Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 83 of the Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom, under which circumstances the Court of Justice of the European Union can make a judgement involving the interpretation of the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights which could affect the UK after 29 March 2019.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Prime Minister has been clear that the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will end as we leave the EU.
The Political Declaration does not include any commitment on the part of the UK to apply the Charter of Fundamental Rights, but recalls the ongoing commitment of the EU and its Member States to the Charter and the UK’s continued commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the Political Declaration we have ensured that the depth and breadth of our cooperation will match the commitments we make on governance and rights.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that the involvement of the Child and Family Court Advisory and Family Support Service does not inadvertently support the perpetration of domestic violence.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The welfare of the child is paramount in all court desicions about a child's upbringing.
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) has a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children involved in proceedings and undertakes safeguarding checks in every case where a parent seeks the child arrangements order to live with or spend time with a child. These checks include enquiries to local authority and police. Convictions or cautions that may be relevant to a risk of harm or further harm to the child are reported by Cafcass to the court prior to the first hearing to support safe decision-making. Cafcass also has a freestanding statutory duty to report to the court on any risks identified at any other stage during proceedings.
Cafcass has developed Domestic Abuse Practice Pathway and recently launched Child Impact Assesment Framework to provide its practitioners with additional tools to assess the impact of domestic abuse and inform its recommendations to the court about child arrangements.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the involvement of the Children and Family Care Advisory and Support Service in cases where there is a previous conviction of domestic violence.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The welfare of the child is paramount in all court desicions about a child's upbringing.
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) has a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children involved in proceedings and undertakes safeguarding checks in every case where a parent seeks the child arrangements order to live with or spend time with a child. These checks include enquiries to local authority and police. Convictions or cautions that may be relevant to a risk of harm or further harm to the child are reported by Cafcass to the court prior to the first hearing to support safe decision-making. Cafcass also has a freestanding statutory duty to report to the court on any risks identified at any other stage during proceedings.
Cafcass has developed Domestic Abuse Practice Pathway and recently launched Child Impact Assesment Framework to provide its practitioners with additional tools to assess the impact of domestic abuse and inform its recommendations to the court about child arrangements.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many registered sex offenders have re-offended while in the community in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Ministry of Justice does not keep the figures requested and to obtain them would incur disproportionate cost. This is because not all offenders subject to the sexual offenders’ notification requirements (often know as registered sex offenders) are subject to statutory supervision by the National Probation Service.
However, published statistics are available for the period requested on proven re-offending rates of adult and juvenile offenders with an index sexual offence. These figures include those offenders released from custody and those who received a non-custodial conviction at court and then commit a further proven offence within a 12 month follow up period. It should be noted that a small number of these cases will not have met the criteria to be subject to the notification requirements.
Public protection is our highest priority. Not all sexual offenders who are made subject to the notification requirements serve a custodial sentence. Any sexual offender released from prison and subject to licensed supervision in the community who is caught breaching his licence conditions faces being immediately recalled to prison. A breach of the notification requirements is a criminal offence and punishable by up to 5 years’ imprisonment.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders convicted in the last five years of (a) rape and (b) sexual assaults against (i) adults and (ii) minors were sentenced to (A) no time in in custody, (B) up to 90 days in custody, (C) 91 to 180 days in custody, (D) 181 days to one year in custody, (E) more than one year to two years in custody, (F) more than two years to three years in custody, (G) more than three years to four years in custody, (H) more than four years to five years in custody, (I) more than five years to six years in custody, (J) more than six years to seven years in custody, (K) more than seven years to eight years in custody, (L) more than eight years to nine years in custody, (M) more than nine years to 10 years in custody, (N) more than 10 years to 15 years in custody, (O) more than 15 years to 20 years in custody and (P) more than 20 years in custody.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Sentencing is entirely a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose the courts take into account the circumstances of the offence and the offender, including any aggravating factors (e.g. previous convictions) and any mitigating factors (e.g. age and/or lack of maturity where it affects the responsibility of the offender), in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines issued by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 breaks down the offences of rape and sexual assault by victims who are aged under 13 and victims who are aged 13 or over. The number of offenders convicted of 1) rape of a victim aged 13 or over, contrary to section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, 2) rape of a child under 13, contrary to section 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, 3) sexual assault of a victim aged 13 or over, contrary to sections 2 and 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and 4) sexual assault of a child under 13, contrary to sections 6 and 7 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, broken down by the custodial sentence lengths requested, can be viewed in the table.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convicted sex offenders who have breached the terms of their licence have been (a) recalled and (b) not recalled to prison in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
697 | 696 | 725 | 872 | 934 |
Public protection is our top priority. Sex offenders on licence are subject to ongoing robust risk assessment and to strict licence conditions to manage that risk. They are supervised under statutory Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA); under MAPPA the Police and Probation services are required to work together to manage the risks of known sexual offenders. Any offender who fails to comply with his licence conditions can be immediately returned to prison.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to monitor foreign national offenders who are subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements; and if he will set out the number of foreign national offenders who are subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements in each police area.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Guidance on the management of foreign national offenders subject to MAPPA is contained in the MAPPA Guidance available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multi-agency-public-protection-arrangements-mappa--2.
The number of foreign national offenders who are subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements in each police area could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This is because the information is held locally by individual lead agencies within the 42 MAPPA areas and is not collated centrally.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders have been convicted of multiple offences in the UK.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. More than 40,000 Foreign National Offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, and in the last financial year a record number of over 6,300 were removed.
The Ministry of Justice, HMPPS, and HMCTS do not hold the information requested in the PQ. Home Office have confirmed that as ‘Nationality’ is not a mandatory field on the Police National Computer (PNC) the Home Office cannot provide the information requested in the PQ.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders were convicted of (a) murder, (b) manslaughter, (c) sexual offences, (d) rape and (e) serious assaults in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. More than 40,000 Foreign National Offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, and in the last financial year a record number of over 6,300 were removed.
The specific information asked for in the question is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders are subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This is because the information is held locally by individual lead agencies within the 42 MAPPA areas and is not collated centrally.