Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of assaults (a) between prisoners and (b) against staff were committed during education activities in (i) YOI institutions and (ii) all prisons in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Please find data showing assaults committed during education activities in the 12 months to June 2020 in the attached table. Please note that assaults committed during education activities are a total of the assaults that, when reported, had their location flagged as "Education".
Despite the progress made, the level of violence in prisons remains too high. We are continuing work to address this by giving all staff the tools and training to help them reduce violence.
Violence in prison is a crime. Any prisoner who commits an act of violence can expect to have action taken against them.
We are spending £100 million to bolster prison security, clamping down on the weapons, drugs and mobile phones that fuel violence and crime behind bars. This is funding tough measures including x-ray body scanners and phone-blocking technology.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether vulnerable (a) prison staff and (b) prisoners will be prioritised for receipt of the covid-19 vaccine; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Detailed planning is underway between Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), the NHS and public health bodies to prepare for the delivery of vaccinations in prisons. In Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout, staff and prisoners are eligible for vaccinations according to vulnerability in the same priority order as the public.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that vaccination of those at increased risk of exposure due to their occupation, including those involved in the justice system, could be a priority in the second phase. Prioritisation decisions will need to be made in line with wider prioritisation of access, and the availability of vaccines, across the community.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is his Department’s policy to permit prison management to remove trade union health and safety posters from staff rooms in prisons.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HM Prison and Probation Service values the support of its Trade Union colleagues and supports all parties in the sharing of appropriate health and safety messaging, and as such will continue working together to ensure that appropriate health and safety messages effectively reach all staff as necessary.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2020 to Question 119223 on Prison Officers: Coronavirus, whether prison educators are categorised as agency or sessional workers.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Staff delivering educational services under the Prison Education Framework (PEF) and Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) contracts are directly employed by 3rd parties who are contracted to deliver these services. As such, they are not considered to be either HMPPS, agency or sessional staff.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of HMPPS adopting the Safe Inside Prisons Charter from the Joint Unions in Prisons Alliance; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HM Prison and Probation Service continues to share with the Joint Unions Prisons Alliance (JUPA) its commitment to maintain safety in the workplace and will continue to progress this, including engagement with this Alliance on a quarterly basis to brief them on prison safety work.
We welcome the constructive contribution of JUPA, however we need to be inclusive of all our recognised trade unions and also of the third party employers it refers to. Currently JUPA is not representative of all HMPPS recognised unions. As such, whilst we do see merit in the continued engagement with JUPA, we do not see merit in the Charter as it is set currently. HMPPS already has a strong prison safety agenda which fully includes the recognised trade unions and which, in many ways also, reflect issues that JUPA has raised.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women were known to be pregnant while on remand or serving a sentence in HMP Low Newton in each quarter from 31 March 2015 to 30 September 2020, by ethnicity.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Pregnancy data is collected locally by individual prisons, to ensure the appropriate support can be provided to women in our care. Currently, there is no central collection of this data. HMP Low Newton are in the process of collating the information requested and, as soon as that is available, I will write to the Honourable Member.
On 31 July we published a summary report of our review of operational policy on pregnancy and women separated from children under 2. This includes an undertaking to extend the range of data we publish in relation to pregnant women in prison, and can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/905559/summary-report-of-review-of-policy-on-mbu.pdf
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of whether the automatic revocation of wills upon marriage provides a potential incentive for predatory marriage.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The principle in English and Welsh law that marriage has the effect of revoking wills is long established. The issue of whether marriage or civil partnership should invoke automatic revocation of the wills of those involved is being considered as part of a wider current review by the Law Commission on reforming the law of wills.
That review is also examining whether there should be new rules introduced which protect the person making the will from undue influence.
The Government will review the case for reforming the current law when it has received the recommendations in the Law Commission’s final report.