Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Justice, what processes his Department has put in place to ensure that children that are EEA nationals who come into contact with the criminal justice system can be identified for the purposes of providing advice and support.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Youth Offending Services (YOS) were established in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which introduced a statutory duty for all local authorities to establish a multi-agency team, with members from police, social services, probation and education, to deliver youth justice services. YOS have a statutory duty to:
All children who come into contact with the YOS (including EEA nationals) will have their individual circumstances and needs assessed and will receive interventions and support accordingly.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training his Department provides to prison officers on Rule 39 in relation to private legal post.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) provides training for staff tailored to their specific role in relation to the handling of prisoner communications including Rule 39. Operational support grades who handle mail as part of their core tasks receive appropriate training. Prison officers are trained on some aspects of handling legal documents, such as during cell searches and as part of their initial Prison Officer Entry Level training course. Electronic learning is available for staff engaged in interception and monitoring of prisoners’ communications.
In addition, policy and guidance for staff on Rule 39 is set out in Prison Service Instructions (PSIs) on Prisoner Communication Services (PSI 49/2011) and The Interception of Communications in Prisons and Security Measures (PSI 04/2016), and further guidance to support the operation of these policies was issued to Governors earlier this month.
To confirm the number of complaints received by each prison about Rule 39 over the last 3 years, a search of each prison’s complaints log would be required. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, processes are in place for complaints to be raised, and addressed, locally and can be escalated to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, where appropriate. A new Prisoner Complaints Policy Framework will be implemented on 1 August 2019, shaped by feedback received from staff, prisoners and stakeholders during extensive consultation in 2018. This supports staff to resolve prisoners’ issues fairly and effectively at an early stage and implement relevant Lammy review recommendations.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints have been made in the last three years in relation the breach of Rule 39; and what steps his Department has taken to resolve those complaints.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) provides training for staff tailored to their specific role in relation to the handling of prisoner communications including Rule 39. Operational support grades who handle mail as part of their core tasks receive appropriate training. Prison officers are trained on some aspects of handling legal documents, such as during cell searches and as part of their initial Prison Officer Entry Level training course. Electronic learning is available for staff engaged in interception and monitoring of prisoners’ communications.
In addition, policy and guidance for staff on Rule 39 is set out in Prison Service Instructions (PSIs) on Prisoner Communication Services (PSI 49/2011) and The Interception of Communications in Prisons and Security Measures (PSI 04/2016), and further guidance to support the operation of these policies was issued to Governors earlier this month.
To confirm the number of complaints received by each prison about Rule 39 over the last 3 years, a search of each prison’s complaints log would be required. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, processes are in place for complaints to be raised, and addressed, locally and can be escalated to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, where appropriate. A new Prisoner Complaints Policy Framework will be implemented on 1 August 2019, shaped by feedback received from staff, prisoners and stakeholders during extensive consultation in 2018. This supports staff to resolve prisoners’ issues fairly and effectively at an early stage and implement relevant Lammy review recommendations.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2019 to Question 264316 on Television: Licensing, how many (a) men and (b) women were given a prison sentence for failure to pay fines imposed for non-payment of the BBC licence fee in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The requested information can be viewed in the attached table.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 July 2019 to Question 273385 on Offenders: Electronic Tagging, when he plans to publish the quantitative process evaluation of the GPS Pilot.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The quantitative process evaluation of the GPS location monitoring Pilot was published alongside a speech on sentencing by my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Justice on Thursday 18 July. The evaluation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/process-evaluation-of-the-global-positioning-system-electronic-monitoring-pilot-quantitative-findings The Secretary of State also announced in his speech on 18 July that we are planning to roll out a variation of location monitoring to children. |
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Government report entitled Process evaluation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) Electronic Monitoring Pilot: Qualitative findings, published 16 February 2019 whether the research in that report covers both male and female offenders.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Process evaluation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) Electronic Monitoring Pilot: Qualitative findings included both male and female offenders and defendants. A forthcoming quantitative process evaluation of the GPS Pilot will contain analysis of Management Information gathered over the course of the pilot, including by gender. During the pilot, there were 586 tagging instances involving 20 female wearers and 566 male wearers.
Location monitoring can robustly monitor male and female offenders and defendants in the community, and provide an effective alternative to custody. If used as an alternative to custody the tags can be particularly effective in mitigating the disruptive impact of imprisonment on women with children. This is emphasised in our guidance to stakeholders.
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 has taken to (a) disseminate and (b) monitor the implementation of the police guidance entitled Managing vulnerability: women, fact pack.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In June 2018, the Government published its Female Offender Strategy which set out the vision to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system, a greater proportion managed successfully in the community, and better conditions for those in custody. To support these aims, the Government, together with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), also published guidance for the police on working with vulnerable women.
The NPCC shared the police guidance with chief officers, for dissemination within their forces and the APCC have circulated the guidance to all Police and Crime Commissioners. The MoJ will work with the APCC and NPCC to evaluate the impact of the guidance and consider any next steps.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of progress in reducing the women’s prison population since June 2018 publication of the Female Offender Strategy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In the Female Offender Strategy, we set out our vision to see fewer women in custody, particularly on short custodial sentences and to see more women supported in the community. The strategy launched an ambitious programme of work which will take several years to deliver. So far, we have published a new Women’s Policy Framework, Lord Farmer’s Review for Women and invested £5m to support community provision for female offenders and women at risk of offending
We are committed to monitoring progress over time and taking action to deliver the outcomes we set out to achieve. The latest published statistics show that the total female prison population increased slightly (by 1%) between March 2018 and 2019, but that female first receptions have decreased by 10% over the past year, (from 2,036 between October and December 2017 to 1,840 over the same period in 2018).
The published data setting out the current and previous female prison population can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/796904/population-31-march-2019.ods
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents have there been of pregnant women being transported in cellular vehicles since the introduction of the Women’s Policy Framework in December 2018.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract is specifically designed for the movement of prisoners in cellular vehicles that meets MOJ standards.
A total of 191 pregnant women have been transported since December 2018, with 1 being moved by a cellular vehicle because she did not declare her pregnancy before the move.
Below is a table showing the number of instances when both women and men have been transported in the same vehicle. PECS 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 99.93% of total journeys made.
Year | Number of instances OF failure to separate females |
2014 | 297 |
2015 | 226 |
2016 | 262 |
2017 | 81 |
2018 | 5 |
2019 YTD | 5 |
Contracts also include a requirement that individuals should not remain on a cellular, or any other vehicle, overnight and there have been no instances where women have been held in such circumstances.
Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. We will continue to closely 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, how many instances there have been of women being transported to prison in the same prison transport vehicle as men in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract is specifically designed for the movement of prisoners in cellular vehicles that meets MOJ standards.
A total of 191 pregnant women have been transported since December 2018, with 1 being moved by a cellular vehicle because she did not declare her pregnancy before the move.
Below is a table showing the number of instances when both women and men have been transported in the same vehicle. PECS 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 99.93% of total journeys made.
Year | Number of instances OF failure to separate females |
2014 | 297 |
2015 | 226 |
2016 | 262 |
2017 | 81 |
2018 | 5 |
2019 YTD | 5 |
Contracts also include a requirement that individuals should not remain on a cellular, or any other vehicle, overnight and there have been no instances where women have been held in such circumstances.
Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. We will continue to closely the performance of all providers and we will not hesitate to take action where
standards fall short.