Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what agreements are in place with the Government of Pakistan on the transfer of prisoners; and what effect those agreements have had on the number of prisoners exchanged with that country.
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 42,000 Foreign National Offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, with over 5,600 removed in 2017/18.
A Prisoner Transfer Agreement is in place to allow Pakistani nationals to be transferred from the UK during their prison sentence so that they continue to serve their sentence in Pakistan (and vice versa for British nationals imprisoned in Pakistan), but it is currently suspended due to the corrupt release of prisoners transferred to Pakistan in 2010. Between the commencement of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement in 2008 and its suspension in 2010, a total of four prisoners were transferred to Pakistan, three of whom were corruptly released. The Government of Pakistan has since taken action to return the corruptly released prisoners to custody and has prosecuted those involved.
Work is underway with the Government of Pakistan to resolve the issues presented by the corrupt releases and restart transfers with appropriate safeguards in place. In the meantime, Pakistani nationals continue to be deported from the UK following completion of their prison sentences.
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoner transfers have taken place in each of the last five years between the UAE and the UK.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was signed on 24 January 2013 and entered into force on 3 February 2014. The agreement provides for the voluntary transfer of an individual and requires the consent of both governments involved, as well as that of the prisoner concerned. To date, no prisoners have been transferred under this agreement.
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many successful prisoner transfers have taken place in each of the last five years between the UAE and the UK.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was signed on 24 January 2013 and entered into force on 3 February 2014. The agreement provides for the voluntary transfer of an individual and requires the consent of both governments involved, as well as that of the prisoner concerned. To date, no prisoners have been transferred under this agreement.
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how does a prison notify the next of kin of a prisoner's death in custody.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Each prison is required to have at least one family liaison officer or FLO. The FLO acts as the family’s chief point of contact with the prison. They must inform the prisoner’s nominated next of kin in person, as soon as possible following the prisoner’s death. If it is not possible to do this in person, for example because of distance, the FLO must arrange a follow-up visit promptly. They will then continue to meet the family and/or correspond with them, according to their wishes, to offer continuing information and support until all investigations of the death are concluded.
Further details can be found in Prison Service Instruction 64/2011, which can be viewed on gov.uk.
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoner deaths were recorded in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Improving safety is an urgent priority for this Government. We are taking immediate action to strengthen the frontline by recruiting around 2,500 more prison officers and rolling out improved training for staff on suicide and self-harm reduction.
The Government publishes statistics on deaths in custody quarterly, and updated detailed tables annually. They can be viewed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2016--2.
Numbers of deaths in custody for the last ten years (including those that were self-inflicted) are published in Table 1.1 of “Deaths in prison custody 1978 to 2016”. The tables will next be updated and published on 27 July 2017.
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoner deaths attributed to suicide were recorded in prisons in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Improving safety is an urgent priority for this Government. We are taking immediate action to strengthen the frontline by recruiting around 2,500 more prison officers and rolling out improved training for staff on suicide and self-harm reduction.
The Government publishes statistics on deaths in custody quarterly, and updated detailed tables annually. They can be viewed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2016--2.
Numbers of deaths in custody for the last ten years (including those that were self-inflicted) are published in Table 1.1 of “Deaths in prison custody 1978 to 2016”. The tables will next be updated and published on 27 July 2017.
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken in response to the findings set out in the 2014-15 Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HM Prison Belmarsh on the prison's online and telephone booking system.
Answered by Andrew Selous
We had already recognised the issues highlighted in the 2014-15 Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HM Prison Belmarsh. I am pleased to inform the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead that we will be increasing the number of social visit slots that are available per session and we have added an additional booking telephone line. There are also plans to introduce an automated system to increase our capacity to manage visit calls.
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times (a) family and (b) legal visits to prisoners in HM Prison Belmarsh have been cancelled in each of the last 12 months; and for what reason each such visit was cancelled.
Answered by Andrew Selous
Family and legal visits have been cancelled on two occasions in the last 12 months at HM Prison Belmarsh. These were;
8 October 2015 – Due to a full lock down search of the prison
9 December 2015 – To enable a Trade Union meeting
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to prevent family and legal visits being cancelled in prisons in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Selous
Maintaining family ties, including through visits, plays a vital role in helping prisoners turn away from crime.
All convicted prisoners are entitled to a minimum of two visits every 28 days and this has not changed since 1992. Extra visits can also be granted.
The Public Sector Prisons benchmark provides prisons with a core day and staffing resource to deliver all required activities and services. Part of the benchmark provision is the delivery of social and legal visits and there is an expectation that these are critical activities which will not be cancelled.
Asked by: Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any prisoners in HM Prisons have been deprived of (a) water and (b) electricity by prison officials as a disciplinary measure in the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Selous
Neither deprivation of water nor of electricity is sanctioned as a disciplinary measure within prisons in England and Wales.