Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much land his Department has released for the purpose of building new homes since May 2010.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Department is committed to disposing of surplus property assets expeditiously. Since the start of the Spending Review (SR10) the size of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) estate has reduced by over 600 properties to nearly 1,500 properties. The MoJ has already released land suitable for 1,253 housing units and in 2014/15 we are expected to release land suitable for a further 300 units. Therefore we will comfortably exceed our SR10 target of releasing land suitable for 1,262 housing units.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions the Prison Service Gold Command has been opened in each of the last 36 months; and what the nature was of each incident that caused it to be opened.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
A Gold Command Suite (GCS) is located at National Offender Management Service (NOMS) headquarters in London. It provides strategic assistance in the managing of serious prison incidents to the Governor of a prison in England and Wales.
Reason | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
Hostage | 20 | 27 | 54 |
Concerted indiscipline | 4 | 6 | 13 |
Escape | 1 | ||
Industrial Action | 1 | 4 | |
Barricade | 2 | ||
Civil Disturbances | 1 | ||
At Height | 3 | 5 | 11 |
Fire | 1 | ||
Barricade | 2 | ||
Miscellaneous | 1 | ||
Total | 32 | 43 | 81 |
Although there has been an increase in the number of times the GCS was opened, the number of callouts of Tornado staff (a mutual aid arrangement between prisons who respond to the most serious incidents that cannot be managed locally) is half of what it was in 2007. There has been no rise in the number of serious incidents being attended.
A large part of the increase in the number of times the GCS was opened was for hostage incidents. Many incidents that we manage as “hostage” we believe to be acts of collusion between the alleged perpetrator and victim(s) in attempts to have their demands met. NOMS National Tactical Response Group, which has the specialist skills required to deal with such incidents, is frequently called to attend as a precautionary measure. Many of these incidents are dealt with very quickly with minimal disruption to the prison.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his most recent estimate is of the average cost of housing an individual in (a) a probation hostel and (b) approved premises for 12 months.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
On release from custody, offenders who meet the referral criteria may be accommodated in an Approved Premises (AP). (APs were formerly known as Probation & Bail Hostels.)There are 100 APs in England & Wales, providing supervised accommodation for offenders under probation supervision. They also house a small number of defendants on bail.
Most APs are managed by probation trusts and funded out of the total grant paid to the trust by the National Offender Management Service. The AP element is not separately identified. Because of this funding arrangement, it is not possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.