Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to the rate of recidivism for people convicted of production of cannabis.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Please see the relevant tables attached. Note in the data that reoffending is measured using a one-year follow-up period and a further six month waiting period. Rates are, therefore, only available for cohorts up until January to March 2017.
For those whose offences are linked to cannabis usage, NHS England and Local Health Boards in Wales, who are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in prisons, offer a broad range of services to address substance misuse. It is for health providers to decide the appropriate treatment on a case by case basis.
Further, for prisons in England the updated April 2018 NHS England Substance Misuse Service Specification for prisons sets out evidence-based services that should be commissioned to address the health and justice needs of prisoners, including the prevention of re-offending.
Those convicted of possession, production or supply of cannabis may also be suitable for an accredited offending behaviour programme or similar intervention which addresses needs related to an individual’s offending, for example attitudes, thinking and behaviour.
In addition, we are addressing some of the barriers to rehabilitation through the Education and Employment strategy we published last May. For example, we are giving governors local power and control, enabling them to commission education provision that leads to work; through the New Futures Network (NFN), we are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners; and we have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the rate of recidivism for people convicted of possession of cannabis.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Please see the relevant tables attached. Note in the data that reoffending is measured using a one-year follow-up period and a further six month waiting period. Rates are, therefore, only available for cohorts up until January to March 2017.
For those whose offences are linked to cannabis usage, NHS England and Local Health Boards in Wales, who are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in prisons, offer a broad range of services to address substance misuse. It is for health providers to decide the appropriate treatment on a case by case basis.
Further, for prisons in England the updated April 2018 NHS England Substance Misuse Service Specification for prisons sets out evidence-based services that should be commissioned to address the health and justice needs of prisoners, including the prevention of re-offending.
Those convicted of possession, production or supply of cannabis may also be suitable for an accredited offending behaviour programme or similar intervention which addresses needs related to an individual’s offending, for example attitudes, thinking and behaviour.
In addition, we are addressing some of the barriers to rehabilitation through the Education and Employment strategy we published last May. For example, we are giving governors local power and control, enabling them to commission education provision that leads to work; through the New Futures Network (NFN), we are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners; and we have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his department had made of the rate of recidivism for individuals charged with crimes involving the distribution of cannabis for each year between 2010 to 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Please see the relevant tables attached. Note in the data that reoffending is measured using a one-year follow-up period and a further six month waiting period. Rates are, therefore, only available for cohorts up until January to March 2017.
For those whose offences are linked to cannabis usage, NHS England and Local Health Boards in Wales, who are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in prisons, offer a broad range of services to address substance misuse. It is for health providers to decide the appropriate treatment on a case by case basis.
Further, for prisons in England the updated April 2018 NHS England Substance Misuse Service Specification for prisons sets out evidence-based services that should be commissioned to address the health and justice needs of prisoners, including the prevention of re-offending.
Those convicted of possession, production or supply of cannabis may also be suitable for an accredited offending behaviour programme or similar intervention which addresses needs related to an individual’s offending, for example attitudes, thinking and behaviour.
In addition, we are addressing some of the barriers to rehabilitation through the Education and Employment strategy we published last May. For example, we are giving governors local power and control, enabling them to commission education provision that leads to work; through the New Futures Network (NFN), we are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners; and we have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his department has made of the rate of recidivism for individuals charged with crimes involving the production of cannabis for each year between 2010 to 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Please see the relevant tables attached. Note in the data that reoffending is measured using a one-year follow-up period and a further six month waiting period. Rates are, therefore, only available for cohorts up until January to March 2017.
For those whose offences are linked to cannabis usage, NHS England and Local Health Boards in Wales, who are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in prisons, offer a broad range of services to address substance misuse. It is for health providers to decide the appropriate treatment on a case by case basis.
Further, for prisons in England the updated April 2018 NHS England Substance Misuse Service Specification for prisons sets out evidence-based services that should be commissioned to address the health and justice needs of prisoners, including the prevention of re-offending.
Those convicted of possession, production or supply of cannabis may also be suitable for an accredited offending behaviour programme or similar intervention which addresses needs related to an individual’s offending, for example attitudes, thinking and behaviour.
In addition, we are addressing some of the barriers to rehabilitation through the Education and Employment strategy we published last May. For example, we are giving governors local power and control, enabling them to commission education provision that leads to work; through the New Futures Network (NFN), we are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners; and we have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the rate of recidivism for individuals charged with crimes involving the possession of cannabis for each year between 2010 to 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Please see the relevant tables attached. Note in the data that reoffending is measured using a one-year follow-up period and a further six month waiting period. Rates are, therefore, only available for cohorts up until January to March 2017.
For those whose offences are linked to cannabis usage, NHS England and Local Health Boards in Wales, who are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in prisons, offer a broad range of services to address substance misuse. It is for health providers to decide the appropriate treatment on a case by case basis.
Further, for prisons in England the updated April 2018 NHS England Substance Misuse Service Specification for prisons sets out evidence-based services that should be commissioned to address the health and justice needs of prisoners, including the prevention of re-offending.
Those convicted of possession, production or supply of cannabis may also be suitable for an accredited offending behaviour programme or similar intervention which addresses needs related to an individual’s offending, for example attitudes, thinking and behaviour.
In addition, we are addressing some of the barriers to rehabilitation through the Education and Employment strategy we published last May. For example, we are giving governors local power and control, enabling them to commission education provision that leads to work; through the New Futures Network (NFN), we are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners; and we have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of applying the so-called escape fee to the Civil Legal Advice scheme to ensure that advisers are paid above the fixed fees that apply where costs exceed the national fixed fee by a multiplier of three, in line with other parts of the Legal Aid system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
There is already an escape fee built into the payment mechanism for the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) scheme. For Discrimination and Special Education Needs cases that fee is set by the service provider, submitted as part of their contract bid and for Family and Housing the LAA set that price at £46 per hour.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of support for the Civil Legal Advice housing and debt telephone service in order to ensure continued provision of specialist advice and assistance through contracted firms and that those firms are properly paid for the services they provide.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
An assessment of the Civil Legal Advice housing and debt telephone service will be made as part of the Post-Implementation Review of Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, which we intend to publish by the end of the year. |
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase the diversity of judges.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Lord Chancellor has a joint statutory duty with the Lord Chief Justice and the Judicial Appointments Commission to encourage judicial diversity.
The MoJ is working with the Lord Chief Justice and the Judicial Appointments Commission to consider all practical actions that would impact positively on diversity, assess the impact of our existing activities and measure progress
The MoJ also strongly supports the work of the Judicial Diversity Forum which coordinates action by MoJ, the Judicial Appointments Commission, the judiciary and the legal professional bodies to increase judicial diversity. The Judicial Appointments Commission, judiciary and legal professions undertake a range of outreach events, shadowing programmes, pre-application support and mentoring to attract and support eligible candidates, which includes programmes specifically targeted at underrepresented groups to encourage applications from diverse applicants.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many court cases at least one defendant was without legal representation in (a) Wales and (b) City and County of Swansea for (i) civil and (ii) criminal cases in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Figures on the number of defendants by legal representation status in the Crown Court in Wales and Swansea, 2010 – 2016, are shown in Table 1a and Table 1b.
Table 1a: Representation status, at first hearing, of defendants dealt with in the Crown Court, Wales, annually 2010 - 2016 |
|
|
Year | Representation status at first hearing | ||||
Total number of defendants dealt within trial cases | Known representation | No advocate representation / unknown | |||
Number | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
2010 | 5,937 | 5,750 | 97% | 187 | 3% |
2011 | 5,532 | 5,388 | 97% | 144 | 3% |
2012 | 5,479 | 5,337 | 97% | 142 | 3% |
2013 | 5,275 | 5,161 | 98% | 114 | 2% |
2014 | 5,367 | 5,174 | 96% | 193 | 4% |
2015 | 5,677 | 5,433 | 96% | 244 | 4% |
2016 | 4,759 | 4,587 | 96% | 172 | 4% |
Table 1b: Representation status, at first hearing, of defendants dealt with in the Crown Court, Swansea, annually 2010 – 2016
Year | Representation status at first hearing | ||||
Total number of defendants dealt within trial cases | Known representation | No advocate representation / unknown | |||
Number | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
2010 | 1,320 | 1,289 | 98% | 31 | 2% |
2011 | 1,313 | 1,284 | 98% | 29 | 2% |
2012 | 1,235 | 1,205 | 98% | 30 | 2% |
2013 | 1,244 | 1,225 | 98% | 19 | 2% |
2014 | 1,324 | 1,294 | 98% | 30 | 2% |
2015 | 1,307 | 1,270 | 97% | 37 | 3% |
2016 | 1,036 | 1,011 | 98% | 25 | 2% |
Notes:
1) For criminal court cases the Ministry of Justice publishes annual figures on representation status, at first hearing, of defendants dealt with in the Crown Court. The latest figures up to 2016 can be found here in AC11 of the main tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2017
2) Information on unrepresented defendants in Magistrates’ courts is not held centrally.
3) Figures in table 1b are provided for Swansea Crown Court as it’s the only Crown Court in the City and County of Swansea.
Figures on the number of defended civil court claims by details of legal representation for Wales and Swansea between 2013 and 2016 are found in Table 2a and Table 2b:
Table 2a: Number of defended civil court claims by details of legal representation, in Wales, annually 2013 – 2016.
| Wales |
|
|
| |||
Year | Parties with legal representation |
|
|
| |||
Both Claimant and Defendant | Claimant Only | Defendant Only | Neither claimant nor defendant | Total | |||
2013 | 5,565 | 607 | 294 | 756 | 7,222 |
| |
2014 | 3,415 | 490 | 225 | 616 | 4,746 |
| |
2015 | 3,377 | 459 | 169 | 607 | 4,612 |
| |
2016 | 3,243 | 483 | 214 | 509 | 4,449 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Table 2b: Number of defended civil court claims by details of legal representation, in Swansea, annually 2013 – 2016.
| Swansea |
|
|
| |||
Year | Parties with legal representation |
|
|
| |||
Both Claimant and Defendant | Claimant Only | Defendant Only | Neither claimant nor defendant | Total | |||
2013 | 135 | 21 | 19 | 39 | 214 |
| |
2014 | 109 | 21 | 7 | 22 | 159 |
| |
2015 | 105 | 30 | 12 | 27 | 174 |
| |
2016 | 63 | 26 | 18 | 21 | 128 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Notes:
4) For civil court cases, the Ministry of Justice publishes national quarterly defence figures by legal representation of the parties. The latest annual national figures up to 2016 can be found in table 1.6 below:
5) For both national and local civil data, information is not available before 2013.
6) Annual data is not included for 2017 as Q4 data has not yet been released.
7) The total number of defended civil claims in Wales includes cases from the Wales County Court Money Claims Centre.
Table 3: Figures on the legal representation of applicants and respondents in family proceedings in Wales from 2011-2016
Legal representation status of applicants and respondents in Family Courts cases with at least one hearing in Wales
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Representation status at most recent hearing | ||||||||||
| Applicants |
| Respondents | ||||||||
| Total applicants | Known representation | No advocate representation / unknown |
| Total respondents | Known representation | No advocate representation / unknown | ||||
Year | Number | Number | % | Number | % |
| Number | Number | % | Number | % |
2011 | 6,293 | 5,003 | 80% | 1,290 | 20% |
| 7,586 | 4,487 | 59% | 3,099 | 41% |
2012 | 6,861 | 5,342 | 78% | 1,519 | 22% |
| 8,327 | 4,831 | 58% | 3,496 | 42% |
2013 | 7,168 | 5,147 | 72% | 2,021 | 28% |
| 8,456 | 3,841 | 45% | 4,615 | 55% |
2014 | 6,173 | 3,918 | 63% | 2,255 | 37% |
| 7,395 | 3,462 | 47% | 3,933 | 53% |
2015 | 5,882 | 3,847 | 65% | 2,035 | 35% |
| 7,100 | 3,375 | 48% | 3,725 | 52% |
2016 | 6,514 | 4,172 | 64% | 2,342 | 36% |
| 8,008 | 3,968 | 50% | 4,040 | 50% |
Table 4: Figures on the legal representation of applicants and respondents in family proceedings in Swansea from 2011-2016
Legal representation status of applicants and respondents in Family Courts cases with at least one hearing in Swansea DFJ area
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Representation status at most recent hearing | |||||||||||
| Applicants |
| Respondents | |||||||||
| Total applicants | Known representation | No advocate representation / unknown |
| Total respondents | Known representation | No advocate representation / unknown | |||||
Year | Number | Number | % | Number | % |
| Number | Number | % | Number | % | |
2011 | 1,795 | 1,431 | 80% | 364 | 20% |
| 2,126 | 1,340 | 63% | 786 | 37% | |
2012 | 2,079 | 1,640 | 79% | 439 | 21% |
| 2,453 | 1,528 | 62% | 925 | 38% | |
2013 | 2,256 | 1,616 | 72% | 640 | 28% |
| 2,677 | 1,316 | 49% | 1,361 | 51% | |
2014 | 1,794 | 1,211 | 68% | 583 | 32% |
| 2,107 | 1,032 | 49% | 1,075 | 51% | |
2015 | 1,601 | 1,086 | 68% | 515 | 32% |
| 2,025 | 1,006 | 50% | 1,019 | 50% | |
2016 | 1,831 | 1,201 | 66% | 630 | 34% |
| 2,215 | 1,054 | 48% | 1,161 | 52% | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Notes: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
1. Family cases include divorce, financial remedy, public law, private law, domestic violence remedy and adoption cases. | ||||||||||||
2. Self-representation is determined by the field 'legal representation' in Familyman being left blank, and 'at least one hearing' refers to non-vacated scheduled hearings, rather than actual hearings that have taken place. | ||||||||||||
3. Data for all case types was not collected prior to 2011 |
|
|
|
| ||||||||
4. Swansea DFJ includes the following courts: Aberystwyth, Blackwood, Brecknock, Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Llanelli, Port Talbot Justice Centre, Swansea, Brecknock & Radnorshire FPC, Ceredigion FPC, Pembrokeshire FPC, Neath & Port Talbot FPC, Swansea FPC and Carmarthenshire FPC. | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to increase the availability of legal aid in England and Wales.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The reforms to the scope of civil legal aid were designed to refocus funding on those who need it most and on the most serious cases in which legal advice and representation are justified.
Previous Ministers have made a commitment to publishing both a post-legislative memorandum for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 as a whole and a post-implementation review of recent legal aid reform.