Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to ensure offenders convicted of Child Sexual Exploitation are not released into the same community as the victims on completion of a custodial sentence.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Individuals convicted of serious sexual, violent and terrorist offences are managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) on release from custody. MAPPA enables the Police, Probation and Prison Services to work together with other agencies to manage the risks posed by these individuals in the community, in order to protect victims and members of the public.
All offenders released from custodial sentences before the end of their sentence will be supervised on licence in the community by the Probation Service. Victims who opt in to the Victim Contact Scheme (VCS), which is available for victims of specified sexual or violent offences where the sentence is 12 months or more, have the statutory right to request licence conditions for when the offender is released. Typically, these conditions will include a non-contact condition and exclusion zones, prohibiting the offender from entering areas where the victim lives, works or travels to frequently.
Where victims do not qualify for the VCS, the supervising officer in the Probation Service will undertake a risk assessment and may request licence conditions to mitigate identified risks where they relate to victims of the index offence.
Licence conditions end when the offender completes his/her sentence. However, where the Police have concerns about an offender’s ongoing risk to a victim or the general public, they may apply may apply to the Magistrates Court for the imposition of a civil order, which may place restrictions or obligations on the offender which replicate some of the protections of the licence.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department plans to spend on (a) assessments, (b) referrals and (c) support for (i) offenders and (ii) victims who are affected by harmful gambling in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is not held centrally.
The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the number of persons arrested by the police. No national estimate has been made. Probation staff assess individual needs and can assist with referrals to local or national services to address gambling or to access debt counselling services where appropriate. In custody, all prisoners are seen by NHS healthcare on reception and can be referred to addiction services to help address problem gambling.
HMPPS are also working with NHS and other partners to better understand the evidence around gambling addiction. This will inform a more joined up, cross system approach to effective support and recovery.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) prisoners and (b) offenders on probation affected by harmful gambling are receiving (i) treatment and (ii) other support during their sentence.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is not held centrally.
The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the number of persons arrested by the police. No national estimate has been made. Probation staff assess individual needs and can assist with referrals to local or national services to address gambling or to access debt counselling services where appropriate. In custody, all prisoners are seen by NHS healthcare on reception and can be referred to addiction services to help address problem gambling.
HMPPS are also working with NHS and other partners to better understand the evidence around gambling addiction. This will inform a more joined up, cross system approach to effective support and recovery.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) persons arrested by the police (b) prisoners and (c) offenders on probation who are affected by harmful gambling.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is not held centrally.
The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the number of persons arrested by the police. No national estimate has been made. Probation staff assess individual needs and can assist with referrals to local or national services to address gambling or to access debt counselling services where appropriate. In custody, all prisoners are seen by NHS healthcare on reception and can be referred to addiction services to help address problem gambling.
HMPPS are also working with NHS and other partners to better understand the evidence around gambling addiction. This will inform a more joined up, cross system approach to effective support and recovery.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers who joined in 2023 resigned within (a) 14 and (b) 30 days of the start of their employment.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, including joiners and leavers, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 December 2023.
In the 12 months to 31 December 2023 there were 5,066 Band 3-5 Prison Officers1 who joined2 HMPPS. Of these, 66 resigned3,4 within the period up to and including 14 days, and an additional 33 resigned3,4 in the period of 15 days to 30 days after joining.
Notes
1. Includes Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
2. New recruits joining HMPPS - does not include internal transfers or conversions.
3. Resignation date taken as the last day of service. Date that resignation handed in is not available.
4. Staff who left for other reasons are not included.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Written Statement of 11 March 2024 on Update on Foreign National Offenders, Prisons and Probation, HCWS332, whether the new 10,000 prison places include rapid deployment cells.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are delivering 20,000 additional, modern prison places, the largest prison build programme since the Victorian era, ensuring the right conditions are in place to rehabilitate prisoners, helping to cut crime and protect the public. So far c.5,900 places have been delivered.
Of these places, we have so far delivered c.670 Rapid Deployment Cells (RDCs) across 12 sites. By the end of 2025 we are on track to have delivered around 10,000 places in total, this will include hundreds more RDCs. We are looking at all options to accelerate delivery of all types of places across the estate.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals held in the prison estate have previously been detained after conviction.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This is because it would require data linking between prison data and the Ministry of Justice extract of the police national computer.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of naloxone kits issued (a) within custodial settings in and (b) on release from HM Prisons in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many opioid overdoses in custodial settings have (a) been successfully reversed and (b) resulted in fatalities in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times naloxone has been administered in custodial settings in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.