint, including those involving personal safety techniques is reviewed individually by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) staff to consider whether any lessons can be learned for the future. Charlie Taylor has been asked to review the Department’s policy on the use of pain-inducing techniques in the restraint of children and young people in the secure estate to ensure that our approach remains appropriate for the youth estate and in line with the latest research. He is due to report back to Ministers with his findings in the coming months. |