Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that families whose loved ones are murdered abroad have access to criminal injuries compensation.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring effective support to families bereaved by murder and manslaughter. To ensure that these families are appropriately supported, whether the homicide takes place at home or abroad, we have provided up to £3.4m per annum in funding to deliver the Homicide Service.
Families bereaved by violent crime can access the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme where the crime was committed in Great Britain, or the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme where the crime was a terrorist attack committed overseas. Further, where the crime was committed in an EU member state, it may be possible for families to access any compensation scheme that the member state has under the EU Compensation Directive or the Council of Europe Convention on Compensation for Victims of Violent Crime.
A review of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is underway, looking at its scope, and eligibility rules and requirements. The recommendations of the Victims’ Commissioner in her report on the entitlements and experiences of bereaved families following homicide abroad will be considered carefully as part of this review.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress he has made on plans for probation reform.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
In May, we announced plans to strengthen probation by ending Community Rehabilitation Company contracts early and streamlining responsibilities for public, private and voluntary sector partners.
This means the National Probation Service taking on supervision of all offenders, the private sector continuing to drive innovation in interventions, and greater voluntary sector involvement in rehabilitation.
In July we published a Draft Operating Blueprint setting out further detail on our plans. We are continuing to test and refine the design for the future model with partners and stakeholders as plans for the transition take shape. In Wales we are proceeding with plans to move the responsibility for supervision of all offenders into the NPS by the end of 2019. Our experience there will help inform the approach to transition in England.
We continue to drive improvements in service delivery under existing arrangements, including investing £22m per year to support an additional 500 CRC staff in prisons delivering sustained support for offenders to find accommodation and employment on release.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle legal advice deserts.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
People across England and Wales should be able to access the right legal support in the right way for them and in February the government set out a range of proposals in the Legal Support Action Plan to ensure this remains the case. The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear.
Wherever you are in England and Wales legal advice remains available through the Civil Legal Advice telephone line. Additionally, we are investing up to £5m to fund innovative new services, and we have recently published a consultation outlining new proposals for the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme ensuring the sustainability of this vital service for anyone at risk of losing their home
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of violence in prisons.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government publishes quarterly statistics on violence in prison, and a more detailed annual breakdown, and both are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2019. The relevant link is ‘Assaults in prison custody 2000 to 2018’ and the information can be found in table 3.1: Prison assaults summary statistics by calendar year, England and Wales, 2000-2018.
There are clear challenges at many of our prisons, with levels of violence unacceptably high.
That’s why we are investing £100m to bolster security and stability in prisons, in addition to £70 million announced previously. This will fund tough airport-style security, including X-ray scanners and metal detectors to clamp down on the drugs, weapons and mobile phones that increase the risk to our officers and hinder rehabilitation.
It will take time for improvements to be seen across the estate but we remain determined to make progress and will continue to prioritise this important work.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the merits of reducing the retirement age for prisons officers.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
There has been no assessment undertaken on the merits of reducing the retirement age for prison officers. The retirement age within the Civil Service Pension Scheme (which Prison Officers are members of) is set by Cabinet Office and not the service.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number of violent incidents against prison officers in prisons in each of last five years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government publishes quarterly statistics on violence in prison, and a more detailed annual breakdown, and both are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2019. The relevant link is ‘Assaults in prison custody 2000 to 2018’ and the information can be found in table 3.1: Prison assaults summary statistics by calendar year, England and Wales, 2000-2018.
There are clear challenges at many of our prisons, with levels of violence unacceptably high.
That’s why we are investing £100m to bolster security and stability in prisons, in addition to £70 million announced previously. This will fund tough airport-style security, including X-ray scanners and metal detectors to clamp down on the drugs, weapons and mobile phones that increase the risk to our officers and hinder rehabilitation.
It will take time for improvements to be seen across the estate but we remain determined to make progress and will continue to prioritise this important work.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress has been made on the review of hate crime legislation in England and Wales.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Law Commission were invited to review the law on hate crime and to make recommendations for its reform. The review began in March 2019 and will also consider which characteristics (for example gender, age, disability) deserve enhanced protection by the criminal law and on what basis.
The Law Commission plan to issue a consultation on this matter in early 2020. Further information on the review can be found on the Law Commission webpage at: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/hate-crime/
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the system for collating statistics on extremist behaviours in prisons.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Extremist behaviours in prison are identified and monitored through a robust case management process reviewing Terrorism Act (TACT) and TACT-related prisoners throughout their sentence. Information and statistics relating to extremist behaviours are routinely collected at local, regional and national levels. Related statistics for persons in custody and released from custody are routinely provide as part of Home Office Official Counter Terrorism statistics, published quarterly as statistical bulletins [see link below]. These statistics present details regarding the number of persons in custody for terrorism-related offences in Great Britain, including details of ethnicity, nationality, ideology and religion.
The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/counter-terrorism-statistics
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the average waiting time for an appeal for universal credit by a tribunal for people with a disability in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Waiting times for appeals against decisions made about Universal Credit (UC) are published at:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
The specific information requested is not held: Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service does not record whether UC appeals have been made by people with a disability.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will introduce targets for the waiting time for a universal credit appeal case to be heard by a tribunal.
Answered by Paul Maynard
We do not have targets for waiting times. The listing of appeals, including consideration of whether a hearing should be expedited, is a judicial function.
Nevertheless, MoJ are working to reduce waiting times for appeals by increasing judicial resource. This includes recruiting up to 250 judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members and up to 230 medical members. Once this is completed we expect more cases to be listed, improving the throughput in the Tribunal.