Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding his Department has allocated to support child victims of abuse for children aged (a) 0 to 4 years, (b) 4 to 11 years and (c) 11 to 16 years in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Government is committed to ensuring that victims of crime get the support they need to cope with and, as far as possible, recover from the effects of crime.
Neither MoJ or NHS England hold information on the breakdown of funding allocations to victims based on age.
Under the 2016-2020 Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, the Government made a commitment to maintain funding for sexual violence support services at 2016/17 levels for the remainder of the spending review period. We continue to meet this commitment.
Overall, MoJ is spending around £96m this year to fund support services for victims of crime. Around £68m of this has been allocated to Police and Crime Commissioners to locally commission or provide support services for victims of crime, including victims of sexual violence and child sexual abuse.
In 2018/19 we have allocated just over £8m in funding for services supporting victims of sexual violence, including support for victims of child sexual abuse.
Young child victims of abuse are generally supported by specialist NHS services. NHS England and the Home Office also have commissioning responsibilities for services to support child victims of abuse. NHS England gave uplifted investment from £9m in 2013 to £31m this year to commission an all age service with PCCs. The Home Office are funding the £7.2m Child House model in London.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what safeguards are in place to protect the privacy of victims and witnesses in historic sex abuse cases.
Answered by Phillip Lee
Victims of specific sexual offences, including historical sex abuse cases, are automatically provided with lifetime anonymity, by way of reporting restrictions, from the point of complaint. Anonymity is granted in recognition of the nature of the offence against them and to encourage other victims to come forward.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the number of EU nationals in prisons in England and Wales in (a) the latest period for which figures are available and (b) each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Selous
It is the Government’s position that, wherever possible, prisoners should serve their sentences in their home countries, reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer. The most recent foreign national offender statistics can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/519445/prison-population-31-march-2016.xlsx.
Foreign national offender prison populations back to 2002 are published at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449241/prison-population-2015.xlsx
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from his Department circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material has been since 1 January 2016; and what he estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.
Answered by Andrew Selous
I refer my hon. Friend to the response given by Cabinet Office to Question 38811 on 08 June 2016.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve prisons' engagement with employers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Selous
Supporting offenders into meaningful employment is a vital aspect of the Government’s approach to rehabilitation.
We already work with a wide range of employers in prison through One3One Solutions and engagement by Prison Governors. And we want Governors to do more so we are putting the tools to drive this change in the hands of those at the frontline who best know what works.
We are keen to increase the number of employers who can provide valuable vocational work for offenders while in prison and who are able to offer them support in preparation for release and employment opportunities following their release.
I regularly meet businesses across the country including at two successful roadshows at HMP Sudbury and HMP/YOI Drake Hall, and most recently at HMP Wayland where local media have supported our campaign. New businesses are now coming on board as a consequence. The Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending brings together employers willing to employ offenders and we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to increase the involvement of more businesses.
The Prime Minister has announced changes to recruitment practises across the civil service to ensure that people are considered on their merits and not on their criminal conviction and we want to encourage more employers to do the same.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on steps to remove foreign national offenders from UK prisons to their home countries.
Answered by Andrew Selous
The Secretary of State for Justice and the Home Secretary have regular bilateral meetings where they discuss progress on removal of FNOs. As announced in the Prime Minister’s speech on 8 February, MoJ officials have also been working closely with the Home Office to introduce a legal requirement for defendants appearing in court to provide their name, date of birth and nationality. This will enable earlier identification of foreign national offenders and help with the removals process.