Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will respond to the regulation 28 prevention of future deaths report issued on 12 April by the Senior Coroner for the coroner area of Milton Keynes in the case of Scott Rider, to which a response was due under statute by 23 May.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice’s response to the Regulation 28 Prevention of Future Deaths report issued on 12 April by the Senior Coroner for Milton Keynes was sent by the Director General of Operations for HM Prison and Probation Service on 15 May 2024.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how a simplified licensing process for powered light vehicles would impact (1) the uptake of powered light vehicles, (2) the accessibility of cheaper forms of personal mobility, and (3) the decarbonisation of road transport.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
The Government has collected robust evidence on the use of different regulatory regimes, including licensing, to support the previously announced Low-speed Zero Emission Vehicle category. Any assessment of evidence would be published as part of a consultation on regulations before they come into force and will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows. The Government has made no assessment of how changes to licensing might impact the uptake of L-category vehicles.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of how the Motorcycle Industry Association’s proposals to incentivise the progressive access licensing route would impact road safety.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
In December 2023, officials met with motorcycle stakeholder representatives to listen to and discuss various motorcycle initiatives including ideas for reform. Discussions continue, and a roundtable with Ministerial attendance is scheduled for the 8th of May.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had with the "build to rent" sector to understand the impact of the proposed abolition of the Stamp Duty Land Tax Multiple Dwellings Relief announced in the Spring Budget, beyond the consultation from November 2021 to February 2022.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The abolition of Multiple Dwellings Relief follows an external evaluation which found no strong evidence the relief is meeting its original objectives of supporting investment in the private rented sector.
Larger investors who purchase 6 or more properties in a single transaction can still continue to benefit from the non-residential rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax.
The government will continue to engage with stakeholders in the build to rent sector to understand any concerns.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government when in early 2024 they intend to consult on the impacts of the July 2023 High Court ruling in Uber Britannia Ltd v Sefton MBC on the VAT treatment of Private Hire Vehicles, as undertaken in paragraph 5.81 of the Autumn Statement 2023.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Government remains committed to consulting on the impacts of this ruling, and will publish a consultation in due course.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will request NHS England to permit the prescription of Thiamine capsules as an alternative to tablets.
Answered by Lord Markham
Clinicians are responsible for making prescribing decisions for their patients, considering best prescribing practice and appropriate national and local guidance.
In respect of the prescribing of unlicensed medicines, the National Health Service’s long-established practice is reflected in professional guidance. Individual patient needs should be fulfilled by, firstly, using a licensed medicine within its licensed indication, or if there is nothing suitable, using a licensed medicine outside its licensed indication. If there is still nothing suitable after this, the clinician can consider using an unlicensed medicine.
Thiamine tablets are available as a licensed medicine. Thiamine capsules are not a licensed medicine. Thiamine supplements can be purchased from pharmacies or shops. These include vitamin B complex tablets and multivitamin tablets where thiamine is listed as an ingredient. NHS guidance states that vitamins and minerals should not be routinely prescribed in primary care as there is insufficient high-quality evidence to demonstrate their clinical effectiveness. However, subject to funding, a clinician can prescribe any product on the NHS that they consider to be clinically necessary for the treatment of their patient unless it is listed in Schedules 1 or 2 of the NHS (General Medical Services Contracts) (Prescription of Drugs etc.) Regulations 2004. Parts XVIIIA and XVIIIB of the NHS Drug Tariff list the drugs, medicines and other substance that may not be ordered, or may only be ordered on the NHS in certain circumstances under the above regulations.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks made by Earl Howe on 22 May where he stated that they plan to "engage stakeholders on the proposal set out in the levelling up White Paper to explore transferring the responsibility for licensing taxis and private hire vehicles to upper-tier and combined authorities" during the course of this year, when they intend to initiate that process.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
The Department for Transport intends to carry out engagement on this issue early next year.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are currently in prison serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence who have been held for 10 years or more beyond their original tariff, broken down by the exact number of years over tariff.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
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 sentences in line with recommendation 8 of the report by the Justice Select Committee (JSC), published on 28 September 2022.
These changes are being taken forward in the Victims and Prisoners Bill. The measures will make it quicker and easier to terminate an IPP licence (and therefore the IPP sentence as a whole) whilst balancing public protection considerations.
The new measure will:
The Lord Chancellor was persuaded by the Committee’s recommendation to reduce the qualifying licence period from 10 years to 5 years and is going further: reducing the period to 3 years. These amendments will restore greater proportionality to IPP 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 sentence who have never been released now stands at 1,269 as of September 2023, down from more than 6000 in 2012.
Table 1: The tariff-expired Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) prisoner population at least 10 years over tariff, 30 September 2023.
Time over tariff | Count |
From 10 years to less than 11 years | 132 |
From 11 years to less than 12 years | 117 |
From 12 years to less than 13 years | 128 |
From 13 years to less than 14 years | 128 |
From 14 years to less than 15 years | 94 |
From 15 years to less than 16 years | 62 |
From 16 years to less than 17 years | 21 |
From 17 years to less than 18 years | 1 |
From 18 years to less than 19 years | 1 |
Total | 684 |
Please note:
(1) The figures in these tables 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.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many incidents of self-harm were recorded by people serving a sentence of Detention for Public Protection in each year since 2005.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
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 sentences in line with recommendation 8 of the report by the Justice Select Committee (JSC), published on 28 September 2022.
These changes are being taken forward in the Victims and Prisoners Bill. The measure will make it quicker and easier to terminate the IPP licence (and therefore the IPP sentence as a whole) whilst balancing public protection considerations.
The new measure will:
The Lord Chancellor was persuaded by the Committee’s recommendation to reduce the qualifying licence period from 10 years to 5 years and is going further: reducing the period to 3 years. These amendments will restore greater proportionality to IPP sentences and provide a clear pathway to a definitive end to the licence and, therefore, the sentence, while balancing public protection considerations.
In addition to these changes, the actions this Government are taking are working; the number of prisoners serving the IPP sentence who have never been released now stands at 1,269 as of September 2023, down from more than 6000 in 2012.
We have provided a breakdown of the incidents of self-harm that were recorded by people serving a sentence of Detention for Public Protection in each year since 2012 in the below table:
Number of self-harm incidents by prisoners serving a sentence of Detention for Public Protection 2012 to 2022
Year | Number of self-harm incidents |
2012 | 96 |
2013 | 137 |
2014 | 167 |
2015 | 183 |
2016 | 229 |
2017 | 226 |
2018 | 219 |
2019 | 348 |
2020 | 300 |
2021 | 339 |
2022 | 251 |
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.
(1) Figures include incidents within the youth estate and during contracted out escorts.
(2) In prisons, as in the community, it is not possible to count self-harm incidents with absolute accuracy. In prison custody, however, such incidents are more likely to be detected and counted. Care needs to be taken when comparing figures shown here with other sources where data may be less complete.
(3) Indeterminate sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and Detention for Public Protection (DPP) were introduced in 2005. They were intended for high risk prisoners considered ‘dangerous’ but whose offence did not merit a life sentence. The number of prisoners held on these sentences increased initially and the increase was offset by reductions elsewhere.
(4) Sentence type information is only available for a small proportion of incidents prior to 2012, so it is not possible to provide a reliable breakdown by sentence type prior to then.
(5) The numbers provided in this table result from a matching between 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. Additionally, the figures in the table only includes individuals identified in NOMIS as serving IPP or DPP sentences, and also as serving a DPP sentence in PPUD data. 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.
(6) Includes known DPPs in prison regardless of whether they are unreleased or have been recalled, or if they have subsequently been resentenced.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, of those currently serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence on licence in the community, how many have been held in a secure hospital at any point during their sentence.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Where 10 years have elapsed since the Parole Board first directed the release of an offender serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP), the Secretary of State must by law refer that offender to the Parole Board, in order for the Board to determine whether to terminate the offender’s IPP licence. The minimum 10-year period is not paused or reset if an offender is recalled to prison or serves a subsequent sentence for further offences. Where the Board does not terminate the licence, the Secretary of State must by law re-refer the offender every 12 months. This ensures that every eligible offender is considered by the Parole Board annually and will enable the IPP licence, and the IPP sentence as a whole, to be brought to a definitive end for more offenders.
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 sentences in line with recommendation 8 of the report by the Justice Select Committee’ (JSC) report, published on 28 September 2022.
These changes are being taken forward in the Victims and Prisoners Bill.
The new measure will:
The Lord Chancellor was persuaded by the Committee’s recommendation to reduce the qualifying licence period from 10 years to 5 years and is going further: reducing the period to 3 years. These amendments will restore greater proportionality to IPP 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 sentence who have never been released now stands at 1,269 as of September 2023, down from more than 6000 in 2012.
Table 1: Shows the number of offenders serving an IPP sentence under pre- and post-release supervision who are eligible to be considered for termination of their licence, at end of period, December 2020 to June 2023, England and Wales.
Period | Eligible |
2021 Q1 | 187 |
2021 Q2 | 237 |
2021 Q3 | 299 |
2021 Q4 | 391 |
2022 Q1 | 477 |
2022 Q2 | 571 |
2022 Q3 | 662 |
2022 Q4 | 769 |
2023 Q1 | 842 |
2023 Q2 | 945 |
Please Note:
(1) This table includes IPP offenders who have been returned to custody following a recall.
(2) The figures in these tables 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.
Table 2: Shows the number of cases referred to the Parole Board
Period | Referrals |
2021 Q1 | 2 |
2021 Q2 | 8 |
2021 Q3 | 3 |
2021 Q4 | 9 |
2022 Q1 | 46 |
2022 Q2 | 42 |
2022 Q3 | 72 |
2022 Q4 | 69 |
2023 Q1 | 83 |
2023 Q2 | 147 |
Please Note:
(1) Figures could contain cases where the offender became eligible for licence termination in previous quarter.
(2) Figures from Table 1 are snapshot figures and are not comparable to figures in Table 2
Table 3: Shows the outcomes of licence termination applications in each quarter since 2021.
Outcome Period | Terminated | Suspended/ Varied | Refused |
2021 Q1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2021 Q2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
2021 Q3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
2021 Q4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
2022 Q1 | 21 | 5 | 10 |
2022 Q2 | 25 | 7 | 12 |
2022 Q3 | 22 | 8 | 18 |
2022 Q4 | 28 | 6 | 46 |
2023 Q1 | 25 | 6 | 23 |
2023 Q2 | 38 | 14 | 72 |
Table 4: Shows the number of people serving an IPP sentence that were transferred from prison to a secure hospital, and held in a secure hospital, in each year, since 2009
Year | Number of transfers in the year | Population in Secure Hospital at end of year |
2009 | 54 | 472 |
2010 | 107 | 467 |
2011 | 100 | 438 |
2012 | 86 | 380 |
2013 | 90 | 326 |
2014 | 88 | 264 |
2015 | 72 | 274 |
2016 | 66 | 274 |
2017 | 59 | 278 |
2018 | 65 | 282 |
2019 | 59 | 276 |
2020 | 55 | 275 |
2021 | 39 | 287 |
2022 | 44 | 262 |
Please Note:
(1) We do not hold figures prior to 2009 as the data entry system which holds these data was implemented in 2009 and data prior to this period are not of sufficient quality to allow for the breakdown requested.
(2) The number of transfers is not the same as number of offenders transferred as there could be more than one transfer associated with an offender in a year.
(3) These 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. Consequently, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
The information requested for HL236 and HL237 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The information for HL238 is not held centrally.