Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many meetings he has had with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on the Bill of Rights bill.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Secretary of State has written to Alyson Kilpatrick, the Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, about the Bill of Rights twice in the last year, in addition to which my predecessor Lord Wolfson met representatives of the Commission in March this year in the context of the Government’s consultation. Departmental officials have also met representatives of the Commission on a number of occasions in the past year to discuss work on the Bill of Rights.
We will continue to work closely with key stakeholders in Northern Ireland on the Bill of Rights, including the Human Rights Commission, to ensure that any reforms will work in, and for the benefit of, the whole of the UK
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has plans to amend the equality impact assessment for assaults on emergency workers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to include information on the impact on disabled people.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government has already published a full equalities assessment on its proposals to increase the maximum penalty of assaulting an emergency worker. I am aware of the ongoing nature of the Public Sector Equality Duty and our obligation to consider the equalities impacts of the proposals as they develop and are implemented in light of any new evidence. However there are no plans to update this assessment at this stage. As explained in the assessment, statistical data in relation to offenders who are disabled are not centrally recorded.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to publish the Covid Recovery Plans submitted by youth offending teams to the Youth Justice Board.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Youth Justice Board has oversight of Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) and has received Covid-19 Recovery Plans from each YOT. There is no current plan for MoJ or the YJB to publish Covid-19 Recovery Plans as it is the responsibility of local authorities to make their individual plans available to the public.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the size of the case backlog in the youth court system.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In 2020 outstanding youth cases at the magistrates' court reached an annual peak of 12,138 in June, then consistently fell to 9,930 cases by December. In the same period, outstanding youth cases at the Crown Court remained stable, peaking at 665 in October then falling to 629 by December.
The focus for 2021 will be to drive the continued reduction of outstanding cases in the Youth Court, working with agencies across the Criminal Justice System to minimise delays.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many suspects in (a) murder and (b) rape cases received bail in each of the last five calendar years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published information on defendants remanded on bail in England and Wales up to December 2019, prior to court, at magistrates’ court and at Crown Court:
Remand status prior to court (relating to suspects) is available in the magistrates’ court data tool and is labelled ‘Remand status with Police’.
Magistrates’ court
Crown Court
In the data tools, search for murder and rape using the ‘Offence’ filter and the pivot table will populate with the number of defendants by principal (i.e. most serious) remand status for the chosen offences.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Failure to Appear warrants were issued by courts for (a) murder and (b) rape in each of the last five years up to March 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data showing the number of failure to appear warrants issued for (a) murder and (b) rape from 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2020 in both Crown and Magistrates’ Courts can be found in the table below:
YEAR | CROWN | MAGISTRATES | ||
| MURDER | RAPE | MURDER | RAPE |
2015/16 | 27 | 71 | 18 | 143 |
2016/17 | 29 | 76 | 26 | 227 |
2017/18 | 13 | 65 | 10 | 146 |
2018/19 | 29 | 28 | 23 | 146 |
2019/20 | 29 | 33 | 21 | 161 |
5 YR TOTAL | 127 | 273 | 98 | 823 |
Notes:
1. Data are taken from a live management information system and can change over time
2. The data is based on statistics from management information system extract only
3. Data are management information and may differ from previously published stats and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics
4. Magistrates where a defendant is charged with an indictable offence and if more than one offence and a Failure to Appear Warrant is issued each offence is counted separately
5. Crown if a defendant has had a bench warrant issued on more than one occasion, they have been counted separately
6. Offences include attempted and conspiracy sub-groups
7. Data has not been cross referenced with case files.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times a young person has been remanded to custody due to a lack of suitable local authority accommodation in each of the last five calendar years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Courts apply the provisions of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 which sets out the basis for deciding whether a child is remanded into custody or Local Authority accommodation. The reasons for the court’s decision on remand are not recorded and so the information requested is not held.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the transition of individuals turning 18 years old from the youth justice system to the adult justice system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We recognise that transitioning from youth justice services to the adult justice system can be a particularly challenging time for young people and we are taking steps to ensure that this transition is as effective as possible.
The Youth Custody Service is working in partnership with adult prison service to develop a national transitions pathway that will ensure effective and thorough planning and support for all young people being transitioned to the adult or young adult estate. This includes the development of a transitions policy framework, bringing consistency and alignment across the children and young people secure estate.
The Youth Justice Board’s transition guidance in Wales for children transitioning from youth offending teams to probation services has recently been updated with a focus on trauma informed practice. The Youth Justice Board is working with the National Probation Service to revise the transitions guidance in England and are aiming that this refreshed guidance will be in place shortly.
We are also working in partnership with the Mayor for London’s Office for Policing and Crime and other relevant Government Departments and agencies to run a 3 year pilot (2020-23) to meet the needs of young adults (18-25 year olds) and 17-year olds due to transition from youth offending services into adult probation services in London.
By co-locating probation staff and commissioned wraparound services such as, mental health, speech and language therapy and substance misuse, distinct to the needs of young adults, the pilot aims to create smoother transitions, encourage compliance, promote desistance and reduce reoffending through the hub. To measure if the aims of the hub have been achieved a full evaluation will be externally commissioned and it will incorporate both process (daily operations of the hub) and longitudinal data (reoffending data). Key findings from this pilot will help inform policy for this cohort.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the evidence base on the experience of girls in the youth justice system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The number of girls entering the youth justice system for the first time has fallen by 92% between 2009-10 and 2019-20 (from around 22,400 to around 1,900). The national standards for youth justice guide local authorities’ youth offending teams to personalise the approach to each child under their supervision and assess children’s individual needs, which will include those relating to gender.
Girls in secure settings form a small but vulnerable cohort, often with complex needs. To develop the evidence base to better support girls in custody, the Youth Custody Service and NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to review the needs of, and pathways for, girls in the secure estate.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the (a) needs and (b) characteristics of girls in the youth justice system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The number of girls entering the youth justice system for the first time has fallen by 92% between 2009-10 and 2019-20 (from around 22,400 to around 1,900). The national standards for youth justice guide local authorities’ youth offending teams to personalise the approach to each child under their supervision and assess children’s individual needs, which will include those relating to gender.
Girls in secure settings form a small but vulnerable cohort, often with complex needs. To develop the evidence base to better support girls in custody, the Youth Custody Service and NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to review the needs of, and pathways for, girls in the secure estate.