Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the President of the Supreme Court.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
As is customary, the Lord Chancellor had an introductory meeting with the President of the Supreme Court soon after his appointment, and as is usually the case, will meet the President several times throughout the year. Departmental officials also regularly meet Supreme Court officials. |
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the guidance issued to Ministers on relations with the judiciary.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Section 3(1) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 requires that all Ministers of the Crown must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary. Paragraph 16 of the introduction and Chapter 6 of the Cabinet Manual make clear that the judiciary is independent of both the government of the day and Parliament. All ministers have access to legal advice in relation to their statutory duties, including advice where appropriate from Law Officers.
The Lord Chancellor has taken an Oath to respect the rule of law and defend the independence of the judiciary, which means that if required he will remind Ministerial colleagues of the importance of judicial independence and the rule of law. I am confident that my Ministerial colleagues understand their duties in this regard.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that access to justice is maintained after the implementation period of the Withdrawal Agreement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The ability of individuals to resolve their legal problems is vital to the rule of law and the government will continue its commitment to maintain access to justice.
The Political Declaration establishes the parameters of an ambitious, broad and flexible future partnership between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). This includes a commitment to explore options for a new agreement on family judicial cooperation. It also sets out the ambition for a future security partnership, which will provide for comprehensive, close, balanced and reciprocal law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
We have also reached agreement with the EU on how existing civil and criminal judicial cooperation cases will be brought to their conclusion in the event that we are unable to reach an agreement on a satisfactory future relationship at the end of the implementation period.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders are in prison in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland; and how many foreign national offenders are held in each prison in the UK.
Answered by Rory Stewart
As at 30 September 2018, 8,577 foreign national offenders were detained in prisons in England and 227 were held in prisons in Wales.
A breakdown of the foreign prisoner population in England and Wales by prison is available using the following link (Table 1.8):
More than 44,000 foreign national offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, and in the last financial year almost 6,000 were removed from prisons, immigration removal centres, and the community.
The number of foreign national offenders held in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for their respective governments.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how long the average custodial sentence is for people found illegally carrying a knife.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The average custodial sentence length for possession of an article with a blade or point can be found in table 3 of the document “Knife and offensive weapon sentencing quarterly: January to March 2018, main tables” at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/knife-and-offensive-weapon-sentencing-january-to-march-2018
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average age is of people given a custodial sentence for carrying a knife.
Answered by Rory Stewart
In the year ending March 2018, the average age of an offender being sent to immediate custody for possession of an article with a blade or point was 30 years old.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders are being held in prisons in Leicestershire.
Answered by Rory Stewart
As at 31 March 2018 (the latest published data), 37 Foreign National Offenders were held at HM Prison Leicester and 107 were held at HM Prison Gartree.
We are absolutely committed to removing Foreign National Offenders from the UK and continue to work closely with international governments to increase the number of prisoners deported. Since 2010, over 42,000 Foreign National Offenders have been removed from the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who received a custodial sentence in the last five years for carrying a knife had been previously cautioned.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Between 2013 and 2017 there were 17,277 offenders who received a custodial sentence on their most recent sentencing occasion for carrying a knife.
Of the 17,277, 413 had previously received a caution for carrying a knife prior to receiving a custodial sentence for carrying a knife on their latest sentencing occasion.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on prison transfer arrangements with the EU after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. More than 40,000 foreign national offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, with a record number of over 6,300 removed in 2016/17. |
A range of removal mechanisms exist which enable foreign offenders to be returned to their home countries, and we are working closely with the Department for Exiting the European Union and the Home Office as we consider our future criminal justice arrangements with the EU, with the aim of carrying on our close working relationship.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders there are in UK prisons.
Answered by Rory Stewart
As at 31 December 2017 (latest published figures) there were 9,012 foreign national prisoners held in prisons in England and Wales, with a further 328 held in the HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centre.
Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. More than 40,000 foreign national offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, and in the last financial year a record number of over 6,300 were removed.