Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle parental alienation.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government does not recognise the concept of “parental alienation” and does not accept that it is a syndrome capable of diagnosis.
In his judgment in the case of Re C the President of the Family Division detailed that the courts focus should be on the “identification of ‘alienating behaviour’” rather than seeking “to determine whether the label ‘parental alienation’ can be applied”. In providing advice to the court, Cafcass does not recognise “parental alienation” and instead looks at the individual behaviours of a parent. In cases where a child is resistant, or refuses, to see a parent Cafcass Family Court Advisers must first consider whether domestic abuse or other forms of harmful parenting are a contributing factor.
The Government is aware of concerns of about unregulated “parental alienation” experts being instructed in the family courts. To address this issue, we are working with the Family Procedure Rule Committee to make changes to the Family Procedure Rules and their associated Practice Directions to prevent the instruction of these unregulated experts.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the backlog in the Crown Court.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We remain committed to tackling the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court and have introduced a range of measures to achieve this aim.
We expect to have sat around 107,000 days at the Crown Court in the last financial year (FY2023/24), representing around a 30% increase on sitting day levels during the 2019/20 financial year. We have also recruited around 1,000 judges and tribunal members across all jurisdictions in the last financial year so we can hear more cases.
Judges have worked tirelessly to complete more cases. HMCTS Management Information shows that disposals have increased throughout the last calendar year, with February disposals being at their highest level than at any other point in the last 12 months, with 9,958 disposals in February 2024, up 18% on February 2023 (8,451).
We are also investing more in our criminal courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings across the next two years, up to March 2025. We have also continued the use of 20 Nightingale courtrooms into the 2024/25 financial year, to allow courts to work at full capacity.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when and with whom he has had discussions on drugs use in HMP Wandsworth this year.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMP Wandsworth has benefitted from our £100 million investment in tough security measures, introducing x-ray body scanning for prisoners and enhanced gate security provisions for visitors and staff, which includes archway metal detectors, drugs dogs and x-ray baggage scanners. These measures are helping to tackle the supply of drugs and other contraband into prisons, and as of October 2023, our x-ray body scanners had recorded more than 46,900 positive indications across the prison estate since their introduction.
We are also expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living Units (ISFLs), where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs and alcohol, with regular drug testing and incentives. 80 prisons, including HMP Wandsworth, now have an ISFL. The ISFL at HMP Wandsworth is a 16-bed unit where residents have access to additional support, privileges and substance misuse interventions whilst undergoing voluntary drug testing twice a month.
HMP Wandsworth also works closely with their Substance Misuse Service Provider, “Change, Grow, Live” to deliver a comprehensive programme of recovery workshops, and is currently in the process of recruiting a new, dedicated Drug Strategy Lead to better co-ordinate efforts to keep drugs out of the prison.
As the responsible minister for prisons, I receive regular updates on their conditions and performance, including those at HMP Wandsworth, via a variety of means, including through formal face to face discussion such as the quarterly Ministerial Performance Review Board meetings.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce drugs use by prisoners in HMP Wandsworth.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMP Wandsworth has benefitted from our £100 million investment in tough security measures, introducing x-ray body scanning for prisoners and enhanced gate security provisions for visitors and staff, which includes archway metal detectors, drugs dogs and x-ray baggage scanners. These measures are helping to tackle the supply of drugs and other contraband into prisons, and as of October 2023, our x-ray body scanners had recorded more than 46,900 positive indications across the prison estate since their introduction.
We are also expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living Units (ISFLs), where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs and alcohol, with regular drug testing and incentives. 80 prisons, including HMP Wandsworth, now have an ISFL. The ISFL at HMP Wandsworth is a 16-bed unit where residents have access to additional support, privileges and substance misuse interventions whilst undergoing voluntary drug testing twice a month.
HMP Wandsworth also works closely with their Substance Misuse Service Provider, “Change, Grow, Live” to deliver a comprehensive programme of recovery workshops, and is currently in the process of recruiting a new, dedicated Drug Strategy Lead to better co-ordinate efforts to keep drugs out of the prison.
As the responsible minister for prisons, I receive regular updates on their conditions and performance, including those at HMP Wandsworth, via a variety of means, including through formal face to face discussion such as the quarterly Ministerial Performance Review Board meetings.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were released under the Release following Risk Assessed Recall review process between 7 September and 31 December 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In the case of recalled standard determinate sentence and extended sentence offenders, the Secretary of State has an executive power to re-release them, if he considers that the statutory release test is met - that is, that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for the offender to remain confined. Thus, the Secretary of State’s power is exercised with regard to the same test to which the Parole Board has regard.
The power is exercised by officials in the Public Protection Group (PPG), in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service under approved delegated authority. In exercising that power, PPG works closely with the Probation Service, in order to put in place a robust risk management plan before a final decision is made to re-release the prisoner.
The number of recalled offenders released using the Secretary of State’s re-release power for each year between 2017 and 2023 is set out in the table below. Executive re-release was refreshed and relaunched as Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR) on 30 May 2023. Between 7 September and 31 December 2023, 89 people were released following a RARR.
Year of issuing the decision | Number of releases |
2017 | 1,584 |
2018 | 1,386 |
2019 | 957 |
2020 | 725 |
2021 | 464 |
2022 | 92 |
2023 up to May | 20 |
The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. As such, figures are subject to change as information is updated.
Data source: Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD)
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to reduce over-crowding in HMP Wandsworth.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In prisons where we have crowding in place, a rigorous cell certification process is undertaken that ensures the use of cells is subject to a formal assessment of safety and decency.
We continue to pursue the package of longer-term measures the Lord Chancellor announced on 16 October 2023 to reform the justice system and address the prison capacity challenges. The measures include: the extension of the Early Removal Scheme to deport Foreign National Offenders (FNOs), introducing a presumption to suspend sentences of 12 months or less, curtailing the licence period for IPP sentences and extending the use of Home Detention Curfew. On 11 March, the Lord Chancellor announced the next steps in our plan, to allow us to go further and faster in removing FNOs. This includes expediting prisoner transfers with our priority partners, such as Albania, and the creation of a new taskforce across the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to change the way we process FNO cases radically.
To meet pressing demand, we are building c.20,000 modern, rehabilitative prison places – the biggest prison build programme since the Victorian era. We have already delivered c.5,900 of these, including through our two new 1,700 places prisons, HMP Five Wells and HMP Fosse Way, and c.590 Rapid Deployment Cells across 11 sites. By the end of 2025, we are on track to have delivered around 10,000 places in total.
The Government will continue to monitor the evolving situation with demand for prison places carefully, so that we can make sure we have the right approaches in place to maintain the capacity required for a safe and effective criminal justice system.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average weekly time out of cell for prisoners in HMP Wandsworth has been for each week in 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Prison governors set a regime for each day specifying when prisoners will ordinarily be unlocked. There will be occasions, however, where certain prisoners will remain in their cell during these times. Reasons for this will include illness, the management of operational incidents, and other operational reasons such as staff needing to be deployed to other duties. There will also be occasions where prisoners will be out of cell at times when they are scheduled to be locked in, for example to attend medical appointments at hospital, a late arrival from court, or a transfer between prisons.
To accurately record the amount of time prisoners spend out of cell, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service would therefore be required to record information for each individual prisoner, taking into account their unique movements on a daily basis.
There is no central mandate which governs the amount of time that prisoners should spend out of their cells. Governors are instead afforded the flexibility to deliver balanced regimes that maintain an appropriate level of time out of cell on a range of activities, including association, which meet the needs of the establishment’s population.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were released under the executive release scheme in each year between 2017 and 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In the case of recalled standard determinate sentence and extended sentence offenders, the Secretary of State has an executive power to re-release them, if he considers that the statutory release test is met - that is, that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for the offender to remain confined. Thus, the Secretary of State’s power is exercised with regard to the same test to which the Parole Board has regard.
The power is exercised by officials in the Public Protection Group (PPG), in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service under approved delegated authority. In exercising that power, PPG works closely with the Probation Service, in order to put in place a robust risk management plan before a final decision is made to re-release the prisoner.
The number of recalled offenders released using the Secretary of State’s re-release power for each year between 2017 and 2023 is set out in the table below. Executive re-release was refreshed and relaunched as Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR) on 30 May 2023. Between 7 September and 31 December 2023, 89 people were released following a RARR.
Year of issuing the decision | Number of releases |
2017 | 1,584 |
2018 | 1,386 |
2019 | 957 |
2020 | 725 |
2021 | 464 |
2022 | 92 |
2023 up to May | 20 |
The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. As such, figures are subject to change as information is updated.
Data source: Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD)
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of resources allocated to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As part of the departmental allocation process, we assess the needs of individual organisations against the overarching backdrop of the wider departmental finances. The CCRC’s budget has increased year on year since 2020-21 both to increase the size of its caseworker team and to carry out more outreach work with people who may need their services. The budget for 2023/24 was set at just under £8 million, which is an increase of £1.26 million or 18% since 2021/22. Its 2024-25 allocation is under consideration.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies there were for band 3 prison officers in the Long Term High Security Estate - South at the start of each year from 2017 to 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Following a period of staffing challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a substantial improvement in the national staffing picture within prisons. The number of Band 3-5 prison officers has increased by 1,634 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) between December 2022 - 2023, and resignation rates have fallen over the same period. This is the result of significant efforts across the agency, including substantial increases in pay for staff and launching our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign.
Table One below shows the number of indicative vacancies for Band 3 Prison Officers in the Long Term & High Security Estate (for prisons in the South) for January 2018, January 2019, January 2020, January 2021, January 2022 and January 2023. Data is not held for the period January 2017 and has not been provided.
In reality, many establishments will routinely sit marginally below their Target Staffing level due to normal attrition and time to hire and so we would not expect establishments to run consistently at 100% staffing.
Where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level, these are routinely supplemented (e.g., by using Payment Plus, a form of overtime) which is not accounted for in the indicative vacancy data provided. Use of detached duty, a long-standing mechanism to deploy staff from one prison or region to support another, is also not reflected in the data.
Table One: Total Band 3 Prison Officer Indicative Vacancies across Long Term & High Security Estate (LTHSE) South, January 2018 to January 2023
Month | Indicative vacancies (FTE) |
Jan-18 | 104 |
Jan-19 | 14 |
Jan-20 | 62 |
Jan-21 | 86 |
Jan-22 | 127 |
Jan-23 | 323 |
Notes