Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prosecutions for hare coursing were brought to trial which did not lead to a guilty verdict in (1) 2013, (2) 2014, (3) 2015, (4) 2016, (5) 2017, and (6) 2018.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Ministry of Justice has published data on the number of people prosecuted and convicted in England and Wales up to December 2017 for the following hare coursing offences:
Figures can be found in the table below, if an offence does not appear in the table, it means there were no prosecutions or convictions for it in the period given. Data for 2018 will be published in May 2019.
Table 1. Number of prosecutions and convictions for hare coursing offences in England and Wales, 2013-2017.
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Attending a hare coursing event |
|
|
|
| |
Prosecuted | 11 | 3 | - | - | - |
Convicted | 8 | - | - | - | - |
Participating in a hare coursing event |
|
|
|
|
|
Prosecuted | 12 | - | 8 | 6 | 1 |
Convicted | 4 | - | 4 | - | - |
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many successful prosecutions for hare coursing there were in the UK in (1) 2013, (2) 2014, (3) 2015, (4) 2016, (5) 2017, and (6) 2018.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Ministry of Justice has published data on the number of people prosecuted and convicted in England and Wales up to December 2017 for the following hare coursing offences:
Figures can be found in the table below, if an offence does not appear in the table, it means there were no prosecutions or convictions for it in the period given. Data for 2018 will be published in May 2019.
Table 1. Number of prosecutions and convictions for hare coursing offences in England and Wales, 2013-2017.
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Attending a hare coursing event |
|
|
|
| |
Prosecuted | 11 | 3 | - | - | - |
Convicted | 8 | - | - | - | - |
Participating in a hare coursing event |
|
|
|
|
|
Prosecuted | 12 | - | 8 | 6 | 1 |
Convicted | 4 | - | 4 | - | - |
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 3 April (HL6247), what are the measures that will be put in place to help support prisoners who are at risk of self-harm or suicide.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process is the multi-disciplinary case management system that is used to provide support for prisoners assessed as being at risk of self-harm or suicide.
We are committed to improving the support that we offer to prisoners at risk. We expect the most important and effective measures to be the recruitment of 2,500 new staff, and the introduction of new offender management arrangements in prisons under which each key worker will have particular responsibility for a small number of prisoners. These will greatly enhance the time and resources available to support prisoners who are at risk.
We continue to work in partnership with the Samaritans to provide the Listener scheme, through which volunteer prisoners are trained to provide support to other prisoners in emotional distress. Additional grant funding for the Samaritans in 2017-18 will facilitate a number of improvements to that scheme and some other initiatives, including a pilot project to provide training on building emotional resilience for prisoners in their early days in custody, to be delivered by released ex-Listeners.
Other measures are being developed as part of our safety programme, which includes specific strands of work on the early days in custody, the case management of prisoners at risk, and building hopefulness amongst prisoners, including through family and peer support.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the increasing annual number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons since 2012, what steps they are taking to reduce the number of such deaths.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
We are clear that violence, self-harm and deaths in our prisons are too high. The department has taken immediate action to stabilise the estate by tackling the drugs, drones and phones that undermine security and are also investing £100m annually to boost the frontline by 2,500 officers. These are long-standing issues that will not be resolved in weeks or months but our wholesale reforms will lay the groundwork to transform our prisons, reduce reoffending and make our communities safer. We will carefully study the details of all deaths in custody to determine whether there are any patterns, or lessons to be learned, to further our understanding of why these tragic events happen. A range of measures will be put in place to help support prisoners who are at risk of self-harm or suicide, especially in the first 24 hours where prisoners are at their most vulnerable. We are also investing more in mental health awareness training for staff.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent increases in the number of non-natural deaths in prisons; and what plans they have to improve mental health support for those in prison who are at risk of suicide.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Every death in custody is a tragedy. We are taking forward a wide range of work to reduce violence and the use of drugs, including new psychoactive substances, in prisons and to address the levels of suicide and self-harm.
All deaths in prison custody are subject to a police investigation, an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), and a Coroner’s inquest. We are committed to learning from these investigations to inform the approach of both health and custodial services in identifying and supporting prisoners at risk.
All prisons are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harming themselves. The Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process is a prisoner-centred, flexible care planning system for prisoners identified as being at risk of suicide or self-harm. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has recently reviewed compliance with the ACCT process and is working to implement the recommendations, which include improvements to multi-disciplinary working between prison and clinical mental health staff.
NHS England is implementing new prison clinical information systems which will improve the availability of clinical information to staff in prisons from the early days in custody.
In addition, the government has initiated a cross departmental Mental Health Taskforce, tasked with developing integrated mental health service pathways in the least restrictive settings and aimed at providing support and intervention to those in need of help at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of those individuals who previously claimed a motability allowance under the Disability Living Allowance and have lost that allowance after being reassessed for Personal Independence Payments, have (1) appealed that decision, and (2) succeeded at appeal.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The First-tier Tribunal – Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service hears appeals against decisions by the Department for Work and Pensions on a range of benefits including Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Information about the number and success rates of SSCS appeals by benefit type, including PIP, is published in the Tribunal and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly. The most recent report can be located on the government website.
The specific information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that support is made available for vulnerable defendants by registered intermediaries in the criminal justice system, as currently is the case for vulnerable witnesses.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Government is committed to ensuring that all defendants receive a fair trial. We are currently considering formalising the provision of intermediaries for vulnerable defendants. It should be noted that, as well as a variety of measures currently available to courts to ensure a fair trial, if necessary, the Judiciary can already grant the use of an intermediary to assist vulnerable defendants.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government by what date they expect that departments and the devolved administrations will have completed their consideration of extra-territorial jurisdiction in respect of offences established in accordance with the Istanbul Convention.
Answered by Lord Faulks
This government takes its international obligations very seriously. That is why we signed the Istanbul Convention on 8 June 2012, to show our strong commitment to tackling violence against women and girls.
The UK has some of the most robust laws in the world against violence towards women and girls. We have criminalised forced marriage but primary legislation will also be needed to comply with the extra-territorial jurisdiction provisions in Article 44 of the Convention before it can be ratified.
Justice Ministers are currently considering the extent to which we need to amend the criminal law of England and Wales for compliance with Article 44 prior to ratification of the Convention.
Any changes necessary to the criminal law in Scotland and Northern Ireland prior to ratification are matters for the devolved administrations. We will consult Ministers in the devolved administrations about whether legislative changes in England and Wales should extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland.