Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners sentenced in Northern Ireland have been transferred to prisons in England and Wales in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Henley
The table below gives the number of prisoners transferred from prisons in England and Wales to Northern Ireland and from prisons in Northern Ireland to England and Wales in the last 3 calendar years.
YEAR | FROM ENGLAND AND WALES TO NORTHERN IRELAND | FROM NORTHERN IRELAND TO ENGLAND AND WALES |
2013 | 11 | 2 |
2014 | 6 | 3 |
2015 | 12 | 3 |
The transfer of prisoners between UK jurisdictions is governed by the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. Prisoners are able to apply to serve their sentences in their own jurisdiction close to home if they wish to do so. Few prisoners do so.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many offenders were transferred from prisons in England and Wales to prisons in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Henley
The table below gives the number of prisoners transferred from prisons in England and Wales to Northern Ireland and from prisons in Northern Ireland to England and Wales in the last 3 calendar years.
YEAR | FROM ENGLAND AND WALES TO NORTHERN IRELAND | FROM NORTHERN IRELAND TO ENGLAND AND WALES |
2013 | 11 | 2 |
2014 | 6 | 3 |
2015 | 12 | 3 |
The transfer of prisoners between UK jurisdictions is governed by the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. Prisoners are able to apply to serve their sentences in their own jurisdiction close to home if they wish to do so. Few prisoners do so.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the estimated (1) numeracy, and (2) literacy, rate among prisoners in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Prisons should be places of safety and reform. I am determined to make sure that we achieve better outcomes for all prisoners including in education, and I want to see much clearer accountability for prison governors for the education delivered in prison and the results prisoners achieve. Mandatory education assessments were introduced for the first time in August 2014, for all new receptions to custody in England. This shows that in the year to September 2015 fewer than half the people entering prisons had basic standards of English and maths, and around a third had identified learning difficulties or disabilities. Data prior to August 2014 is not available.
Prison education is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken over the past five years to disrupt and intercept the supply of illicit drugs into UK prisons.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Prisons in England and Wales take a zero tolerance approach to illicit drugs. We have a comprehensive range of security measures and searching techniques in place to detect drugs, and to prevent smuggling into prisons. We are about to pilot the use of body scanners to reveal drugs concealed within the body, we have introduced specific dog training to allow dogs to detect new psychoactive substances (NPS) and will introduce widespread drug testing of prisoners for NPS as part of the national mandatory drug testing programme in April 2016. We have also made it illegal to smuggle NPS into prisons. We are working with the Department of Health and others to improve our understanding of the risks NPS present for offenders and to provide appropriate information, guidance and support to offenders and those working with them in prison. Anyone caught with any drugs in prison will be severely dealt with. Punishments available include closed visits, loss of privileges and up to 42 days added to their time in custody. Where prisoners are caught with controlled drugs, we will work with the police to consider prosecution and a further sentence.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners were in open prisons in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Progression to open prisons is never automatic, and prisoners must generally be within two years of release before they can be considered for allocation. Public protection is paramount, so the only prisoners transferred to open prison are those whose risk of escape/abscond and risk of causing harm to the public are assessed as capable of being effectively managed in an open prison.
Indeterminate sentence prisoners are, with few exceptions, transferred to open conditions only following a positive recommendation by the Parole Board. The Board will make such a recommendation after a robust risk assessment, based on reports provided by offender managers, offender supervisors and, where appropriate, by psychologists, with the overriding priority being the safety of the public.
The following table shows the number of male and female prisoners held in dedicated open prisons as at the last Friday in June in each of the last five years. The data below do not include the number of male and female prisoners held in category D units in otherwise closed prisons.
Date | Population |
June 2011 | 4,808 |
June 2012 | 4,953 |
June 2013 | 4,981 |
June 2014 | 5,087 |
June 2015 | 5,020 |
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many extra days or weeks imprisonment have been given to prisoners for assaults committed on (1) fellow prisoners, and (2) prison staff, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The table attached shows the numbers of awards of additional days in prison establishments as a result of adjudications in each year since 2011, for breach of prison discipline involving violence, including the number of adjudications where awards of added days were as a result of an assault against (1) another prisoner or (2) a member of prison staff.
Violence in prison has increased in recent years. The nature of offenders currently in custody and the widespread availability of new psychoactive substances have both contributed to making prisons less safe. There is no single, simple solution to improving safety in prisons but we are making progress.
We are trialling the use of body worn cameras and training sniffer dogs to detect New Psychoactive Substances. We have made it an offence to smuggle New Psychoactive Substances into prison, but ultimately the only way to reduce violence in prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to reform and rehabilitate offenders more effectively.
Data for 2015 - 2016 is not yet available.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance is provided to magistrates and judges about when it is appropriate to apply the maximum tariff available in cases of animal cruelty.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Animal cruelty is a summary offence with a maximum penalty of a level 5 (unlimited) fine and/or 6 months’ imprisonment. The maximum penalty for any offence is set by Parliament to deal with the most serious possible cases. Guidance on sentencing for this offence is contained in the Magistrates’ Courts Sentencing Guidelines, which are published by the independent Sentencing Council.
These are the sentencing starting points from the guidelines for animal cruelty, based on a first time offender pleading not guilty:
Examples of nature of activity | Starting point Range | Range |
One impulsive act causing little or no injury; | short term neglect | Band C fine Band B fine to medium level community |
Several incidents of deliberate ill-treatment/frightening | High level community order | Medium level community order to 12 weeks custody |
Attempt to kill/torture; animal baiting/conducting or permitting cock-fighting etc.; prolonged neglect | 18 weeks custody | 12 to 26 weeks custody |
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in each of the last four years, how much was paid through legal aid to legal professionals advising asylum seekers and immigrants who had been charged with offences.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not record the immigration or asylum status at any stage of the billing or application process for criminal legal aid.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to help people protect their personal data.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Government takes the protection of personal data very seriously and is committed to making sure that the Information Commissioner has sufficient powers to ensure that organisations handle personal data appropriately and in accordance with the principles in the Data Protection Act 1998.
Over the last six months a number of steps have been taken to strengthen the Information Commissioner’s powers; including:
· Extending the Information Commissioner’s powers of compulsory audit to public sector NHS providers.
· Commencing section 56 of the Data Protection Act (DPA). This makes it a criminal offence for a person to require another person to use their subject access rights in the DPA to obtain and provide certain records as a condition of employment, or for providing a service, unless the relevant record is required by law or where it is justified in the public interest.
· Making it easier for the Information Commissioner to take action against companies that breach the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations by making nuisance calls.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the annual cost to the public purse of maintaining disused court buildings; and how many disused court buildings are currently lying empty because they have not been sold.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Court Estate Reform Programme (CERP) was introduced in 2010 to improve efficiency through the closure of poor quality and underused court buildings. The total cumulative gross benefits expected from CERP is an estimated £152m over the SR10 period. At the end of June 2014, approximately £140m had been realised through resource savings of approximately £98m and gross capital proceeds of £42m.
There are 32 closed courts currently not in use. Of these, 27 were closed between May 2010 and March 2013 as part of CERP and business as usual closures. The full year cost of maintaining these courts in 2013/14 was £942,162. A further five courts were closed since then. The cost of maintaining these courts since their closure to date has been £122,444. All closed courts are being prepared for or undergoing sale processes.
The cost of maintaining courts following closure includes costs on rent and rates, maintenance, labour costs on facilities management, fuel and utilities and other property costs. One court, Stourbridge County Court, was closed but is being used for administrative purposes.
The Department is committed to disposing of surplus property assets expeditiously and reducing holding costs. The sale of former courts is dependent on a number of factors e.g. market, potential future use, location and the fact that some are occupied in part by the police and local authorities which also make disposal difficult. We have improved efficiency through the closure of poor quality and underused court buildings.