Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the announcement of 23 January 2021 on Extra funding for organisations that steer women away from crime, how many of the 500 new prison places in women's prisons have been built to date; and which prisons they have been built in.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The expansion of the women’s prison estate to deliver new trauma-informed and gender specific facilities is still at a relatively early feasibility planning stage. The initial site list under consideration is: HMP Drake Hall, HMP Eastwood Park, HMP Foston Hall, HMP Send and HMP Styal. All proposed sites are existing women’s prisons. The exact numbers and mix of new open and closed facilities are being finalised. This is a huge opportunity to shift the landscape of the estate by creating more open places which are needed.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women entered prison between June 2020 and June 2021 to serve a sentence of (a) less than one month, (b) 2 to 3 months, (c) 4 to 6 months, (d) 7 to 12 months, (e) 13 to 24 months and (f) over 24 months.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The information requested is provided in the attached table.
Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary. The Female Offender Strategy set out the Government’s vision of fewer women offending and reoffending; fewer women in custody, especially on short-term sentences, with a greater proportion of women managed in the community successfully; and where prison is necessary, better conditions for those in custody.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what need was identified for the 2,000 additional temporary prison places announced in the Budget and Spending Review 2021; where those additional temporary places will be located; and what plans her Department has to set a future timeframe for their decommissioning.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The National statistics overview: Prison population projections: 2021 to 2026 are used to plan changes across the prison estate to respond to changes to the demand for prison places. Detailed plans, including the locations and future decommissioning, of the 2000 prison places funded through Spending Review 2021 are currently being drawn up. Work underway includes site feasibility studies, this will influence the location of these places.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly statistics, Probation Officer Recruitment Annex, September 2021, published on 18 November 2021, what steps he is taking to reduce probation officer vacancy rates in (a) Kent, Surrey and Sussex, (b) South West, (c) London, (d) East Midlands and (e) other probation service regions.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In April 2021 we published the first national Recruitment and Retention Strategy for the Probation Service which identified several key areas of focus.
The Probation Service is committed to increasing recruitment to fill Probation Officer vacancies, particularly in areas with significant local employment market challenges.
In 2020/21, we recruited a record 1,007 trainee probation officers. We are further increasing our recruitment to unprecedented levels, with a target 1500 trainee Probation Officers being recruited this financial year (2021/2022).
As outlined in the Recruitment and Retention Strategy, our focus is addressing recruitment and retention challenges within the Probation Service, particularly for those Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) with the highest average Probation Officer vacancy rates over a 12-month period.
We have identified 6 common drivers of attrition across those regions where it is more challenging to recruit and retain probation officers. These drivers include:
o Pay and benefits
o Newly Qualified Officers’ (NQO) attrition
o High caseloads
o Lack of career progression
o Wellbeing
o Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination
Work is currently underway to address all drivers of attrition, including options to retain NQOs in their qualifying regions for a period post qualification and a targeted recruitment campaign to reduce probation officer vacancy rates in Kent, Surrey & Sussex (KSS), in an effort to fill 35 probation officer vacancies.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly statistics, Probation Officer Recruitment Annex, September 2021, published on 18 November 2021, what assessment he has made of the impact on (a) probation officer workloads, (b) public protection and (c) rehabilitation of the probation officer vacancy rates in (i) Kent, Surrey and Sussex, (ii) South West, (iii) London, (iv) East Midlands and (v) other probation service regions.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
There is not a process by which formal assessment is made of the published data that is referenced, rather the issues highlighted are monitored on an ongoing basis through operational management and plans around recruitment and retention.
The workload of Probation Officers is monitored through the Workload Measurement Tool (WMT) which considers the workloads of case holding Probation Practitioners. This reflects the current levels of staffing on an ongoing basis. The output of this is considered at both the operational and strategic level to support decision making. This tool prioritises public protection in how it operates affording the most time to cases with high levels of risk and need.
In response to known pressures in staffing across the country and in the identified areas, in 2020/21, we recruited a record 1,007 trainee probation officers. We are further increasing our recruitment to unprecedented levels, with a target 1,500 trainee Probation Officers being recruited this financial year (2021/2022).
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Review of Unpaid Work under the Target Operating Model for the reunified national probation service will (a) commence and (b) complete.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The unified Probation Service assumed responsibility for the delivery of Community Payback in June 2021, providing significant opportunities for reform. The Target Operating Model outlines our ambition for Community Payback, including initiatives to improve delivery, increase placement quality and better meet the needs of offenders.
As part of these reforms, the Government is relaunching Community Payback to ensure offenders are visibly and publicly making reparations for their crimes by undertaking work that benefits their local areas. We are investing an additional £93m in Community Payback over the next three years to bolster delivery and facilitate the relaunch.
This work has commenced through our first national agreement (with the Canal and River Trust) which previews a new strategic approach to delivering high quality placements at scale, the introduction of a statutory duty to consult on Community Payback in the PCSC Bill and the piloting of a digital assessment.
Wider changes to Community Payback outlined in the Target Operating Model are part of a long-term investment in Probation services and will be implemented gradually.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the health and safety implications of using shipping containers as site accommodation for unpaid work staff.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
All Community Payback facilities on site, including shipping containers, are subject to risk assessments. These assessments consider all foreseeable hazards and reduce the risk of harm to a reasonable level.
Shipping containers are primarily used as tool stores and our existing risk assessments outline the health and safety concerns associated with depots and tool stores.
Following unification of the Probation Service, HMPPS is developing a generic risk assessment for all Community Payback units, alongside a safe working practice document to detail the procedures for using the unit.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on the (a) hire or purchase, (b) installation, (c) maintenance and and (d) replacement of shipping containers for use by probation services, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) provided front-line probation services for medium-low risk offenders from 2015 to June 2021. All front-line probation services transferred to the Probation Service on 26 June, in addition to assets that were required for the operation of services under the Unified Model.
CRCs will have had sub-contracting arrangements for their back-office operations, including shipping container installation and maintenance. These contractual relationships were between the CRC and their contractors.
During the lifetime of the contracts, CRCs were not obligated to provide an annual breakdown of spend on their back-office operations to the Authority and we, therefore, do not hold this data.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probation regions are using shipping containers as site accommodation for unpaid work staff; and at how many sites such containers are being used.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Shipping containers are used at some Community Payback sites, primarily as storage facilities. Staff working at sites with shipping containers will also have access to a Probation building in their region for office and welfare facilities.
Following unification of the service in June 2021, we are continuing to review the Community Payback estate, this includes assessing what sites are used for, the facilities available, and any storage amenities on site, including the number of shipping containers.
At this stage we are not able to provide an exact breakdown of the number of shipping containers currently on Community Payback sites.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probation red sites there were in the week commencing 15 November 2021, for each probation region in England and Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In the week commencing 15 November 2021, there were six red sites situated in England, and none appointed for Wales. These were Kent, Buckingham and Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, Hertfordshire and HM Prison North Sea Camp.