Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to instruct coroners to record whether a victim of suicide had been a serving or former member of the armed forces.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Government has addressed this issue in its response to the current e-petition on the recording of veterans’ suicides. A revised response was published on 30 October 2018. A copy of the response is attached.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of deterrent sentences in reducing knife crime.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The government continues to monitor sentencing for bladed and offensive weapon offences and will keep under review the effectiveness of changes in the law relating to knives and offensive weapons.
The latest knife possession sentencing quarterly statistics bulletin was published on 8 June 2017 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/617646/knife-possession-sentencing-quarterly-jan-mar-2017.pdf
In regard to repeat offending for knife possession offences, the latest statistics show that 86% of adult repeat offenders received a custodial sentence. This figure increased by 2 percentage points when compared to the same quarter in the previous year for offenders convicted under section 22 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (minimum sentence of 6 months for a second or subsequent knife possession offence). The number of repeat knife possession sentencing occasions increased from 837 in Q1 2016 to an estimated 1,129 cases Q1 2017. Those offenders receiving an immediate custodial sentence had an average sentence length of 7.2 months.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to bring forward their review of the mandatory criminal courts charge.
Answered by Lord Faulks
It is right that we find better ways to pay the costs of running our criminal courts, and the introduction of this charge has made it possible to recover some of the costs from offenders, which reduces the burden on taxpayers. The Government is keeping the operation of the criminal courts charge under review.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of individuals who are innocent of crimes but have pleaded guilty in order to reduce their liability for the mandatory criminal courts charge since April 2015.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Section 55 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 places a duty on the Lord Chancellor to carry out a review of the Criminal Courts Charge three years after implementation of the charge. No such assessment has been made to date.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the mandatory criminal courts charge on the number of guilty pleas.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Section 55 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 places a duty on the Lord Chancellor to carry out a review of the Criminal Courts Charge three years after implementation of the charge. No such assessment has been made to date.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training for the world of work will be undertaken by young offenders sent to the new secure college that is due to open in 2017; and how that training will be evaluated.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Secure College in Leicestershire will be the first of a new generation of secure educational establishments which will put education at the heart of youth custody. It will inform our vision for the future of the youth custodial estate across England and Wales.
Education provision will be tailored to the particular needs of young people in custody. We anticipate Secure Colleges providing a strong focus on the core skills, such as literacy and numeracy, which all young people need, but with sufficient flexibility for vocational training and workplace skills to develop those offenders seeking employment on release. We would want to afford operators the same freedoms as academies, to personalise learning pathways and target intervention.
The Secure College Pathfinder operator will make continuous assessment of young people to ensure that they progress towards the targets set out in their individual plans.