Ministry of Justice

This information is not held centrally. All staffing matters for contractors working in prisons, including leaving rates, are the responsibility of those contract providers. There is no requirement in the contracts to agree such matters with the Ministry of Justice.

Providers of contracted services play an important role in the prison estate and we continue to monitor them to ensure they maintain safe, decent and secure prisons.

We are delivering a Prisoner Education Service within this Parliament to raise prisoners’ levels of numeracy, literacy, skills and qualifications with the aim of helping them secure jobs or apprenticeships on their release. To do this, we must give prisons the tools they need to succeed. We will invest in digital infrastructure, more training that delivers the skills employers need, more education experts to support Governors and improved support for prisoners with additional learning needs.

To deliver this vision, we are currently running a series of engagement events, drawing on the expertise of stakeholders across the education and justice sectors.

HMPPS holds regular meetings with its recognised trade unions to share information and invite feedback on operational developments and proposals. As prison education staff are not employed by HMPPS, their union representatives are not part of these regular consultations. We have engaged with these representatives, however, as part of our wider engagement activity.

Contractual clauses are in place setting a mechanism for potential adjustments to charges. This information was published as part of the tender process, the supporting documents for which can be accessed via the following link: https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:61049-2018:HTML:EN:HTML&tabId=1&tabLang=en.

The department is completing a competitive tender exercise for the education contracts in public Young Offender Institutions in England. Once confirmed we will announce the new suppliers of the provision.

Leaving Rates by Grade are given in the HMPPS Workforce Bulletin – latest version is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/her-majestys-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-december-2021.

Information on leaving rates by grades is published in Table 11. Information on leaving rates by region is published in table 10, however this is only for “main” grades (band 3-5 officers, OSG, probation officers).

Although it is difficult to predict demand in the forthcoming years, overall demand in the Youth Secure Estate has fallen in the past two years, largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the removal of restrictions and with the Government’s commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers by 2023, we expect to see demand steadily rise, although there is significant uncertainty associated with this. Despite this anticipated higher demand for places, we are confident there will still be capacity to place the increased numbers of children and young people into custody in the next five years with children placed according to their individual needs.

Timeliness estimates from offence to completion for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court for robbery offences can be found in the attached tables by Crown Court.

Estimates of timeliness from offence to completion are taken from the point of offence committal through to the eventual completion of a case at court.

Caution should be taken when drawing conclusions from granular breakdowns – for example in the case of courts such as Salisbury and Newport (Isle of Wight) – as there is potential for marked variations based on small volumes and even single cases.

The Government is committed to supporting the recovery of the courts and we continue to take action to tackle the impact the pandemic has had on the system. We have extended 30 Nightingale courtrooms beyond the end of March 2022 and have again removed the limit on the number of days the Crown Court can sit this financial year. To secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/23 and beyond we are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment.

We received over 200 responses to the consultation and have been carefully examining the views submitted. This is a complex area and responses have raised a number of issues that require more detailed consideration, including the security and simplicity of the scheme, how it would be delivered and the role and operation of the Court of Protection.

We are currently working with the relevant departments and stakeholders to prepare the Government response to the consultation and will provide the House with a further update in due course.

There are currently no plans to install solar panels on the roof of Plymouth Magistrates Court.

The number of staff working in MoJ HQ to deliver the communications functions is 104.

91 are employed on full time contracts, 13 are employed on part time.

The data does not capture flexible working arrangements.

There are no plans to re-open this court. Hartlepool Magistrates’ and County Court closed in 2017 following a full public consultation and workloads were successfully transferred to Teesside Magistrates’ Court and Middlesbrough County Court.

The property is owned by the local council and HMCTS are contracted under a long lease agreement that allows the property to only be used for court operations. HMCTS are in conversation with the local council to find a suitable alternative use for the building, which will benefit the local community.

We will continue to keep our court and tribunal estate under close review to make sure it meets our operational requirements.

The Government is committed to supporting the recovery of the courts. We recognise that the impact of the pandemic in courts has been uneven across the country, with the Midlands being one of the areas experiencing a greater increase in caseload.

In order to tackle the backlogs, we have extended 30 Nightingale courtrooms beyond the end of March 2022. Two of these are in the Midlands, Park Hall Hotel in Wolverhampton and Maple House in Birmingham. We are also working with the judiciary to explore moving cases across regional boundaries to areas with spare capacity, where appropriate, and using a national, flexible pool of judges for some regions, including the Midlands, to draw from as required.

We opened a new ‘super courtroom’ in Loughborough to expand capacity for multi-hander cases, which involve three or more defendants, that have built up during the pandemic as they were harder to hear with social distancing measures in place. This ‘super courtroom’ will create the space needed to hear trials and free up capacity elsewhere in Leicestershire and the Midlands, allowing up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.

We have once again removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for this financial year to allow courts to work at full capacity, delivering swifter justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases. To secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/23 and beyond we are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment.

To provide additional capacity in the Crown Court we are extending magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 to 12 months’ imprisonment for a single Triable either Way offence to allow more cases to be heard in the magistrates’ court and help to drive down the backlog of cases over the coming years.

These measures are already working, and as a result we expect to get through 20% more Crown Court cases this financial year than we did pre-Covid. Following an increase in funding as part of the Ministry of Justice’s Spending Review settlement, we aim to reduce the number of outstanding cases in the Crown Court to 53,000 by March 2025.

We continue to take action to tackle the impact the pandemic has had on our courts and tribunals system. We invested £250 million to support recovery in our courts in the 2020/21 financial year. This included £76 million to increase our capacity to hear cases in the family and civil courts, as well as in tribunals. The recent Spending Review has also provided £324 million over the next three years to improve waiting times in the civil and family courts, and tribunals.

We increased Cafcass’ budget by £8.3 million for 2021/22 so that they have more capacity and can manage the additional pressures caused by the pandemic. We also provided Cafcass with an additional £491,000 to support work in the areas of the country where their resources are most under pressure.

We are maximising sittings from the judicial capacity available to work through our caseload. With the removal of Covid restrictions on 1st April 2022, face-to-face physical capacity is returning to business as usual during April although remote hearings will continue to play a part in the overall recovery effort.

Last financial year (2021/22) we undertook one of our most ambitious programmes of judicial recruitment ever, so that we can hear as many cases as possible. In the same year we lifted the number of days fee-paid judges can sit from 30 days to 80 for the second year in a row.

We are also managing demand in the family courts to ensure the capacity can be used most effectively to tackle the outstanding caseload. In March 2021 we launched a Family Mediation Voucher Scheme for those seeking to resolve private law matters relating to a child. Since its introduction, over 7,700 families have successfully used the scheme to access mediation and help resolve disputes outside of court.

In public family law, the outstanding caseload, by child, stood at 21,800 cases in January 2022. In 2021, average monthly disposals were roughly 200 more than they were in 2020. In private family law, the outstanding caseload, by child, in January 2022 stood at 83,000 cases, below the August 2021 peak of 85,000. In 2021, average monthly disposals were roughly 1,100 more per month than they were in 2020.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

A Full Planning Application has been submitted. Various reports and assessments have been undertaken as part of the application, including a security assessment. Details of the Planning Application can be viewed via the following link:

https://public-access.lbhf.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=R4J1WQBIGO600&activeTab=summary

A Full Planning Application has been submitted. Various reports and assessments have been undertaken as part of the application, including a security assessment. Details of the Planning Application can be viewed via the following link:

https://public-access.lbhf.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=R4J1WQBIGO600&activeTab=summary

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Where an offender is remanded on bail whilst they are awaiting sentencing (as opposed to being remanded into custody), they are under a duty to surrender themselves to the custody of the court at the next appointed time for a sentencing hearing. Where the offender fails in this duty, the court may issue a warrant for their arrest.

Where an offender is being held on remand in custody and they are directed to attend court for a sentencing hearing, a judge has no power to force them to attend the hearing if they refuse to do so.

The Secretary of State is considering the matter.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions up to December 2020, available in the following tool pivot tool:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063892/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2020-revised.xlsx.

Within the pivot tables, filter for:

(Offence code: Detailed offence)

Indecent exposure

• 08809: Exposure

88B Other miscellaneous sexual offences (Offence)

• 08805: Administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower to engage in sexual activity
• 08806: Committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence
• 08807: Trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence

175 Sexual Offences- Miscellaneous (Offence)

• 17504: Sexual activity in a public lavatory

To breakdown an offence by sex, filter for the required offence and move the ‘sex’ filter, in the pivot table field list, to the rows area.

Filter ‘year of appearance’ to 2015-20.

Figures for 2021 are due to be published 19^th May 2022.

The figures given in the data tool relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When an offender has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed.

Information on charges issued by the police is not held by this department.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions up to December 2020, available in the following tool pivot tool:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063892/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2020-revised.xlsx.

Within the pivot tables, filter for:

(Offence code: Detailed offence)

Indecent exposure

• 08809: Exposure

88B Other miscellaneous sexual offences (Offence)

• 08805: Administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower to engage in sexual activity
• 08806: Committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence
• 08807: Trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence

175 Sexual Offences- Miscellaneous (Offence)

• 17504: Sexual activity in a public lavatory

To breakdown an offence by sex, filter for the required offence and move the ‘sex’ filter, in the pivot table field list, to the rows area.

Filter ‘year of appearance’ to 2015-20.

Figures for 2021 are due to be published 19^th May 2022.

The figures given in the data tool relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When an offender has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed.

Information on charges issued by the police is not held by this department.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions up to December 2020, available in the following tool pivot tool:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063892/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2020-revised.xlsx.

Within the pivot tables, filter for:

(Offence code: Detailed offence)

Indecent exposure

• 08809: Exposure

88B Other miscellaneous sexual offences (Offence)

• 08805: Administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower to engage in sexual activity
• 08806: Committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence
• 08807: Trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence

175 Sexual Offences- Miscellaneous (Offence)

• 17504: Sexual activity in a public lavatory

To breakdown an offence by sex, filter for the required offence and move the ‘sex’ filter, in the pivot table field list, to the rows area.

Filter ‘year of appearance’ to 2015-20.

Figures for 2021 are due to be published 19^th May 2022.

The figures given in the data tool relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When an offender has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed.

Information on charges issued by the police is not held by this department.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions up to December 2020, available in the following tool pivot tool:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063892/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2020-revised.xlsx.

Within the pivot tables, filter for:

(Offence code: Detailed offence)

Indecent exposure

• 08809: Exposure

88B Other miscellaneous sexual offences (Offence)

• 08805: Administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower to engage in sexual activity
• 08806: Committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence
• 08807: Trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence

175 Sexual Offences- Miscellaneous (Offence)

• 17504: Sexual activity in a public lavatory

To breakdown an offence by sex, filter for the required offence and move the ‘sex’ filter, in the pivot table field list, to the rows area.

Filter ‘year of appearance’ to 2015-20.

Figures for 2021 are due to be published 19^th May 2022.

The figures given in the data tool relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When an offender has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed.

Information on charges issued by the police is not held by this department.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions up to December 2020, available in the following tool pivot tool:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063892/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2020-revised.xlsx.

Within the pivot tables, filter for:

(Offence code: Detailed offence)

Indecent exposure

• 08809: Exposure

88B Other miscellaneous sexual offences (Offence)

• 08805: Administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower to engage in sexual activity
• 08806: Committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence
• 08807: Trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence

175 Sexual Offences- Miscellaneous (Offence)

• 17504: Sexual activity in a public lavatory

To breakdown an offence by sex, filter for the required offence and move the ‘sex’ filter, in the pivot table field list, to the rows area.

Filter ‘year of appearance’ to 2015-20.

Figures for 2021 are due to be published 19^th May 2022.

The figures given in the data tool relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When an offender has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed.

Information on charges issued by the police is not held by this department.

The Government notes the conclusion of the Nuffield Foundation’s report. The Government remains committed to assessing the case for more comprehensive and enduring reform to marriage law once the Law Commission has completed its fundamental review of the law in this area. The final report will take into account the findings of the Nuffield Foundation and is due in July. The report will support the Government in understanding what types of ceremonies are taking place, why they are taking place and what the demand for them is, and who conducts them, in order to consider the implications of changing the law on marriage on all groups.

In response to the Expert Panel’s report ‘Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases’, the Government committed to working with all key partners in the family justice system to design a statement of practice for cases raising issues of domestic abuse or other risks of harm. This statement of practice will take into account provisions made in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, the recently published Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, and learning from the development of the Integrated Domestic Abuse Court investigative approach pilots. Work on developing this statement will be progressed jointly by system leaders with oversight from the Family Justice Board. The Family Justice Board is jointly chaired by Ministers from the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education. Any decision to incorporate a new statement of practice into the Child Arrangements Programme will be made by the President of the Family Division.

In response to the Expert Panel’s report ‘Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases’, the Government committed to working with all key partners in the family justice system to design a statement of practice for cases raising issues of domestic abuse or other risks of harm. This statement of practice will take into account provisions made in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, the recently published Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, and learning from the development of the Integrated Domestic Abuse Court investigative approach pilots. Work on developing this statement will be progressed jointly by system leaders with oversight from the Family Justice Board. The Family Justice Board is jointly chaired by Ministers from the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education. Any decision to incorporate a new statement of practice into the Child Arrangements Programme will be made by the President of the Family Division.

The Government has not made any overall assessment of the adherence of Family Court judges to Practice Directions. The independence of the judiciary is a fundamental principle in the constitutional separation of powers and the rule of law, and it would be inappropriate for ministers to comment on individual judicial decision making or the individual adherence of family court judges to Practice Directions. In 2019, the government announced a Call for Evidence to consider how effectively the family courts respond to allegations of domestic abuse and other risk of harm to children and parent victims in private law children proceedings, overseen by an Expert Panel. This call for evidence and the final report of the Expert Panel considered, amongst other things how Practice Direction 12J, Practice Direction 3AA and Part 3A of the Family Procedure Rules were being applied.

The Government is now working to deliver the commitments set out in the Implementation Plan published in response to the final report. As part of this, we are working with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and Victims Commissioner to establish a monitoring and reporting mechanism to better understand what is happening in private law proceedings involving domestic abuse.

It is not constitutionally appropriate for judicial training to be mandated, monitored and/or overseen by the Secretary of State. To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), the Senior President of the Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. Training responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College. The judiciary and professional staff in the Judicial College are responsible for the design, content, and delivery of judicial training.

Refreshed and updated specialist digital training on domestic abuse was launched in October 2021 for all family judges and magistrates. This training year (2022/23), the Judicial College is also running bespoke training on domestic abuse for all family and civil judges and new training that addresses the attitudinal and behavioural issues raised in recent caselaw, the MoJ Harm Report and the Domestic Abuse Act will be rolled out from April 2022.

The Department’s last published monthly transparency data for spending over £25,000 was for the month of March 2021, published on 22 April 2022.

Further data is currently going through the Department’s formal clearance process. The Department plans to publish data up to the end of November 2021 within the next month.

The number of prosecutions for identity fraud cannot be identified separately from broader fraud offences in data held centrally and published here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063892/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2020-revised.xlsx.

Information on identity fraud may be held on court records, but to be able to identify these cases would require examining individual court transcripts which would be of disproportionate cost.

We are making good progress against the commitments outlined in our Implementation Plan that was published alongside the ‘Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases’ report.

Changes were brought in as part of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, including automatic eligibility for special measures in the Family Court, the prohibition of cross examination of victims by perpetrators or alleged perpetrators, and a clarification of the law on the use of section 91(14) orders in domestic abuse circumstances. The special measures provision is already in force and the remaining measures are expected to be commenced later this spring.

We are currently undertaking a review into the presumption of parental involvement and its risk of harm exception, in private law children cases. The research for this review is expected to be complete by the end of the year. In February we launched the Integrated Domestic Abuse Court (IDAC) pilot to test a more investigative approach to private law proceedings in courts in Dorset and North Wales.

On 26 March 2021, we launched the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, which offers up to £500 towards eligible mediation cases, encouraging people to resolve their disputes outside of court where safe and appropriate to do so. We allocated £3.3m throughout the 2021-22 financial year, helping 6,726 families in the period to mediate on issues around their children. As of 24 April 2022, 7,916 vouchers have been distributed, and we will be making an official announcement on funding for the 2022-23 financial year shortly.

We are committed to ensuring all those who need drug treatment in prison have access to a full range of treatment options, including abstinence-based interventions, to support a meaningful recovery from drug dependency.

In 2011, responsibility for health services, including substance misuse treatment, in prisons transferred from the National Offender Management Service to NHS England. Data on the number of prisoners in treatment services is collected via the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System and can be obtained from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

Substance misuse treatment in secure settings: 2020 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Data showing how many prisoners have been released from custodial sentences on a Friday in each of the last five years can be viewed in table 1 below.

Table 1: Releases from custodial sentences on a Friday, by year, 2016-2020, in England and Wales

Data for this is available using the figures published in table 4.24 of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly bulletin, which can be found in the document linked below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/981217/Probation_2020.ods.

While the decision of whether to order a pre-sentence report (PSR) is up to the discretion of the judiciary, we recognise their importance and are working to improve their quality, targeting and timeliness.

The Department is leading on a pilot that is currently running in 15 magistrates’ courts across England and Wales. The pilot is encouraging the earlier identification of cases that would benefit from a PSR, and providing additional training and support to build the capacity of PSR writers to further improve the quality of their reports. The pilot also requires that short format written reports are produced for three priority cohorts generally understood to have more complex needs, namely female offenders, young adult offenders and offenders at risk of custody. Whilst the majority of these cases may need a more comprehensive report, that may result in probation requesting an adjournment, a screening tool has been introduced to ensure that the reports on these cohorts are proportionate to the complexity of the individual case, rather than a fuller report when it is not necessary.

On average, expenditure on MoJ HQ communications staffing is £5.5m.

The Government brought forward an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill to require the Secretary of State to refer all eligible Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) offenders to the Parole Board for consideration of licence termination.

There are no current plans to change the length of time - 10 years - before which IPP offenders can be considered for licence termination. However, the Government keeps all aspects of the IPP sentence under constant review.