Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to support the police and prison services in informing and reassuring the public in a timely manner during escape incidents.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
NOMS works closely with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to ensure escaped prisoners are arrested, returned to custody as soon as possible and prosecuted. Following an escape the police are notified immediately and will lead the investigation. Victims of the offence committed by the escaped prisoner who are registered with the Victim Support Service will be notified of the escape and the police may choose to publicise the details of the prisoners if this is beneficial to their investigation.
NOMS takes public protection and escapes from prison extremely seriously and an immediate investigation will be undertaken by NOMS following an escape and lessons learnt passed to all prisons.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoner escapes there were in (a) England and (b) Cumbria in each of the last six years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The number of escapes for each prison in England and Wales is published annually on gov.uk.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many full-time prison officers were employed in (a) England, (b) Cumbria and (c) Copeland constituency in each of the last six years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Information on the full time equivalent staff in post in in HMP Haverigg, the only prison in Cumbria, is contained in the table below. Information on the number of prison officers in England is published regularly on gov.uk.
Full Time Equivalent Band 3-5 Prison Officers in Post at HMP Haverigg - 31 March 2011 to 2016
Date | Haverigg |
31/03/2011 | 134 |
31/03/2012 | 131 |
31/03/2013 | 113 |
31/03/2014 | 103 |
31/03/2015 | 111 |
31/03/2016 | 130 |
Safe prisons are fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system. Our dedicated prison officers, who support tens of thousands of prisoners every day, are vital to the safe running of our prisons. We have recruited 2,900 staff over the last 12 months and are taking significant action to make sure we have appropriate staffing levels. As the Justice Secretary announced today, we will be investing in an additional 2,500 prison officers across the prison estate.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to ensure that West Cumbria Magistrates' Court is not closed.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
On 11 February 2016 I announced the outcome of the consultation on the provision of court and tribunal estate in England and Wales. West Cumbria Magistrates’ Court and County Court has been retained.
The consultation response is available online at www.gov.uk/moj.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people living in Copeland Borough who will be able to travel to (a) a magistrates' court and (b) a family court by public transport in under 60 minutes if the proposed closure of West Cumbria Court goes ahead.
Answered by Mike Penning
No decision on the future of courts in West Cumbria will be made until every response to the current consultation has been carefully considered. Access to justice is not just about proximity to a court. To ensure that access to justice is maintained, we are committed to providing alternative ways for users to access our services, including the use of other civic buildings.
As the consultation states, the utilisation of West Cumbria Magistrates’ Court and County Court during 2014/15 was low at approximately 42% of its capacity. West Cumbria also has a worse standard of facilities for court users than other courts in the region.
Population from Copeland Borough that can get to court by public transport in less than 60 minutes. | ||
Before closure | After closure | |
a) Magistrates’ court | 28% | 9% |
b) Family court | 28% | 9% |
These figures are estimates based on the share of the population of Copeland Borough who are able to travel to the nearest alternative court of the same jurisdiction. Estimates of travel times are based on 2014 data from the Department of Transport journey planner database.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which of the articles contained in the European Convention on Human Rights his Department plans to omit in a future British Bill of Rights.
Answered by Dominic Raab
This Government will fully consult on our proposals this session before introducing legislation for a Bill of Rights. Further details will be announced this Autum.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on morale amongst staff of recent reforms to the Probation Service.
Answered by Andrew Selous
We recognise that this has been a time of great change for probation staff and we have worked hard to ensure the probation workforce is effectively engaged and morale maintained. Staff in the National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) were provided with significant support both during and after the transition to the new probation structures. CRCs are now responsible for the welfare of the staff they employ, and we are monitoring the system closely through a robust contract management process, to ensure that performance levels are maintained.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for legal aid have been made in (a) Copeland and (b) Cumbria in each of the last 10 years; and how many such applications have been successful.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The following tables show the total volume of Legal Aid applications submitted per financial year in (a) Copeland and (b) Cumbria, and how many of such applications were granted.
Prior to the reforms introduced by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, the annual cost of legal aid to the taxpayer was £2bn, which made our system one of the most expensive in the world.
Even after reform it will still be very generous, but finite resources will be properly targeted at the cases that need it most.
Applications made and granted for criminal legal aid in Copeland, 2006-07 to 2014-15 | |||||||||||
Number of applications and grants for legal aid funding for cases heard at the Magistrates' courts and Crown courts for the local authority area of Copeland, 2006-07 to 2014-15. | |||||||||||
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Financial Year | Magistrates' Court | Crown Court1 |
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Volume of applications | Volume of grants | Volume of applications | Volume of grants |
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2006-07 | 498 | 452 |
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2007-08 | 1,386 | 1,326 |
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2008-09 | 1,327 | 1,261 |
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2009-10 | 992 | 953 |
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2010-11 | 878 | 825 |
| 171 | 170 |
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2011-12 | 602 | 555 |
| 147 | 146 |
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2012-13 | 468 | 439 |
| 155 | 153 |
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2013-14 | 412 | 360 |
| 213 | 212 |
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2014-15 | 287 | 263 |
| 105 | 105 |
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1Crown court means testing did not begin until 2010 so no records are available before then |
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Applications made and granted for criminal legal aid in Cumbria, 2006-07 to 2014-15 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of applications and grants for legal aid funding for cases heard at the Magistrates' courts and Crown courts for the procurement region of Cumbria, 2006-07 to 2014-15. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Financial Year | Magistrates' Court | Crown Court1 |
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Volume of applications | Volume of grants | Volume of applications | Volume of grants |
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2006-07 | 2,210 | 1,928 |
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2007-08 | 5,318 | 4,943 |
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2008-09 | 5,269 | 4,867 |
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2009-10 | 4,702 | 4,365 |
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2010-11 | 3,754 | 3,391 |
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2011-12 | 3,594 | 3,227 |
| 1,080 | 1,073 |
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2012-13 | 3,006 | 2,732 |
| 969 | 960 |
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2013-14 | 2,626 | 2,321 |
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2014-15 | 2,615 | 2,353 |
| 1,169 | 1,160 |
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1Crown court means testing did not begin until 2010 so no records are available before then |
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Civil representation applications received and granted, 2006-07 to 2014-15. Volume of applications received and subsequently granted for full licensed civil representation in the Cumbria procurement area and Copeland local authority area, 2006-07 to 2014-15.
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Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will introduce sentencing guidelines to stop taxis and private hire vehicles from refusing to carry guide dogs.
Answered by Andrew Selous
It is an offence under section 168 of the Equalities Act 2010 to refuse to take an assistance dog in a taxi or private hire vehicle. The maximum penalty is a level 3 fine (up to £1,000)
Sentencing guidelines are a matter for the independent Sentencing Council. Guidelines are available on their website. Guidelines are not available for all offences, but there are general guidelines covering the assessment of seriousness, and magistrates’ guidelines about what to consider when determining the fine in individual cases, taking account of the seriousness of the offence and the means of the offender.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many police cautions were issued in Copeland constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Green
I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Ministry of Justice
Simple cautions (previously police cautions) are a non-statutory disposal available to the police to dispose of any offence committed by an adult designed for dealing with low level, mainly first time offending. The Ministry of Justice issues guidance on the process to be followed by the police and the CPS when they are administering simple cautions for adult offenders
The Government is clear that serious offences should always be brought to court, and to ensure that there is increased public confidence in the justice system, last year announced changes to stop the use of cautions for indictable only offences and certain serious either way offences unless there are exceptional circumstances and a senior police officer, as well as the CPS for certain cases, has agreed that a caution should be administered.
The MOJ guidance on Adult Simple Cautions was amended in November last year to reflect these changes, and we are legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to place statutory restrictions around their use.
Information on cautions is not held by parliamentary constituency. This information may be on the police record, which can only be obtained at disproportionate cost