Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have not completed their first session of community payback.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Year | Average days from sentence to start of Community Payback | Number of offenders who did not complete their first session of Community Payback | Total caseload |
2021 | 87 | 8,830 | 44,108 |
2022 | 63 | 7,822 | 47,421 |
2023 | 37 | 6,604 | 48,058 |
The dataset includes all offenders starting an order with a community payback requirement between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2023. The start of the community payback requirement has been defined as either the first attended session of group work, or an individual placement, or the completion of Employment, Training and Education work.
There are a variety of reason why a person hasn't completed their first community payback session. These include receiving a custodial sentence or remanded into custody, recall to prison, a warrant for their arrest, deportation, suitability of sentence and non -compliance. For issues of suitability or non-compliance requirements are returned to court for appropriate action to be taken.
People whose first community payback session took place over a year from their order start date have been excluded from the average days calculation as additional court work would need to be completed to ensure that the first session was worked within a lawful period.
People who have not completed a first work session have also been excluded from the average day calculation, along with those where a first work session has been recorded after the community payback requirement was terminated.
The 2023 figure is subject to change as offenders sentenced in late 2023 will still have time to complete their first community payback session.
Centrally collected data are only available from 2021.
Between 2021 and 2023, a total of 23,256 offenders did not complete their first session of community payback.
This figure is subject to change as offenders sentenced in late 2023 will still have time to complete their first community payback session.
Data as at 15 April 2024. Data are sourced from nDelius and while these data have been assured as much as practical, as with any large administrative dataset, the data should not be assumed to be accurate to the last value presented.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the average time from sentence to start of community payback in each year since 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Year | Average days from sentence to start of Community Payback | Number of offenders who did not complete their first session of Community Payback | Total caseload |
2021 | 87 | 8,830 | 44,108 |
2022 | 63 | 7,822 | 47,421 |
2023 | 37 | 6,604 | 48,058 |
The dataset includes all offenders starting an order with a community payback requirement between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2023. The start of the community payback requirement has been defined as either the first attended session of group work, or an individual placement, or the completion of Employment, Training and Education work.
There are a variety of reason why a person hasn't completed their first community payback session. These include receiving a custodial sentence or remanded into custody, recall to prison, a warrant for their arrest, deportation, suitability of sentence and non -compliance. For issues of suitability or non-compliance requirements are returned to court for appropriate action to be taken.
People whose first community payback session took place over a year from their order start date have been excluded from the average days calculation as additional court work would need to be completed to ensure that the first session was worked within a lawful period.
People who have not completed a first work session have also been excluded from the average day calculation, along with those where a first work session has been recorded after the community payback requirement was terminated.
The 2023 figure is subject to change as offenders sentenced in late 2023 will still have time to complete their first community payback session.
Centrally collected data are only available from 2021.
Between 2021 and 2023, a total of 23,256 offenders did not complete their first session of community payback.
This figure is subject to change as offenders sentenced in late 2023 will still have time to complete their first community payback session.
Data as at 15 April 2024. Data are sourced from nDelius and while these data have been assured as much as practical, as with any large administrative dataset, the data should not be assumed to be accurate to the last value presented.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people recalled to prison were recalled due to (a) new offences, (b) a lack of address and (c) non-compliance with appointments in the latest 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Public protection is our priority. The decision to recall on offender on licensed supervision is taken on the professional advice of senior probation staff following consideration of safe alternatives to recall. Where offenders are recalled, it is because they present a risk of serious harm to the public and the controls available are no longer sufficient to keep the public safe. These individuals will remain in prison for only as long as necessary to protect the public.
Reasons for recall are recorded and published as set out in the table below. Further breakdown of recall reasons is not possible without significant manual checks.
Recall period | Oct-Dec 2022 | Jan-Mar 2023* | Apr-Jun 2023 | Jul-Sep 2023 | % Proportion |
Total Recalls | 6,092 | 6,824 | 6,814 | 7,030 |
|
Facing further charge | 1,821 | 1,977 | 1,883 | 1,815 | 28 |
Non-compliance | 4,378 | 5,047 | 5,038 | 5,376 | 74 |
Failed to keep in touch | 1,960 | 2,140 | 2,110 | 2,286 | 32 |
Failed to reside | 1,613 | 1,792 | 1,810 | 1,920 | 27 |
Drugs/alcohol | 413 | 437 | 489 | 577 | 7 |
Poor Behaviour - Relationships | 205 | 214 | 212 | 224 | 3 |
HDC - Time violation | 124 | 131 | 171 | 151 | 2 |
HDC - Inability to monitor | 65 | 75 | 71 | 81 | 1 |
Failed home visit | 89 | 78 | 73 | 86 | 1 |
HDC - Failed installation | 37 | 29 | 30 | 51 | 1 |
HDC - Equipment Tamper | 9 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 0 |
Other | 1,091 | 1,299 | 1,304 | 1,296 | 19 |
* Figures for Jan-Mar 2023 have been revised since last publication.
The table includes instances of offenders recalled multiple times.
Recall reasons do not sum to the total number of recalls published, as more than one reason can be recorded against each recall.
We routinely publish recall data at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 programme in ensuring prison leavers find settled accommodation following up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMPPS Community Accommodation Service (CAS) provides transitional accommodation via three tiers of support, each focused on a different cohort. CAS3 was launched in July 2021, providing up to 12 weeks’ guaranteed accommodation on release for those leaving prison at risk of homelessness, with support to move on to settled accommodation. Initially implemented in five probation regions (Yorkshire and the Humber; North West; Greater Manchester; East of England; and Kent, Surrey and Sussex), the service was rolled out to Wales in June 2022. From April 2023, the CAS3 service was operating in all probation regions in England and Wales. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.
We are undertaking an evaluation of the impact of CAS3 on offenders’ obtaining settled accommodation and employment, and on re-offending outcomes. The report is due to be published in the autumn.
The National Audit Office’s report “Improving resettlement support for prison leavers to reduce reoffending”, published in May 2023, looks at the impact of CAS3 on accommodation outcomes during the period up to February 2023. It can be accessed via the following link:
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for how many and what proportion of people on community sentences with a supervision element was a breach recorded in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The supervision requirement was phased out with the introduction of Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, therefore we have used the Rehabilitation Activity Requirement as the data source in this response as the best match to Supervision.
Between 01/04/2022 and 31/03/2023, the last full year for which data is available, breaches were initiated one or more times for 39,617 individuals with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement as part of their Community Sentence.
During this period, the typical number of persons with an active Rehabilitation Activity Requirement was 84,608. As the caseload will vary, with a vast number of sentences commencing and ending on a daily basis, it is not possible to provide a figure for the proportion of those with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, with a breach recorded.
It should be noted that a breach being initiated does not necessarily mean that a breach was heard at court, or resulted in a Court hearing, they may instead have been withdrawn due to renewed compliance, at the Probation Practitioner’s professional judgement. Breaches are undertaken for a number of reasons, including non-attendance, unacceptable behaviour and commission of further offences.
Data are as at 16/04/2024. Data are sourced from nDelius and while these data have been assured as much as practical, as with any large administrative dataset, the data should not be assumed to be accurate to the last value presented.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure people leaving prison have settled accommodation upon release.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is committed to preventing homelessness and works closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government to do so. Prisons and probation have a statutory duty to refer someone at risk of homelessness to a local authority for assistance, and we have worked closely with DLUHC on the design and delivery of their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme. We have set up a Cross-Whitehall Accommodation Board, attended by officials from MoJ, HMPPS, Welsh Government and DLUHC, to ensure collaboration across policy and operational areas. In the year to March 2023, 86% of prison leavers were in accommodation on their first night of release from custody (excluding cases where the status was unknown). This is up from 80% in 2019-20, the year immediately before our accommodation investments began.
In July 2021, we launched our groundbreaking Community Accommodation Service Tier-3 in five probation regions, to guarantee up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation to prison leavers subject to probation supervision who are at risk of homelessness on release, including those released under the End of Custody Supervised Licence measure. From April 2023, the service was expanded across all probation regions in England and Wales and continues to bring new beds online as the service embeds. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help ensure prison leavers do not become homeless upon release.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is committed to preventing homelessness and works closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government to do so. Prisons and probation have a statutory duty to refer someone at risk of homelessness to a local authority for assistance, and we have worked closely with DLUHC on the design and delivery of their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme. We have set up a Cross-Whitehall Accommodation Board, attended by officials from MoJ, HMPPS, Welsh Government and DLUHC, to ensure collaboration across policy and operational areas. In the year to March 2023, 86% of prison leavers were in accommodation on their first night of release from custody (excluding cases where the status was unknown). This is up from 80% in 2019-20, the year immediately before our accommodation investments began.
In July 2021, we launched our groundbreaking Community Accommodation Service Tier-3 in five probation regions, to guarantee up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation to prison leavers subject to probation supervision who are at risk of homelessness on release, including those released under the End of Custody Supervised Licence measure. From April 2023, the service was expanded across all probation regions in England and Wales and continues to bring new beds online as the service embeds. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of his Department’s (a) advertising and (b) marketing expenditure was on (i) local newspapers in print and online, (ii) national newspapers in print and online, (iii) social media, (iv) search engines, (v) broadcast and on-demand television and (vi) other channels in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Over financial year 2022/23, the Ministry of Justice’s communications team delivered highly cost-effective marketing campaigns to support operational and policy priorities, such as our Prison and Probation Service recruitment campaigns.
As requested, we have outlined the proportion of the marketing and advertising budget that was spent on advertising broken down in percentages. The categories vary slightly due to the way the data is collected. It is worth noting that due to 2023/24 accounts still being in reconciliation, we are unable to provide data for year 2023/24.
| Proportion |
Local Print (advertising) | 0.04% |
National Print (advertising) | 0.52% |
Online job sites (advertising) | 54.24% |
Online Media Search advertising | 15.69% |
Broadcast and on-demand television (advertising) | 0% |
Other | 13.58% |
Social media (advertising) | 15.94% |
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time was for a (a) rape, (b) murder, (c) GBH and (d) robbery trial in each year since 2010.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have interpreted waiting time to refer to the time between the date of sending a case to the Crown Court and the start of the substantive Crown Court hearing.
The average waiting times of defendants dealt with in rape, murder, GBH and robbery trial cases where a not guilty plea was entered in the Crown Court can be found in the below table based on published annual data from 2014 to 2023. Data prior to 2014 is not available.
While the Crown Court is still recovering from the impact of the pandemic and disruptive action from the Bar, which reduced our ability to hear cases swiftly, the latest published statistics show that the median age of cases that are outstanding was around 6 months.
We are committed to ensuring the delivery of swift justice for all victims and have introduced a raft of measures to achieve that aim. This includes funding around 107,000 sitting days during the most recent financial year (FY23,24), recruiting up to 1,000 judges annually across all jurisdictions and investing in the continued use of 20 Nightingale courtrooms into this financial year (FY24/25) to allow the courts to work at full capacity.
Judges do prioritise cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses, and seek to ensure that domestic abuse, serious sexual offences and those with vulnerable witnesses are listed at the first available opportunity. The Senior Presiding Judge has also recently announced that all rape cases outstanding for more than two years at court will be listed by the end of July 2024.
Average waiting times (weeks) of defendants dealt with in rape, murder, GBH and robbery for-trial cases where a not guilty plea was entered in the Crown Court, annually, 2014 - 2023 | ||||||||
| Rape | Murder | GBH | Robbery | ||||
Year | Median | Mean | Median | Mean | Median | Mean | Median | Mean |
2014 | 27.6 | 29.5 | 25.0 | 26.3 | 26.6 | 30.1 | 23.9 | 24.5 |
2015 | 28.9 | 31.8 | 25.7 | 28.8 | 28.0 | 33.0 | 24.4 | 28.4 |
2016 | 28.0 | 30.9 | 24.3 | 23.1 | 25.9 | 33.4 | 24.0 | 27.3 |
2017 | 28.8 | 31.5 | 24.0 | 24.6 | 24.9 | 30.5 | 22.6 | 24.6 |
2018 | 29.6 | 32.9 | 23.7 | 23.7 | 24.7 | 28.9 | 22.6 | 23.4 |
2019 | 26.7 | 30.1 | 24.6 | 24.5 | 24.1 | 26.7 | 22.9 | 23.2 |
2020 | 30.6 | 32.5 | 25.5 | 28.9 | 27.0 | 31.4 | 25.4 | 27.8 |
2021 | 41.0 | 44.8 | 32.6 | 36.9 | 36.7 | 44.0 | 33.9 | 39.4 |
2022 | 39.7 | 44.4 | 33.0 | 36.6 | 35.9 | 46.7 | 32.4 | 43.1 |
2023 | 41.7 | 48.2 | 33.6 | 38.5 | 36.9 | 50.3 | 29.7 | 47.6 |
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of court trials for (a) rape, (b) sexual assault, (c) violence against a person, (d) murder, (e) theft, (f) possession of weapons and (g) fraud have been delayed each year since 2010.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have interpreted your request as relating to ineffective trials, which is where the trial does not take place on the day as planned and requires rescheduling. Ineffective trials happen for a variety of reasons, such as the absence of a defendant or a witness or adjournment requests from either the prosecution or defence.
The tables attached set out the data held by the Ministry of Justice on ineffective trials broken down by offence type, in volume and as a proportion of the total listed trials for that offence type. Crown Court data is available from 2014 onwards.
The pandemic created a significant challenge for the Crown Court and affected its ability to effectively list trials. As a result, the ineffective trial rate notably increased in 2020, primarily due to increases in defendant illness or absence, and overlisting (55% of all ineffective trials were for these reasons combined).
Since 2022, the proportion of ineffective trials in the Crown Court for all offences increased significantly as a result of the Criminal Bar Assocation (CBA) action. While the ineffective trial rate reduced swiftly following the conclusion of the CBA action, in the most recent available data published by the MoJ (October-December 2023), the defence or prosecution not being ready was the largest reason for ineffective trials, accounting for 22% (450) of all ineffective trials.
Despite the overall increase in ineffective trials since the pandemic and subsequent CBA action, the latest data shows cases progressed through the Crown Court more quickly throughout 2023, with the median time from receipt to completion reducing from 167 days in the first quarter of 2023, to 125 days in the last quarter.