Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions under joint enterprise legislation have been successfully overturned on appeal.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice does not currently collate data on whether a prosecution or conviction relied on the doctrine of joint enterprise or whether an appeal in such a case resulted in the conviction being quashed or the sentence changed.
The Crown Prosecution Service has recently updated their case management system to enable better tracking of homicide and attempted homicide cases involving joint enterprise.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there were for murder in each year since 2005; and what the conviction rate was in the same period.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice holds data on convictions for murder offences.
The published data, from 2010 to 2022, can be found in the following tool: Outcomes by Offence tool: December 2022.
The most recent published data available, from year ending June 2011 until the year ending June 2023, can be found in the following tool: Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.
The full calendar year for 2023 will be available in the next update of the Outcomes by Offence tool, expected in May 2024.
The data can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the offence code filer to select the following offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool:
To cover the full period requested, convictions for murder offences from 2005 to 2009 have been provided in Table 1.
It is not advised to use this data to calculate conviction rate due to the Court Proceedings Database counting two separate records at two separate stages. We cannot track the defendant throughout their court journey and an individual may appear at each court in separate years, or for a different principal offence at different stages. As a result, this rate is not an accurate measure of the proportion of prosecutions that result in a conviction.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Sentencing Council on the implementation of guidelines that require judges to consider factors such as poverty and social deprivation in sentencing; and whether his Department will provide training on these factors.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
On 1 April 2024, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales introduced a new mitigating factor ‘difficult and/or deprived background or personal circumstances’ across all offence specific guidelines, following consultation. As a statutory consultee, the Lord Chancellor made clear in his response his opposition to the inclusion of this new mitigating factor. However, as an independent body, the Government cannot require the Council to review particular guidelines.
Regarding the implementation of the guidelines, under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, the Council is required to monitor the operation and effect of its guidelines once published. The Council decides on its own priorities and work plan for producing and monitoring guidelines.
In relation to judicial training, in order to preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lady Chief Justice has statutory responsibility under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 for the maintenance of appropriate arrangements for the welfare, training and guidance of the judiciary. The Lady Chief Justice exercises this responsibility through the Judicial College.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 (a) producing and (b) publishing disaggregated justice data for Wales.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice produces the data required to deliver justice effectively in Wales. A significant amount of data is already published that is disaggregated for Wales.
Officials in the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service continue to work with Welsh Government officials to consider areas in which Wales-specific data is not available and examine whether any such data might further aid the delivery of justice in Wales.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to reduce the cost of fraud in his Department in the last three financial years.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) recognises that the nature of the fraud threat it faces is constantly evolving and that our response must be equally as agile. The MoJ has been developing its Counter Fraud Centre of Expertise (CoEx) since 2019 and this team has a central governance and oversight role across the Department, including its Executive Agencies, Arm’s Length Bodies and core Functions.
The MoJ maintains a collaborative working relationship with the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) regarding Counter Fraud Functional Standards and performance, and contributes to PSFA thematic working groups, for example internal fraud risks.
The MoJ conducts regular internal reviews against Functional Standards across the Department and collaborates with teams to improve performance and raise awareness in terms of fraud risk assessment, fraud controls and fraud reporting.
The MoJ took part in the 2022 National Fraud Initiative that looked to identify duplicated payroll data held across other public and private sector bodies to prevent and detect fraud.
The MoJ provides management information and updates to the Department Audit and Risk Committee.
The MoJ has always had a current Counter Fraud Strategy, Policy and Response Plan in place, all of which are readily accessible on the respective Intranet sites.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people on probation (a) have been assessed as eligible for the Building Better Relationships programme and (b) are waiting for a place on that programme as of 23 April 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are unable to provide data on the number of people on probation who have been assessed as eligible for the Building Better Relationships programme (BBR) or who are waiting for a place on that programme as of 23 April 2024 without incurring disproportionate cost. We are also unable to provide the number of available places on the BBR programme for people on probation in 2024-25 without incurring disproportionate cost. This information is not collated and recorded centrally. Regions collect their own management information and waiting lists vary with average waiting times for BBR between one and five months. Each region manages their own accredited programme referrals and allocation of places is based on risk and order expiry date.
We are unable to provide data on the number of filled custodial places on the Building Better Relationships (BBR) programme in 2023-24 at this time as to do so would breach official statistics publication rules outlined in the Code of Practice for Statistics as they will form a subset of future published statistics. Data for 2023-2024 will be published in the Prison Education and Accredited Programme Statistics report on 26 September 2024.
There are 210 places available on the BBR programme for people in custody for 2024-25. This is subject to review related to changes in both the demand for different programmes, and the transition to new programmes being introduced in-year.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many places will be available on the Building Better Relationships programme for people (a) in custody and (b) on probation in 2024-25.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are unable to provide data on the number of people on probation who have been assessed as eligible for the Building Better Relationships programme (BBR) or who are waiting for a place on that programme as of 23 April 2024 without incurring disproportionate cost. We are also unable to provide the number of available places on the BBR programme for people on probation in 2024-25 without incurring disproportionate cost. This information is not collated and recorded centrally. Regions collect their own management information and waiting lists vary with average waiting times for BBR between one and five months. Each region manages their own accredited programme referrals and allocation of places is based on risk and order expiry date.
We are unable to provide data on the number of filled custodial places on the Building Better Relationships (BBR) programme in 2023-24 at this time as to do so would breach official statistics publication rules outlined in the Code of Practice for Statistics as they will form a subset of future published statistics. Data for 2023-2024 will be published in the Prison Education and Accredited Programme Statistics report on 26 September 2024.
There are 210 places available on the BBR programme for people in custody for 2024-25. This is subject to review related to changes in both the demand for different programmes, and the transition to new programmes being introduced in-year.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of the 200 custodial places on the Building Better Relationships programme were filled in 2023-24.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are unable to provide data on the number of people on probation who have been assessed as eligible for the Building Better Relationships programme (BBR) or who are waiting for a place on that programme as of 23 April 2024 without incurring disproportionate cost. We are also unable to provide the number of available places on the BBR programme for people on probation in 2024-25 without incurring disproportionate cost. This information is not collated and recorded centrally. Regions collect their own management information and waiting lists vary with average waiting times for BBR between one and five months. Each region manages their own accredited programme referrals and allocation of places is based on risk and order expiry date.
We are unable to provide data on the number of filled custodial places on the Building Better Relationships (BBR) programme in 2023-24 at this time as to do so would breach official statistics publication rules outlined in the Code of Practice for Statistics as they will form a subset of future published statistics. Data for 2023-2024 will be published in the Prison Education and Accredited Programme Statistics report on 26 September 2024.
There are 210 places available on the BBR programme for people in custody for 2024-25. This is subject to review related to changes in both the demand for different programmes, and the transition to new programmes being introduced in-year.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many super-injunctions are currently in effect in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
There is currently one super-injunction in force which was made in the Kings Bench Division of the High Court.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of section 156 (2) of the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 on levels of attacks on workers undertaking public-facing roles.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Section 156 (2) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 introduced a new statutory aggravating factor for certain assault offences where they are committed against a person providing a public service, performing a public duty, or providing services to the public. The Government introduced this to ensure that the public-facing nature of a victim's role would be considered, allowing the court to give a longer sentence within the statutory maximum for the offence.
The Ministry of Justice does not collect or publish data on the use of aggravating factors. Currently, there is no specific offence for an attack against a worker undertaking a public-facing role. As assault of a worker in a public-facing role is not a specific offence, we are unable to assess the trends relating to assaults on public-facing workers specifically.
The Government recognises the seriousness of assaults on workers undertaking public-facing roles and is clear that we must adopt a zero-tolerance approach to assault against those who serve the public. This is why in April 2024, the Government published ‘Fighting Retail Crime: more action’, within which the Government announced plans to introduce a new offence of assault against a shop worker, building on the operational policing commitments in the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan published in October 2023.