Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many permanent civil servants in her Department are staff without assigned posts; and how many are placed in an equivalent (a) people action team, (b) priority movers list, (c) redeployment register, (d) talent pool and (e) skills match hub in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
At any point in time, there is likely to be a small number of individuals who have been displaced due to restructures within their business units or, for example, have returned from a loan from another department and their role no longer exists. The exact number changes on a day-to-day basis.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many males have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for unlawful abortions in England and Wales in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions across England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.
The offences that constitute unlawful abortion include procuring an illegal abortion under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as child destruction under section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many females have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for unlawful abortion in England and Wales in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions across England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.
The offences that constitute unlawful abortion include procuring an illegal abortion under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as child destruction under section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to introduce mandatory prison sentences for people convicted of drug driving offences in cases where no accident has occurred.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The safety of our roads is an absolute priority for this Government. That is why the Department for Transport is committed to delivering a new Road Safety Strategy – the first in over a decade. They will set out next steps on this in due course.
While independent judges decide sentences, we are committed to making sure the courts have the sentencing powers to ensure punishments fit the severity of the crime.
Provisions in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (the Act) increased the maximum penalty from 14 years’ imprisonment to life for the offences of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs, and causing death by dangerous driving.
We continue to work alongside the Department for Transport to ensure sentencing law for driving offences is appropriate.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were not notified before prisoners who perpetrated crimes against them were released early under the SDS40 scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
The HMPPS Victim Contact Scheme is a service for the victims of offenders who are convicted of specified violent, sexual or terrorism offences and are sentenced to twelve months or more imprisonment. The Victim Notification Scheme provides a similar service for victims of certain stalking and harassment offences. Both Schemes allow for the Probation Service to notify eligible victims of information about an offender’s sentence.
When SDS40 was introduced, for those eligible victims who opted into the Schemes, the Probation Service provided information on the SDS40 changes, including the offender’s new release date and how to access support services. Eligible victims continue to receive key information about the offender in their case, including when the offender is recalled to custody.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the merits of a national older offender strategy to address the health needs of the ageing prison population.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Independent Sentencing Review considered issues relating to older cohorts including older prisoners as part of its remit. We have accepted in principle the vast majority of the Independent Sentencing Review’s recommendations and we will work with partners and the sector as we develop our approach.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the amount spent on providing (a) football, (b) pool, (c) table-tennis, (d) gym, (e) running, (f) yoga, (g) chess and (h) other sporting activities in prisons in the last year.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
H M Prison and Probation Service recognises the importance physical activity plays in the overall well-being of prisoners and the effect sport, exercise and movement can have on supporting other programmes designed to reduce offending behaviour.
Data on the amount spent in providing the activities specified are not held centrally, and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it his policy to establish an independent body to administer compensation following miscarriages of justice.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Under the statutory scheme set out in section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the Secretary of State for Justice is responsible for considering applications for compensation in cases of miscarriages of justice in England and Wales, subject to specific criteria. Where an individual meets the criteria, an Independent Assessor has discretion in determining the amount awarded, in accordance with the statute. Given this established process, as agreed by Parliament, there are currently no plans to create an independent body to administer compensation following miscarriages of justice.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will publish a timeline for the Law Commission of England and Wales’s review of the homicide law.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Law Commission is independent of Government and responsible for the review of homicide law and sentencing for murder, including publishing their proposed timeline. The Government understands, however, that the Law Commission intends to publish a timeline for their homicide review imminently.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate she has made of the cost to court infrastructure of implementing the Equality and Human Rights Commission's revised code of practice for services, public functions and associations.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No such estimates have been produced. Any financial consequences from implementing the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s revised code of practice in HM Courts and Tribunals Service will be considered as part of the agency’s annual budgeting cycle.