Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to update the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This government has recently reviewed and made significant changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 amended the ROA to significantly reduce the length of time that someone needs to disclose most criminal records. These reforms will improve access to employment, which we know is a key factor in supporting rehabilitation and enabling former offenders to reintegrate into the community. Serious violent, sexual, or terrorist offences are excluded from these changes and continue to never be spent.
Where a person has a conviction disclosed, we are clear that this should not be an automatic bar to employment. Our guidance for employers states that they should make a balanced judgment on whether someone’s convictions make them unsuitable for a particular job. This should take into account the person’s age at the time of the offence, how long ago it took place, the nature of the offence and its relevance to the position in question, among other factors.
The ROA is kept under review. There are no current plans to make further changes, but please see further the answer I gave on 4 April to Question HL3362.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, excluding sexual or violent offences, under what circumstances can someone subject to an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence who has completed their license period have earlier, minor offences dropped from their record.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (the ROA) sets out when an offender is considered to be ‘rehabilitated’ for the purposes of the Act and the relevant rehabilitation periods for cautions and convictions (also referred to as when a caution or a conviction become ‘spent’). This does not mean that an offence is dropped from their record, rather that the offender only needs to disclose the spent caution or conviction in some circumstances.
The ROA also provides that where a person commits another offence before the first has become spent, then the rehabilitation periods are extended to the longest period. The ROA sets out that, as with other indeterminate sentences, IPP sentences can never become spent, regardless of whether the licence is terminated or not. The same, therefore, applies to any unspent caution or conviction imposed on the offender prior to the IPP sentence.
We have taken action through the Victims and Prisoners Bill to curtail IPP licence periods to give offenders the opportunity to move on with their lives. Whether the ROA should be reviewed in the light of these changes would require further consideration in the context of indeterminate sentences generally.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the reason for the decision to increase the length of the COP3 assessment of capacity form from 12 to 21 pages.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Court of Protection forms are a matter for the judiciary. The Court of Protection Rules Committee in 2022 convened an expert Working Group to review the COP3 assessment of capacity form, supported by my officials. That group recommended substantial revisions to both the format and content.
Revisions were made to reflect the outcome of a Supreme Court case (Local Authority v JB), and more broadly to improve the form’s evidential value. While longer than its predecessor, the revised form aims to provide for a more rigorous assessment of a person’s capacity and greater scrutiny of each specific decision to be made on their behalf. The Rules Committee approved those revisions, and the revised form was published in July 2023.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how long, on average, it takes for security vetting to be completed in (1) security and policing jobs, and (2) other public service jobs which require security clearance.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As Minister for State at the Cabinet Office responsible for United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) I am able to provide a response in relation to National Security Vetting (NSV). Police Vetting and NSV remain two separate and distinct processes. Whilst all police personnel are required to undertake a level of police vetting, only police personnel within certain specific roles are required to undertake NSV. Whilst UKSV acts as service providers for NSV, they have no involvement in processing police vetting. This remains the responsibility of police authorities.
Following a stabilisation programme initiated in 2023, there have been sustained and stable improvements in performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPI) across all service levels of National Security Vetting clearances which includes Counter Terrorist Check (CTC), Security Check (SC) and Developed Vetting (DV). Across core services:
The KPIs for both CTC and SC are 25 days, on 29th February 2024 96% of cases were being processed within that time frame.
The KPI for DV is 95 days; on 29th February 2024 93.48% of initial DV cases were being processed within that time frame.The Performance Indicator for DV Renewals is also 95 days; on 29th February 2024 13.78% of these cases were being processed within that time frame. However we expect that DV renewals submitted from 1st April 2024 will be delivered within the KPI of 95 days.
Security roles are based across many departments and partner agencies and therefore it is not possible to provide confirmation of the performance of NSV in relation to these specific roles. In relation to the police requirement for NSV specifically, I can confirm that UKSV are meeting the KPIs across the SC and initial DV products.
In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters, including average actual processing times.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 31 January (HL1679), whether they plan to review the algorithms used in the automatic verification of passport photographs to ensure that they account for ethnic diversity, notwithstanding any direct human intervention.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The initial check to determine if a photo meets the internationally agreed standards for passports utilises an algorithm provided by a leading technology provider and, through extensive testing, this has been optimised to help best meet the needs of His Majesty’s Passport Office and its customers. HM Passport Office is committed to making applying for a passport as simple as possible and will continue to evolve its photo checker as algorithmic technology improves.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to announce proposals for the renewal of the Household Support Fund provided to local governments in England for essential assistance to families and individuals, including for the needs of children outside of term time, to alleviate crises.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has provided over £2 billion in funding for the Household Support Fund since October 2021.
The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the automatic algorithmic verification of passport photographs uploaded for online passport applications, to ensure that ethnic diversity does not lead to the rejection of photographs which comply with requirements, for example on the ground that eyes are closed when the photograph clearly shows that the eyes are open.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
When applying for a passport online, the photo submitted is subject to an initial check to determine if automated passport office systems would assess that the photo meets the internationally agreed standards for passports.
Where a photo is assessed as not meeting the required standards, it does not routinely mean it is rejected. Customers may override the outcome of this check and submit the photo as part of their application. On receipt of the application, the image will then be assessed by a human to determine whether it is suitable for passport purposes.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they are making to the European Commission on co-operation about the introduction to the UK of (1) the Entry/Exit System, and (2) the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, to ensure that travellers with disabilities are not disadvantaged, in particular, in respect of facial recognition, where those with sight impairment may have significant difficulties in complying.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is engaging both the European Commission and French Government through officials holding routine technical meetings to understand and influence the implementation plans of the new systems. This includes working with port owners and operators to understand and support their plans to mitigate EES and ETIAS impacts at the border. Our understanding is that support will be available through agents with tablets who can register anyone who cannot use a kiosk.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners sentenced to detention for public protection (1) have never been released, (2) have been returned to prison on breach of licence, (3) are currently in the community under supervision on licence, and (4) were released on licence for the first time within the last three years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have provided the data requested, as follows:
As of 30 September 2023, 36 prisoners serving a DPP sentence have never been released.
As of 30 September 2023, 49 prisoners are serving a DPP sentence in custody having been recalled.
As of 30 June 2023, 99 offenders are serving a DPP sentence on licence in the community.
Table 1: Shows the number of people sentenced to DPP released for the first time from prison, in each of the last three years.
Release Year | Number of DPP prisoners released |
2020 | 10 |
2021 | 7 |
2022 | 3 |
Jan - June 2023 | 4* |
Please note:
(1) The numbers provided in table 1 result from a matching between two databases - Prison National Offender Management Information System (NOMIS) data and Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD) data. A total of 13 prisoners identified in the PPUD data did not have an associated NOMIS identifier and so were not included. The figures provided here are an estimate based on these two sources and as inconsistencies in recording between these two sources exist, the figures should be treated with caution.
(2) The figures in table 1 represent 'first releases' only, and do not include re-releases following a period of recall.
(3) All figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
(4) All figures represent the most recent available data.
(*) Data for 2023 only include releases up to end of June 2023 - reflecting the most recent published data period.
On 16 October 2023, the Lord Chancellor announced he would be looking at options to curtail the licence period to restore greater proportionality to IPP/DPP sentences in line with recommendation 8 of the report by the Justice Select Committee (JSC), published on 28 September 2022.
The Lord Chancellor announced on 28 November 2023, that these changes are being taken forward in the Victims and Prisoners Bill.
The new measure will:
Reduce the qualifying period which triggers the duty of the Secretary of State to refer an IPP/DPP licence to the Parole Board for termination from ten years to three years;
Include a clear statutory presumption that the IPP licence will be terminated by the Parole Board at the end of the three-year qualifying period;
Introduce a provision that will automatically terminate the IPP/DPP licence two years after the three-year qualifying period, in cases where the Parole Board has not terminated the licence; and
Introduce a power to amend the qualifying period by Statutory Instrument.
The Lord Chancellor was persuaded by the Committee’s recommendation to reduce the qualifying licence period from 10 years to five years and is going further: reducing the period to three years. These amendments will restore greater proportionality to IPP/DPP sentences and provide a clear pathway to a definitive end to the licence and, therefore, the sentence.
In addition to these changes, the actions this Government are taking are working; the number of prisoners serving the IPP/DPP sentence who have never been released now stands at 1,269 as of September 2023, down from more than 6000 in 2012.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the combined Mayoral authority of South Yorkshire, how many residents received an award above the level of MBE in the New Year’s Honours 2024 list.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Statistical information held in relation to the regional breakdown of recipients at all levels for the New Year Honours List 2024 can be found below. Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal point. Data for CBE and higher levels has been aggregated and is also included below. Data reflects the correspondence address provided by recipients.
Data is collected using county and aggregated into regional figures. Information on the number of nominations by mayoral region, including for both South Yorkshire and Sheffield is not captured, as we are unable to break down the data in that way.
This data relates only to the main Prime Minister’s List and does not include data from the Defence List or the Overseas and International List, which are not administered by the Cabinet Office.
Transparency data for the list by county, the level of award received and the service for which each recipient has been recognised for, as well as information on recipients recognised in previous honours lists is publicly available on gov.uk.
Honours are awarded on merit basis. A key aim of the honours system is to ensure that it is more representative of the country as a whole and we will continue to encourage more nominations from every corner of the UK, including South Yorkshire, in future honours lists.
Regional breakdown - New Year 2024 list (1224)
Region | BEM | BEM% | MBE | MBE% | OBE | OBE% | CBE & Higher | CBE & higher% | Total | Population % |
East | 36 | 9.5% | 39 | 8.4% | 19 | 8% | 11 | 7.1% | 105 | 9.3% |
Yorkshire & Humberside | 30 | 7.9% | 27 | 5.8% | 12 | 5% | 7 | 4.5% | 76 | 8.2% |
London | 43 | 11.4% | 95 | 21.5% | 62 | 26.2% | 62 | 40.2% | 262 | 13.4% |
North East | 9 | 1.8% | 11 | 2.3% | 5 | 2.1% | 1 | 0.6% | 26 | 4.0% |
North West | 31 | 8.2% | 52 | 11.3% | 14 | 5.9% | 7 | 4.5% | 104 | 11.0% |
Northern Ireland | 43 | 11.4% | 28 | 6.1% | 8 | 3.3% | 2 | 1.2% | 81 | 2.8% |
Scotland | 29 | 7.6% | 45 | 9.8% | 23 | 9.7% | 13 | 8.4% | 110 | 8.2% |
South East | 54 | 14.3% | 59 | 12.8% | 36 | 15.2% | 23 | 14.9% | 172 | 13.7% |
South West | 35 | 9.2% | 28 | 6.1% | 16 | 6.7% | 11 | 7.1% | 90 | 8.4% |
Wales | 28 | 7.4% | 30 | 6.5% | 11 | 4.6% | 4 | 2.5% | 73 | 4.7% |
West Midlands | 23 | 0.2% | 26 | 5.6% | 13 | 5.5% | 2 | 1.2% | 64 | 8.9% |
East Midlands | 15 | 3.9% | 19 | 4.1% | 17 | 7.2% | 7 | 4.5% | 58 | 7.2% |
Living abroad | 1 | 0.2% | - | - | - | - | 2 | 1.2% | 3 | - |
Total | 377 |
| 459 |
| 236 |
| 152 |
| 1224 |
|