Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to what extent involvement as a spectator at sporting events is considered an appropriate part of the rehabilitation process for ex-offenders.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service do not have a specific policy in relation to spectating at sporting events for prison leavers and/or people on probation. However, we recognise that rehabilitation plans need to be tailored to individuals.
Rehabilitation of ex-offenders can take a number of forms. As well as work focusing on challenging offending behaviour, rehabilitation requires reintegration of the individual safely into the community. This involves enabling individuals to access relationships and networks that provide opportunities in work and education as well as promoting opportunities for people to get involved in community focused activities.
Participation in a sporting event is often a positive social activity and unless an individual were restricted due to the nature of their offence, we would consider this a supportive and potentially rehabilitative activity.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance, if any, is provided by the Parole Board on the importance of prisoners with disabilities attending live sporting events as part of the rehabilitation and parole processes; and how many prisoners with disabilities participate in football as a player or spectator in (a) prison-based, and (b) external football programmes.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Parole Board has not provided specific guidance on this issue. If a prisoner has engaged in sports-focused rehabilitation, this could form part of the evidence which is considered at parole hearings.
HMPPS and MoJ hold no data on the number of prisoners with disabilities participating in football as a player or spectator either in (a) prison-based, or (b) external football programmes.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what records are kept by the Parole Board in respect of prisoners’ disabilities when they are attending open hearings.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
At present, all Parole Board hearings are held in private (as set out in Parole Board Rule 15[3]) with no open hearings.
Parole Board members determine whether there are any additional requirements that are necessary to ensure that a prisoner is able to participate in their review, including any disabilities they may have. The Parole Board does not keep separate records of this.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many disabled people are (1) in prison, and (2) on probation, in England and Wales broken down by type of disability.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
Self-declared information on disability is held on national databases, however, it is of mixed quality and not suitable for publication. Obtaining reliable information would require matching against local records and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Prison and Probation Services in England and Wales must adhere to the Equality Act 2010, including the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled persons. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) works to respond to the individual needs of all prisoners and those on probation. We have developed a national, consistent approach to all prisoners and people on probation with care and support needs.
The National Disability Strategy published by the Government in July 2021 sets out a number of commitments for the Ministry of Justice, including improving the knowledge of front-line staff on neurodiversity. Steps are taken to ensure that prisoners and those in the community are able to progress with their sentence plans and rehabilitate and that reasonable adjustments are provided.
The use of a Diversity Information Form (DIF) is mandated at court for those for whom the probation service is preparing a pre-sentence report. This includes the collation of data on disability status and type of disability, which is also used to inform the pre-sentence report. The form has recently been revised and reissued with guidance to incorporate a wider range of disabilities. However, this data is self-reported, and there can be some reluctance on the part of disabled people to share this information, for understandable reasons.
All prisoners’ needs are assessed when they enter custody and arrangements are made locally to ensure they are met. In the case of disabled people arrangements may include Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs), access to necessary services or equipment to aid their wellbeing, social interactions and rehabilitation.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total prison population in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
As at 4 February 2022, the total prison population in England and Wales was 79,623.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) publishes this information weekly through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2022.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incidents of metal theft were recorded on the Police National Database in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, and (3) 2020.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office’s preferred measure of metal theft is based on the Home Office Data Hub (HODH) which collects data relating to metal theft offences from police forces in England and Wales. This data is published annually by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) as part of their Property Crime tables. The latest published data can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many scrap metal dealers have been (1) prosecuted, and (2) convicted, for paying cash for scrap metal since 2013.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Ministry of Justice holds data on prosecutions and convictions for offences relating to scrap metal dealers up to December 2020. Information on scrap metal dealers failing to hold a licence cannot be split by site or mobile collectors as this is not specified in legislation; prosecutions and convictions for failing to hold a licence can be found in the attached table, along with prosecutions and convictions for paying for cash for scrap metal.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many scrap metal dealers have been (1) prosecuted, and (2) convicted, for failing to hold a (a) site, or (b) mobile collector’s, licence since 2013.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Ministry of Justice holds data on prosecutions and convictions for offences relating to scrap metal dealers up to December 2020. Information on scrap metal dealers failing to hold a licence cannot be split by site or mobile collectors as this is not specified in legislation; prosecutions and convictions for failing to hold a licence can be found in the attached table, along with prosecutions and convictions for paying for cash for scrap metal.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that disabled people will be allowed to attend sporting competitions, including events that are part of the pilot programme enabling the safe return of mass gatherings, as COVID-19 regulations ease in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Events Research Programme (ERP) is running its first phase of 10-15 pilots in April and May to inform decisions around the safe removal of social distancing at Step 4 of the Roadmap. The pilots will be run across a range of settings, venues, and activities so that findings will support the full reopening of similar settings across multiple sectors.
We fully recognise the importance of these inclusion concerns and are reflecting on issues of diversity, inclusion and equality in the Events Research Programme, ensuring the pilot events cover a range of age groups, ethnicities, geographic location and accessibility.
The pilot events are the first steps to helping all members of the public safely back to mass events and these have been developed under a SAGE framework in line with the latest PHE and DHSC guidance.
Our Science Board has reviewed the Events Research Programme’s approach to clinically extremely vulnerable individuals attending the pilot events.
They strongly urge caution for the clinically extremely vulnerable attending the events on public health grounds, however these groups are not excluded from involvement in the pilots.
All attendees are required to fill out a consent form as part of the sign up process for the research programme, given the increased risk of COVID 19 transmission on account of the relaxation of some risk mitigation factors (social distancing and numbers attending).
For each pilot event, a Public Sector Equality Duty impact assessment is being carried out before each event which considers the impact of this scientific study on groups with protected characteristics, including those with disabilities.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they had with the World Snooker Championship, prior to its decision to exclude clinically vulnerable people from attending the event at the Crucible Theatre in May
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Events Research Programme (ERP) is running its first phase of 10-15 pilots in April and May to inform decisions around the safe removal of social distancing at Step 4 of the Roadmap. The pilots will be run across a range of settings, venues, and activities so that findings will support the full reopening of similar settings across multiple sectors.
We fully recognise the importance of these inclusion concerns and are reflecting on issues of diversity, inclusion and equality in the Events Research Programme, ensuring the pilot events cover a range of age groups, ethnicities, geographic location and accessibility.
The pilot events are the first steps to helping all members of the public safely back to mass events and these have been developed under a SAGE framework in line with the latest PHE and DHSC guidance.
Our Science Board has reviewed the Events Research Programme’s approach to clinically extremely vulnerable individuals attending the pilot events.
They strongly urge caution for the clinically extremely vulnerable attending the events on public health grounds, however these groups are not excluded from involvement in the pilots.
All attendees are required to fill out a consent form as part of the sign up process for the research programme, given the increased risk of COVID 19 transmission on account of the relaxation of some risk mitigation factors (social distancing and numbers attending).
For each pilot event, a Public Sector Equality Duty impact assessment is being carried out before each event which considers the impact of this scientific study on groups with protected characteristics, including those with disabilities.