Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions his Department has had with women's (a) organisations and (b) centres on the support that they can provide to women released from custody under the End of Custody Temporary Release Scheme.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The early release schemes were introduced as one element of a package of measures to create headroom to help contain the spread of coronavirus in prisons, alongside the creation of temporary accommodation and expediting of remand cases. This has enabled us to compartmentalise prisons to isolate the sick, shield the vulnerable and quarantine new arrivals. These measures have helped to contain the spread of the virus and limit deaths significantly, compared to initial estimates.
Measures were taken in April to release a number of pregnant women in custody and mothers and babies living in prison Mother and Baby Units (MBUs). These measures were discussed with those representing women’s organisations, including the regional networks co-ordinated by Clinks, the umbrella body for organisations working with offenders, Women in Prison, Birth Companions and others.
An extra-ordinary meeting of the Advisory Board for Female Offenders, which includes representation from women’s organisations and other external stakeholders, was held on 27 April 2020, and chaired by the Minister of State for Prisons and Probation.
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Women’s Team has a single point of contact within Clinks for work relating to women and with whom they have established and maintained regular contact. This has enabled local and regional contacts with third sector providers to be established at pace and their details shared with practitioners in custody and the community to ensure women have access to appropriate support and assistance upon their release.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the risk of covid-19 spreading to (a) prison staff and people serving sentences in custody and (b) people serving sentences in the community and the staff who supervise them.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMPPS is working to prevent the spread of COVID-19, based on the very latest scientific and medical advice. We are working closely with Public Health England, the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care to manage the challenges we face.
The safety and wellbeing of staff, service users and visitors to our estate is paramount and at the heart of our approach.
Prisons and probation have existing, well-developed policies and procedures in place to manage outbreaks of infectious diseases. This means they are well prepared to take immediate action whenever cases or suspected cases are identified.
Basic hygiene is a key part of tackling the virus and good practice is being promoted on posters throughout the estate. Handwashing facilities are available to all prisoners, services users, staff and visitors, and we have worked closely with suppliers to ensure adequate supply of soap and cleaning materials.
We have procedures agreed with our public health colleagues for protecting staff in the workplace but, like any member of the community, some prison and probation staff may need to self-isolate in line with public health advice, or may become infected. We are taking steps to boost staff availability and so enable us to continue to look after prisoners properly and maintain supervision of offenders in the community in the event of staff absences.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the provision of testing for covid-19 in prisons.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMPPS is working to prevent the spread of COVID-19, based on the very latest scientific and medical advice. We are working closely with Public Health England, the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care to manage the challenges we face.
The safety and wellbeing of staff, service users and visitors to our estate is paramount and at the heart of our approach.
Prisons and probation have existing, well-developed policies and procedures in place to manage outbreaks of infectious diseases. This means they are well prepared to take immediate action whenever cases or suspected cases are identified.
Basic hygiene is a key part of tackling the virus and good practice is being promoted on posters throughout the estate. Handwashing facilities are available to all prisoners, services users, staff and visitors, and we have worked closely with suppliers to ensure adequate supply of soap and cleaning materials.
We have procedures agreed with our public health colleagues for protecting staff in the workplace but, like any member of the community, some prison and probation staff may need to self-isolate in line with public health advice, or may become infected. We are taking steps to boost staff availability and so enable us to continue to look after prisoners properly and maintain supervision of offenders in the community in the event of staff absences.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many episodes were recorded of segregation of (a) women and (b) men in custody in England in each of the past three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would require each prison to obtain the information through their Separation Unit records.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to increase the length of sentences for violent offences against shop-workers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Everyone has the right to feel safe at work and assaults on shop workers are unacceptable.
There are a range of offences someone can be convicted of if they assault a shop worker. Maximum penalties for offences are set by Parliament and include five years’ custody for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and life imprisonment for the most serious cases of causing grievous bodily harm.
When making sentencing decisions the courts must follow any relevant sentencing guidelines, produced by the independent Sentencing Council. The Overarching Principles: Seriousness Guideline and Assault Guideline require the court to treat the fact that an offence was committed against those working in the public sector or providing a service to the public as an aggravating factor, making the offence more serious. The Council produced expanded explanations in 2019 which made clear that this factor “applies whether the victim is a public or private employee or acting in a voluntary capacity”. The Sentencing Council is reviewing its guidelines on assault and a consultation on a revised guideline is anticipated early this year.
On 5 April 2019 the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse towards shop staff. The aim of this work is to strengthen our understanding of the issue, including how existing legislation is being applied. The call for evidence has now closed and the Home Office are carefully analysing the responses before deciding what further action may be required. The government’s response will be published in due course. ’The National Retail Crime Steering Group will continue to provide input on tackling this issue.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the effectiveness of the sentencing, (b) the length of sentencing or (c) the effect of custodial sentencing on levels of violence against shop staff; and whether he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Everyone has the right to feel safe at work and assaults on shop workers are unacceptable.
There are a range of offences someone can be convicted of if they assault a shop worker. Maximum penalties for offences are set by Parliament and include five years’ custody for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and life imprisonment for the most serious cases of causing grievous bodily harm.
When making sentencing decisions the courts must follow any relevant sentencing guidelines, produced by the independent Sentencing Council. The Overarching Principles: Seriousness Guideline and Assault Guideline require the court to treat the fact that an offence was committed against those working in the public sector or providing a service to the public as an aggravating factor, making the offence more serious. The Council produced expanded explanations in 2019 which made clear that this factor “applies whether the victim is a public or private employee or acting in a voluntary capacity”. The Sentencing Council is reviewing its guidelines on assault and a consultation on a revised guideline is anticipated early this year.
On 5 April 2019 the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse towards shop staff. The aim of this work is to strengthen our understanding of the issue, including how existing legislation is being applied. The call for evidence has now closed and the Home Office are carefully analysing the responses before deciding what further action may be required. The government’s response will be published in due course. ’The National Retail Crime Steering Group will continue to provide input on tackling this issue.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pregnant women have been transported in prisoner transport vehicles in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A total of 1,700 pregnant women moves took place between August 2016 and September 2019. This does not necessarily equate to the number of individuals transported, as the same prisoner may have been moved more than once. Pregnant women are moved in multi-purpose vehicles as opposed to cellular vehicles in all but exceptional circumstances. A breakdown of journeys is provided in the table below.
Year | Number of female moves |
2016 (August – December) | 249 |
2017 | 640 |
2018 | 533 |
2019 (January – September) | 278 |
Below is a table showing the number of instances where both women and men have been transported in the same vehicle.
Year | Number of instances OF failure to separate females |
2017 | 81 |
2018 | 5 |
2019 YTD | 9 |
The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract is specifically designed for the movement of prisoners in cellular vehicles that meets MOJ standards. The contracts include a Contract Delivery Indicator which requires women to be separated from men for at least 97% of all journeys made. The current national performance is 99.89% of total journeys made.
Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. HMPPS will continue to closely monitor the performance of all providers and we will not hesitate to take action where standards fall short.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions women and men have been transported together in prisoner transport vehicles in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A total of 1,700 pregnant women moves took place between August 2016 and September 2019. This does not necessarily equate to the number of individuals transported, as the same prisoner may have been moved more than once. Pregnant women are moved in multi-purpose vehicles as opposed to cellular vehicles in all but exceptional circumstances. A breakdown of journeys is provided in the table below.
Year | Number of female moves |
2016 (August – December) | 249 |
2017 | 640 |
2018 | 533 |
2019 (January – September) | 278 |
Below is a table showing the number of instances where both women and men have been transported in the same vehicle.
Year | Number of instances OF failure to separate females |
2017 | 81 |
2018 | 5 |
2019 YTD | 9 |
The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract is specifically designed for the movement of prisoners in cellular vehicles that meets MOJ standards. The contracts include a Contract Delivery Indicator which requires women to be separated from men for at least 97% of all journeys made. The current national performance is 99.89% of total journeys made.
Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. HMPPS will continue to closely monitor the performance of all providers and we will not hesitate to take action where standards fall short.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to delay the start of a custodial sentence for pregnant women and new mothers until a place in a mother and baby unit has been made available to them.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Sentencing decisions are for the independent judiciary following relevant sentencing guidelines produced by the Sentencing Council.
In line with the sentencing guideline on the Imposition of Community and Custodial Sentences, the courts may choose to suspend a custodial sentence where there is strong personal mitigation or where immediate custody would result in significant harmful impact upon others. The expanded explanations produced by the Sentencing Council, which came into force on 1 October, provide further guidance on mitigation where an offender is pregnant.
Emergency Admissions Boards can be held to expedite a woman’s placement on a mother and baby unit, and there are a range of circumstances when these can be appropriate. Pregnant women receiving custodial sentences are also provided access to a number of supportive provisions reflective of that which is available in the community, including: being provided with the local NHS Pregnancy free advice line number; fortnightly multi-disciplinary Maternity Boards for all pregnant women; local mid-midwifery services; and appropriate Social Services support, including for pregnant women who refuse to engage with ante-natal services.
In recent weeks, an additional safeguard of hourly welfare observations during the night has been put in place by the Director of the Women’s Estate, for women who are post 28 weeks pregnant.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children that are EEA nationals receive services from youth offending teams.
Answered by Wendy Morton
This information is not held by MoJ or the Youth Justice Board. Although local level Youth Offending Services have the ability to collect data on children’s nationality using their case management systems, it is unknown how many actually do record this information because the Youth Justice Board do not collate data on nationality centrally. This is done to reduce the data reporting burden on frontline services.