Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the treatment of Palestinian Christians by Israeli settlers establishing illegal outposts.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK's position is clear. Settlements are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace, and threaten the physical viability of a two-state solution. We condemn settler violence, and champion the right to freedom of religion and belief (FoRB). The Foreign Secretary was clear with PM Netanyahu on his visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (July 2024) that the Israeli government must clamp down on settler violence and end settlement expansion. The Foreign Secretary also met Palestinian community members during his visit to the West Bank on 15 July, where he heard how communities are affected.
The UK will champion FoRB for all abroad. We are clear that incitement of violence or hatred against individuals based on their religion or belief is unacceptable. Respect for FoRB, and the promotion of interreligious dialogue, plays an important role in securing sustainable peace. Our Consulate General in Jerusalem regularly engages with the Christian community in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the intensification of land confiscation, settlement construction and settlement expansion in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
West Bank settlement expansion and settler violence have reached record levels. The Israeli government has seized more land this year than in the past twenty years combined. This is unacceptable: it runs counter to multiple resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and undermines the viability of a two-state solution. The Foreign Secretary met Palestinians displaced by settlers during his visit in July. The UK condemns settler expansion and the increase in settler violence. We keep all these issues under review and discuss them with our closest allies.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take in response to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice issued on 19 July regarding (1) Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, and (2) its discriminatory laws and policies against Palestinians.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We have received the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on Friday 19 July and are considering it carefully before responding. The UK respects the independence of the International Court of Justice. The government is absolutely clear on the fundamental importance of the international rule of law.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the eligibility criteria, and (2) the available methods of applying, for people aged under 18 with children who are seeking to apply for the NHS Healthy Start scheme.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department keeps the eligibility criteria for the Healthy Start scheme under continuous review. There are no current plans to change eligibility for the scheme. The NHS Business Services Authority also keeps the application methods for the NHS Healthy Start scheme under review, and there are no current plans to change the process for under 18 year olds.
Those who are under 18 years old, with parental responsibility for at least one child under four years old, and who meet the eligibility criteria for Healthy Start through Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit, can apply online. This is the same process for all who are eligible through these qualifying benefits.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of resources allocated to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
As part of the departmental allocation process, we assess the needs of individual organisations against the overarching backdrop of the wider departmental finances. The CCRC’s budget has increased year on year since 2020-21 both to increase the size of its caseworker team and to carry out more outreach work with people who may need their services. The budget for 2023/24 was set at just under £8 million, which is an increase of £1.26 million or 18% since 2021/22. Its 2024-25 allocation is under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by the University of Manchester Racial Bias and the Bench: A response to the Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (2020-2025), published in November 2022, what support they will give to recommendations to overhaul judicial appointment processes to deliver a more diverse judiciary and embed equalities within the judiciary.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is independent of government and has a statutory duty to select candidates for judicial appointment solely on merit; select only people of good character and have regard to the need to encourage diversity in the range of persons available for judicial selection. The JAC keeps its selection processes under continual review to ensure they are transparent, fair, and attract talented candidates from a wide range of backgrounds. In 2022-2023, across all legal JAC exercises, 51% of those recommended for appointment were women and 16% were ethnic minorities, contributing to a more diverse judiciary.
The Ministry of Justice, as a member of the Judicial Diversity Forum (JDF), works closely with the judiciary, the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the three largest legal professions on actions to improve judicial diversity. The Forum’s 2024 action plan (https://judicialappointments.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Judicial-Diversity-Forum-Priorities-and-Actions-for-2024.pdf) which was published in January, sets out our shared priorities.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many, and what proportion of, people reoffended within one year of release from prison by accommodation status at (1) release, and (2) three months post-release, in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
I enclose details of the number and proportion of people who reoffended within one year of release from prison, broken down by their accommodation status at release, for 2020/21 and 2021/22 – the two years for which this information is available. The equivalent information broken down by accommodation status three months post-release could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
A settled place to live is key to reducing reoffending, cutting crime and protecting the public. Our Prisons Strategy White Paper set out our plans to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people released from prison went on to reoffend, what number of reoffences were committed on average, what was the total number of reoffences, and what was the total number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length for (1) men, and (2) women, for the most recent year that figures are available.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
This Government is committed to tackling the causes of reoffending to keep our communities safe. Between 2010/11 and 2020/21, the overall proven reoffending rate decreased from 31.6% to 24.4%.
Helping prison leavers to secure accommodation, employment, and substance misuse treatment on release is essential for rehabilitation and can significantly reduce their likelihood of reoffending. We are therefore investing in a range of interventions including delivering our temporary accommodation service so that prison-leavers have a stable base on release, offering more offenders the chance to work in prison and expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living wings so that we can support prisoners off drugs and into recovery.
Further, we are seeking to introduce a presumption against short sentences which we know have significantly higher reoffending rates than suspended and community sentences.
The answer can be found in the tables below.
Table 1: Reoffending rate, number of reoffences and average number of reoffences per reoffender for offenders released from custody, male and female (adult), April 2020 – March 2021.
| April 2020 - March 2021 |
Female offenders |
|
Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) | 44.1% |
Average number of reoffences per reoffender | 5.89 |
Number of reoffences | 8,686 |
|
|
Male offenders |
|
Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) | 37.5% |
Average number of reoffences per reoffender | 4.46 |
Number of reoffences | 72,549 |
|
|
All adult offenders |
|
Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) | 38.0% |
Average number of reoffences per reoffender | 4.58 |
Number of reoffences | 81,235 |
Table 2: Number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length, male (adult), April 2020 – March 2021
| April 2020 - March 2021 |
Less than or equal to 6 months |
|
Number of reoffenders | 8,902 |
|
|
More than 6 months to less than 12 months | |
Number of reoffenders | 2,170 |
|
|
12 months to less than 2 years |
|
Number of reoffenders | 2,176 |
|
|
2 years to less than 4 years |
|
Number of reoffenders | 1,995 |
|
|
4 years to 10 years |
|
Number of reoffenders | 958 |
|
|
More than 10 years |
|
Number of reoffenders | 38 |
|
|
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) |
|
Number of reoffenders | 13 |
|
|
Mandatory Life (MLP) |
|
Number of reoffenders | 8 |
|
|
Other Life [Note 1] |
|
Number of reoffenders | 6 |
|
|
All male adult reoffenders |
|
Number of reoffenders | 16,266 |
Table 3: Number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length, female (adult), April 2020 – March 2021
| April 2020 – March 2021 | |
Less than or equal to 6 months |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 1,056 | |
|
| |
More than 6 months to less than 12 months | ||
Number of reoffenders | 212 | |
|
| |
12 months to less than 2 years |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 113 | |
|
| |
2 years to less than 4 years |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 79 | |
|
| |
4 years to 10 years |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 14 | |
|
| |
More than 10 years |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 0 | |
|
| |
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 0 | |
|
| |
Mandatory Life (MLP) |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 0 | |
|
| |
Other Life [Note 1] |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 0 | |
|
| |
All female adult reoffenders |
| |
Number of reoffenders | 1,474 | |
|
|
|
[Note 1] 'Other life' category includes discretionary and automatic life sentences.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications were received for a Mother and Baby Unit place in prison in the past five years; and of those, how many were (1) accepted, or (2) refused, broken down by reason for refusal.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Total figures for applications received, approved and refused are provided in the table below.
As decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and the reasons can be complex, reasons for refusal are not currently collated, and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of applications received for admission to Mother and Baby Units1 | 97 | 95 | 62 | 85 | 80 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of applications approved by a board | 46 | 46 | 26 | 44 | 40 |
Number of applications refused by a board | 15 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 15 |
Note;
1 For a variety of reasons, some applications do not proceed to an admissions board. For example, the application may be withdrawn; or the applicant’s circumstances may change so that a place is no longer required
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what proportion, of prisons in England and Wales currently provide secure video calls for prisoners.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
All prisons (100%) across England and Wales have the capability to offer secure video calls with approved family members and friends, responding to demand from prisoners.