Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to reduce the number of cautions issued since 2010.
Answered by Mike Penning
The use of cautions is at its lowest point for 30 years and nearly half the level seen in 2007. The total number of cautions has decreased by 11% in the year ending June 2014 as compared to the previous 12 months. However, the Government is not complacent and wants to ensure that serious offences are always brought to court.
The Ministry of Justice carried out a review of simple cautions in early 2013, to examine the way in which simple cautions were being used and consider the need for any changes to policy or practice.
Following this review, the Ministry of Justice issued updated guidance in November 2013 on the process to be followed by the police when administering simple cautions for adult offenders. This placed limits on the circumstances in which a simple caution should be issued, particularly for serious offences. We have banned the use of simple cautions for possession of any offensive weapon (including a knife), supplying Class A drugs and a range of sexual offences against children, including child prostitution and pornography.
The Government is legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to place further restrictions on the use of cautions for certain serious offences which will be set out in secondary legislation, as well as stopping their use for indictable only offences and repeat offenders (unless there are exceptional circumstances).
In 2013 we consulted on whether there is a need for more radical change in the out of court disposal framework, which includes simple cautions. After this, the Government announced plans to simplify the current range of disposals into two tiers: a suspended prosecution (based around the conditional caution) and a new statutory community resolution.
This new framework would remove the option of a simple caution and move away from a system of warnings and reprimands. It would give the police the power to tackle offending behaviour in a more effective way. Offenders would be required to take action to comply with the new disposals and face meaningful consequences if they failed to do so.
The proposed framework is being piloted in three police forces before a decision is taken on whether to roll them out across England and Wales.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department has issued to courts on their obligation to provide interpreter services.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Guidance is available to all court staff which clearly outlines the circumstances under which the Department is obliged to provide interpreter services. The EU Right to Interpretation and Translation in Criminal Proceedings Directive require the criminal courts to take every reasonable step to identify whether a defendant needs interpretation.
The interpreting contract was introduced to tackle the inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the previous system. The contract has delivered significant improvements so far and we now have a system that is robust, sustainable and able to deliver a quality service at an affordable level. As a result of the contract, we have spent £27m less in the first two years it has been running, and it continues to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many female born prisoners have self-declared transgender status since 2011.
Answered by Simon Hughes
There are no central records of the number of prisoners who have self-declared a transgender status.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many male born prisoners have self-declared transgender status since January 2011.
Answered by Simon Hughes
There are no central records of the number of prisoners who have self-declared a transgender status.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have self-certified gender recognition certificates; and how many such prisoners were born (a) male and (b) female.
Answered by Simon Hughes
It is not possible to report on the number of prisoners with Gender Recognition Certificates or on the number who were born male but now live as female. Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 prohibits disclosure of the fact that someone has applied for a Gender Recognition Certificate or disclosure of someone's gender prior to the acquisition of the Gender Recognition Certificate.
Individuals with a gender recognition certificate are recorded on administrative systems as their legal gender, and are not identifiable as having changed gender. To use any other source of information to identify such individuals would not be appropriate.
In accordance of the Equality Act 2010 and the Gender Equality Duty, NOMS is committed to paying due regard to the need to address and eliminate the unlawful discrimination and harassment of transgender individuals.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who were born male but now live as a women have been moved to a women's prison in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Simon Hughes
It is not possible to report on the number of prisoners with Gender Recognition Certificates or on the number who were born male but now live as female. Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 prohibits disclosure of the fact that someone has applied for a Gender Recognition Certificate or disclosure of someone's gender prior to the acquisition of the Gender Recognition Certificate.
Individuals with a gender recognition certificate are recorded on administrative systems as their legal gender, and are not identifiable as having changed gender. To use any other source of information to identify such individuals would not be appropriate.
In accordance of the Equality Act 2010 and the Gender Equality Duty, NOMS is committed to paying due regard to the need to address and eliminate the unlawful discrimination and harassment of transgender individuals.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who were born as men have been issued self-certificated gender recognition certificates; and how many such prisoners have been transferred to women's prisons.
Answered by Simon Hughes
It is not possible to report on the number of prisoners with Gender Recognition Certificates or on the number who were born male but now live as female. Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 prohibits disclosure of the fact that someone has applied for a Gender Recognition Certificate or disclosure of someone's gender prior to the acquisition of the Gender Recognition Certificate.
Individuals with a gender recognition certificate are recorded on administrative systems as their legal gender, and are not identifiable as having changed gender. To use any other source of information to identify such individuals would not be appropriate.
In accordance of the Equality Act 2010 and the Gender Equality Duty, NOMS is committed to paying due regard to the need to address and eliminate the unlawful discrimination and harassment of transgender individuals.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who were born as female but now live as men, have been moved to men's prisons; and how many such prisoners have self-certified gender recognition certificates.
Answered by Simon Hughes
It is not possible to report on the number of prisoners with Gender Recognition Certificates or on the number who were born male but now live as female. Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 prohibits disclosure of the fact that someone has applied for a Gender Recognition Certificate or disclosure of someone's gender prior to the acquisition of the Gender Recognition Certificate.
Individuals with a gender recognition certificate are recorded on administrative systems as their legal gender, and are not identifiable as having changed gender. To use any other source of information to identify such individuals would not be appropriate.
In accordance of the Equality Act 2010 and the Gender Equality Duty, NOMS is committed to paying due regard to the need to address and eliminate the unlawful discrimination and harassment of transgender individuals.