Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in the UK have died in prison while serving custodial sentences in each of the past ten years.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of deaths of prisoners[1][2][3][4] serving custodial sentences[5][6] in England and Wales, 2014 to 2023
| Year | Number of Deaths |
2014 | 203 |
| 2015 | 205 |
| 2016 | 306 |
| 2017 | 259 |
| 2018 | 267 |
| 2019 | 264 |
| 2020 | 278 |
| 2021 | 318 |
| 2022 | 244 |
| 2023 | 258 |
Data Sources and Quality
These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database.
Figures include incidents during contracted out escorts. Figures include England and Wales only and not the whole UK as we only hold detailed data for England and Wales.
Figures do not include incidents at Medway STC. For more information on Secure Training Centres, please see Youth justice annual statistics at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/youth-justice-annual-statistics.
Deaths in prison custody figures include all deaths of prisoners arising from incidents during prison custody. They include deaths of prisoners while released on temporary license (ROTL) for medical reasons but exclude other types of ROTL where the state has less direct responsibility.
In addition to deaths in prison custody, the figures include deaths in custody that occur in hospitals, hospices or nursing homes, and a small proportion will occur while in an ambulance on the way to hospital, while on escort.
Figures includes deaths of sentenced prisoners only, they do not include deaths of prisoners on remand, immigration detainees or non-criminal prisoners.
A breakdown of deaths by sentence type is published within the annual deaths tables, the latest annual deaths detailed data includes deaths up to 2023. Figures for 2024 deaths, including a breakdown by sentence type, will be published in January 2025.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what facilities exist for (1) the police, and (2) the public, to establish previous changes of name by enrolled deed poll of individuals.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
There is no limit to the number of times a person can change their name by the enrolled deed poll process. This is consistent with long stablished common law rights for people to change their name and the European Convention of Human Rights. Changing a name for a deceptive or fraudulent purpose could however be prosecuted as part of the underlying fraud or deception.
Upon enrolment the deed is advertised in the London Gazette by the High Court providing a searchable public record of enrolled deed name changes. As such, the Government does not believe there are any grounds for concerns relating to national security, the work of the police or money laundering arising from the process.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is any limit on the number of occasions that an individual can register a change of name by enrolled deed poll; and if not, what assessment they have made of the implications for (1) national security, (2) the work of the police, and (3) money laundering.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
There is no limit to the number of times a person can change their name by the enrolled deed poll process. This is consistent with long stablished common law rights for people to change their name and the European Convention of Human Rights. Changing a name for a deceptive or fraudulent purpose could however be prosecuted as part of the underlying fraud or deception.
Upon enrolment the deed is advertised in the London Gazette by the High Court providing a searchable public record of enrolled deed name changes. As such, the Government does not believe there are any grounds for concerns relating to national security, the work of the police or money laundering arising from the process.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hours of unpaid work have been completed as part of Community Sentences in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The number of UPW hours delivered in the last five years are:
The figures for April 2020 – March 2021 evidence a decline in unpaid work delivery resulting from the pandemic and the need to comply with public health regulations, such as lockdowns and social distancing measures.
Prior to 26th June 2021, Community Rehabilitation Companies were responsible for the delivery of unpaid work. Since then, the new unified probation service has assumed responsibility for unpaid work delivery. This has provided an opportunity to re-energise our work, drive up completion rates and deliver better outcomes. We will deliver better quality and more robust unpaid work placements that are highly visible to the public and that meet both punitive and reparative aims. We want to move away from a reliance on individual placements towards incorporating larger national projects with public bodies and charities and we are keen to involve our stakeholders as much as possible in our plans.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people serving custodial sentences in England and Wales have died from COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Verified data on the total number of prisoners who have died having tested positive for COVID-19, or where there was a clinical assessment that COVID-19 was a contributory factor in their deaths, is published on GOV.UK. The latest published figures are for the period up to 30 June in which 149 prisoner deaths were reported. This figure includes those on remand as well as serving custodial sentences. Of these 149 prisoner deaths, 123 are suspected or confirmed to be due to COVID-19. The remaining 27 deaths are believed to be due to other causes, although the individuals had tested positive for COVID-19.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all Community Sentences are completed.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
On 26 June, we transitioned to a new model of probation delivery. These reforms will mean that the delivery of key requirements under community sentences is now the responsibility of the Probation Service. Our new probation service is now responsible for sentence management in both England and Wales, along with Accredited Programmes, Unpaid Work, and Structured Interventions. This simplifies delivery, making it easier for those we work with and giving us greater control of staff and resources to be able to deliver reform. It will strengthen rehabilitation by delivering improved better accredited programmes and other rehabilitative interventions, alongside commissioning specialist services from other organisations.
We have demonstrated our commitment and ability to deliver an effective probation service despite significant challenges during the pandemic. The Probation Service has prioritised public protection and risk management, as well as delivery of advice to courts, whilst ensuring staff, people on probation, victims and the general public remain safe.
Exceptional Delivery Models, which set out how we operate during the pandemic and ensured services could be continued, were implemented across England and Wales. In-person, socially distanced, offender management continued to be the default for those people on probation who posed a higher risk, for example Terrorism Act offenders. For other cohorts, blended supervision models were deployed, involving various combinations of home visits, face to face appointments, telephone or video contact. The delivery of Unpaid Work has been maximised in line with social distancing restrictions throughout the pandemic, keeping staff and offenders safe. Offenders have been working on outdoor projects and those which support the UK’s recovery from Covid-19, and some have completed projects at home where feasible. For Accredited Programmes, we developed alternative delivery formats to enable continued delivery of Programmes remotely or in smaller groups in person where safe to do so, prioritising offenders who posed the highest risk of harm.
As social distancing restrictions ease, we are continuing to increase delivery rates across our services. This includes key requirements such as unpaid work and accredited programmes.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hours of unpaid work due to be undertaken as part of Community Sentences given (1) before 23 March 2020, and (2) since that date, have been (a) completed, and (b) deferred as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
As unpaid work is necessarily often delivered in groups, such work was unavoidably adversely affected by Covid-19. However, unpaid work has not been deferred. Probation worked hard to innovate unpaid work delivery so that some placements could continue to be delivered safely, including home based projects for local charities and offenders supporting vaccination centres. Nevertheless, due to the adverse effect on delivery rates, probation have been managing a backlog of requirements. We are working closely with our CJS partners to accelerate the delivery of unpaid work and, where appropriate, apply for unpaid work orders to be extended so that hours can be completed after the original 12-month period specified in the legislation. There are approximately 5m hours of unpaid work on the caseload currently, 4m (80%) are in relation to requirements that are still within their normal delivery window or agreed extension.
Of all UPW requirements on the probation case list as of 26th June 2021
However, this is a dynamic data set. Some of these requirements are still being worked (yet to reach 12 months from sentencing) and others on the backlog (i.e. post 12 months from sentencing) are being pursued for completion.
There is often a delay in recording completed UPW hours. UPW completed over the weekend of the 26th and 27th of June 2021 is unlikely to be fully represented in this data. While all reasonable efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy of this data, the inaccuracy inherent in any large-scale administrative data means data should not be assumed to be fully accurate.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individuals are currently serving custodial sentences for terrorist offences in the United Kingdom; and which prisons are used for confining such persons.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
As reported in the latest statistics released on gov.uk, there were 184 persons serving custodial sentences for terrorist offences in Great Britain (as of 31 December 2020). A further 25 were being held on remand, ahead of trial or sentencing. Those in custody are assessed according to their individual risk and rehabilitation needs and are held in various prisons across the estate. We do not disclose operational detail regarding the location of all terrorist offenders in prison.
Data detailing the number of people serving custodial sentences for terrorist offences is available at Gov.uk. You can access this information here:
Northern Ireland Security statistics are available and published by the Northern Ireland Office.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants in (1) HM Treasury, (2) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and (3) the Ministry of Defence, have been convicted in open court and sentenced to prison for offences in connection with their official duties, in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Detailed information on the occupation of the defendant may be held on individual court records. To be able to identify these cases, we would have to access and search individual court records which would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications have been made to the Court of Protection in each of the last three years; and what was the average time between the application being stamped and an order made in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Information about the number of applications made to the Court of Protection is published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018
In respect of the number of applications received in the three years specified in the question, the data are set out below:
Applications to the Court of Protection | |
1 January – 31 December 2018 | 32,029 |
1 January – 31 December 2017 | 31,332 |
1 January – 31 December 2016 | 29,711 |
Data showing the average time between the application being stamped and an order made could only be provided at disproportionate cost.