Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, are currently serving prison sentences for non-payment of council tax.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
As at 30 June 2019 (latest available data) no females and one male were in prison, having been committed to prison for non-payment of council tax.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pregnant women have been released from prison during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
On 31 March, this government announced that pregnant women and prisoners living on Mother and Baby Units will be considered for Release on Temporary licence on compassionate grounds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Friday 1 May, 21 pregnant women and prisoners with babies in custody have been released.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 20 January (HL111), why the total number of releases, as outlined in the table Accommodation on Release from Custody: National Accommodation Circumstances, England and Wales between April 2017 and March 2019, has dropped from 18,239 in Quarter 1, to 12,544 in Quarter 4, of the 2018/19 financial year.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Issues have been identified with the data reported in the Accommodation and Employment annexes to the Community Performance Quarterly publication and this will be re-issued at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-update-to-june-2019 once these have been resolved.
A corrected version of HL111 will also be provided. We aim to have this issue resolved by the end of the month.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to begin recording statistics on (1) the resettlement of offenders leaving prisons, and (2) prisoners who are released with no fixed abode.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The accommodation status for all offenders released from custody, including those under National Probation Service (NPS), Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) supervision, and offenders on community sentences, has been published since July 2018. The latest publication can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-update-to-march-2019. The relevant table of data from this publication is attached for reference.
It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe and secure to live, as a platform to access the services and support needed to make a fresh start. We have invested an additional £22 million per annum over the remaining life of the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) contracts to deliver an enhanced “Through-the-Gate” resettlement service to offenders leaving prison, to prepare them for release. Through the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy, we are also investing up to £6.4m in a pilot scheme to support individuals released from three prisons: Bristol, Leeds and Pentonville. Services have now commenced in all three areas, with the first individuals now being supported into accommodation following release. Subject to evaluation, we will use the lessons from the pilot to inform future provision of accommodation for all ex-offenders. Additionally, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service is working in collaboration with other Government Departments and interested parties to help to meet the accommodation needs for prisoners on their release.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 10 July (HL16975), how many deaths occurred in (1) HMP Styal, and (2) HMP Peterborough, in (a) March, (b) April, and (c) May 2019; what was the cause of death in each case; and what steps they took to ensure that the earlier Written Answer was accurate.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
All deaths in custody are reported to Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service within 24 hours. That report includes (among other things) the name of the deceased, the date they died, their gender, and a brief description of the circumstances of their death. Where possible the report will give a provisional cause of death. The prison is also obliged to report the death to the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman, to allow her investigation to begin, and all deaths in custody are the subject of an inquest. The cause of death may be updated later in light of the Ombudsman’s report and/or the coroner’s verdict.
The answer to question 16975 gave figures taken from data that the Government published on 25 April 2019, covering deaths in custody up to the end of March. My officials have double-checked and I can confirm that those figures were correct. Data about deaths in custody can be inspected using the Deaths data tool at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2018. As the question was about deaths during 2019, the causes of death are provisional and may be updated once the investigations outlined above have been concluded.
The table below gives the number of deaths at HMP Styal and HMP Peterborough in March, April and May 2019.
| HMP Styal | HMP Peterborough |
March 2019 | 1 (self-inflicted) | - |
April 2019 | - | 1 (self-inflicted) |
May 2019 | 1 (self-inflicted) | - |
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 8 July (HL16975), what process Her Majesty’s Prison Service uses to (1) record, (2) classify, and (3) centrally collect information about, any deaths of those imprisoned in women’s prisons.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
All deaths in custody are reported to Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service within 24 hours. That report includes (among other things) the name of the deceased, the date they died, their gender, and a brief description of the circumstances of their death. Where possible the report will give a provisional cause of death. The prison is also obliged to report the death to the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman, to allow her investigation to begin, and all deaths in custody are the subject of an inquest. The cause of death may be updated later in light of the Ombudsman’s report and/or the coroner’s verdict.
The answer to question 16975 gave figures taken from data that the Government published on 25 April 2019, covering deaths in custody up to the end of March. My officials have double-checked and I can confirm that those figures were correct. Data about deaths in custody can be inspected using the Deaths data tool at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2018. As the question was about deaths during 2019, the causes of death are provisional and may be updated once the investigations outlined above have been concluded.
The table below gives the number of deaths at HMP Styal and HMP Peterborough in March, April and May 2019.
| HMP Styal | HMP Peterborough |
March 2019 | 1 (self-inflicted) | - |
April 2019 | - | 1 (self-inflicted) |
May 2019 | 1 (self-inflicted) | - |
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many deaths there have been in women's prisons in 2019, broken down by (1) cause, (2) classification, and (3) prison.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The table below shows the numbers of deaths in women’s prisons, by classification, up to the end of March 2019. That is the latest date for which figures are available.
Prison | self-inflicted | homicide | natural causes | other non-natural | awaiting classification |
Askham Grange | - | - | - | - | - |
Bronzefield | - | - | - | - | - |
Downview | - | - | - | - | - |
Drake Hall | - | - | - | - | - |
Eastwood Park | - | - | - | - | - |
East Sutton Park | - | - | - | - | - |
Foston Hall | - | - | - | - | - |
Low Newton | - | - | 1 | - | - |
New Hall | - | - | - | - | - |
Peterborough (F) | - | - | - | - | - |
Send | - | - | - | - | - |
Styal | 1 | - | - | - | - |
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many women have appeared as defendants before (1) judges, and (2) magistrates, in the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Ministry of Justice does not hold the data for how many women have appeared as defendants before judges or magistrates, but the department does hold data on how many women were proceeded against at Magistrates Courts and Crown Courts. This data is set out in the table below.
Table 1: Number of female defendants dealt with at magistrates' court and Crown Court, 2013 to 2017 (a)(b)(c) |
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| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
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Number of prosecutions at magistrates' court (d) | 340,603 | 360,830 | 368,580 | 359,036 |
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Number dealt with at Crown Court (e)(f) | 10,454 | 10,804 | 11,393 | 9,899 |
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Source: Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database |
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(a) Defendants committed for trial or sentencing from the magistrates' to the Crown Court and dealt with within the same year will be counted twice. |
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(b) If an individual is proceeded against on separate occasions within a year they will be counted twice. |
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(c) A defendant who is committed from magistrates’ courts to the Crown Court may not have both courts' processes complete within the same year, in which case they would be counted for each stage in the year that the court where it took place completed. Defendants who appear before both courts may also be convicted at the Crown Court for a different offence to that for which they are counted as having been originally proceeded against at magistrates’ court, where the offence is changed after committal. |
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(d) The proportion of defendants who appear in person before a Magistrate is unknown, as some cases can be dealt with dealt with remotely such as Single Justice Procedure cases. | ||||||||
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(e) Includes total for trial at Crown Court and Convicted at magistrates' courts (committed for sentencing). |
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(f) Figures for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court include individuals who were not tried. |
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Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the premises at Eden House, Bristol have been sold by the National Probation Service; and if so, when they were sold and to whom.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Eden House was placed on the open market in June 2016 and sold at auction on 28 February 2017. The sale to Says Court Properties Limited was completed on 12 May 2017.
The property was sold subject to the existing Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) lease which runs until 2022. This protects the CRC’s interest in this property until the end of their contract.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when it is anticipated that the Mother and Baby Unit at Eastwood Park Prison will re-open.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The mother and baby unit (MBU) at Eastwood Park has been out of commission since October 2016, owing to flooding caused by a burst pipe. We are planning to complete refurbishment by May, with re-occupation in late June/early July.
While the MBU remains out of use, any women at the prison whose application for a MBU place is accepted can be accommodated in one of the other five units within the women’s prison estate.
We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation.