Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what level of tuition has been provided in each young offender institution in England and Wales since August.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Youth Education Service contract requires Shaw Trust to deliver education to each learner for at least 15 hours each week. This is in addition to the wider curriculum offer, which includes library access, gym, youth work sessions and other activities that support children’s learning and development.
Every child is assessed to determine the grade or level of tuition they should be working at or towards, from Entry Level 1 in subjects such as Mathematics and English, through to A level.
The table below shows the number of hours planned per child by education providers, and the number of hours delivered.
HMP/YOI Feltham | Average planned weekly hours | Average hours delivered |
August | 15.78 | 6.34 |
September | 15.81 | 6.71 |
October | 16.32 | 4.87 |
HMP/YOI Wetherby | Average planned weekly hours | Average hours delivered |
August | 19.97 | 10.2 |
September | 18.46 | 10.96 |
October | 20.29 | 11.1 |
HMP/YOI Werrington | Average planned weekly hours | Average hours delivered |
August | 15.09 | 8.17 |
September | 15.55 | 7.64 |
October | 15.94 | 9.18 |
HMP/YOI Parc | Average planned weekly hours | Average hours delivered |
August | 23.60 | 19.20 |
September | 23.40 | 14.50 |
October | 25.00 | 20.00 |
Planned learning sessions may not take place for a variety of reasons, including court appearances, legal visits, sickness and medical treatment. Absence of provider staff is a further cause of cancellation.
The Youth Custody Service (YCS) has developed a comprehensive improvement plan for the next three years, which aims to increase time spent out of room in purposeful activity. It is also overhauling the incentives systems to ensure it focuses on values-led behaviour. The YCS has seconded staff from HMYOI Parc to develop systems across the other YOIs and share learning from their success. We are already seeing a gradual increase in time out of room in all sites, work which the YCS will continue to build on.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the agreed level of tuition to be provided by Shaw Trust in the contract they signed with the trust for young offender institutions.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Youth Education Service contract requires Shaw Trust to deliver education to each learner for at least 15 hours each week. This is in addition to the wider curriculum offer, which includes library access, gym, youth work sessions and other activities that support children’s learning and development.
Every child is assessed to determine the grade or level of tuition they should be working at or towards, from Entry Level 1 in subjects such as Mathematics and English, through to A level.
The table below shows the number of hours planned per child by education providers, and the number of hours delivered.
HMP/YOI Feltham | Average planned weekly hours | Average hours delivered |
August | 15.78 | 6.34 |
September | 15.81 | 6.71 |
October | 16.32 | 4.87 |
HMP/YOI Wetherby | Average planned weekly hours | Average hours delivered |
August | 19.97 | 10.2 |
September | 18.46 | 10.96 |
October | 20.29 | 11.1 |
HMP/YOI Werrington | Average planned weekly hours | Average hours delivered |
August | 15.09 | 8.17 |
September | 15.55 | 7.64 |
October | 15.94 | 9.18 |
HMP/YOI Parc | Average planned weekly hours | Average hours delivered |
August | 23.60 | 19.20 |
September | 23.40 | 14.50 |
October | 25.00 | 20.00 |
Planned learning sessions may not take place for a variety of reasons, including court appearances, legal visits, sickness and medical treatment. Absence of provider staff is a further cause of cancellation.
The Youth Custody Service (YCS) has developed a comprehensive improvement plan for the next three years, which aims to increase time spent out of room in purposeful activity. It is also overhauling the incentives systems to ensure it focuses on values-led behaviour. The YCS has seconded staff from HMYOI Parc to develop systems across the other YOIs and share learning from their success. We are already seeing a gradual increase in time out of room in all sites, work which the YCS will continue to build on.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent on each young offender institution in England and Wales in each year since October 2022.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The following table shows total resource expenditure at each public sector young offender institution (YOI), in the Children and Young People Estate for the three years 2022-23 to 2024-25. The figures do not include expenditure on education, as this is managed collectively across establishments, and it is not therefore possible to apportion it to individual YOIs.
YOI(1) | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
Cookham Wood(2) | 15,120,726 | 16,205,614 | 6,854,616 |
Feltham | 16,472,102 | 17,695,172 | 20,121,355 |
Werrington | 14,135,716 | 14,517,650 | 16,897,088 |
Wetherby | 24,491,671 | 26,969,686 | 31,683,400 |
Notes:
HMYOI Parc is not included. This is because it is managed under a single contract together with HMP Parc and it is not possible to disaggregate spending between the two establishments.
Cookham Wood closed as a YOI in August 2024.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the delay in introducing 'Hillsborough Law'.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Families have waited decades to get justice done and we are fully committed to bringing legislation forward.
Having consulted with those groups and their representatives, it is clear more time is required to draft the best version of a Hillsborough Law.
We will continue to work with those families to ensure they receive the justice they deserve.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that bereaved families are able to retrieve a note or letter written by an individual who has died by suicide.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Any death which is suspected to have been a suicide must be reported for investigation by the coroner. If a note or letter has been left by the deceased person, this should be provided to the coroner by the police and must be admitted as evidence if the coroner considers that the content of the document is relevant to the inquest into the person’s death.
Rule 13 of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 provides that, (subject to a limited number of exceptions) where an interested person (which would include the bereaved family) requests the disclosure of a document held by the coroner, the coroner must provide the document, or a copy of it, or make the document available for inspection by the interested person as soon as reasonably practicable.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many retailers have been prosecuted for selling disposable vapes to children.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions, convictions and sentence outcomes in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, including offences as set out in the Offence Group Classification, both found via the following link: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This includes the number of prosecutions for offences contrary to regulations under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (09185) and the sale of tobacco to person under 18 years of age (14401).
However, whether this was specifically regarding the sale of disposable vapes to children is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings Database. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many 16 year olds have been required to wear an electronic tag.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Electronic Monitoring is an important tool that can improve supervision in the community and therefore support children to maintain family ties and remain in training, work or education with additional safeguards in place. From 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, 1134 children aged 16 started an Electronically Monitored order.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possible impact of the closure of the Professional and Career Development Loans scheme on those from low-income households seeking to qualify as solicitors through the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, due to be introduced in 2021.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The legal services sector in England and Wales is independent of Government, and as such, the Government does not have a role in setting or approving the framework for admission into the legal profession.
In March 2018, the Legal Services Board (LSB) approved a rule change application made by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This application laid out a framework upon which the SRA could seek to introduce new requirements for trainee solicitors to pass a centralised Solicitors Qualifying Exam before being admitted into the profession. However, the application only established the framework. The SRA will need to submit another rule change application to LSB in order to implement it.
In its March 2018 decision notice, the LSB set out the substantive issues that it had not been able to fully assess and would need to evaluate before it approved any further application from the SRA seeking to implementing the framework. This included assessing the full costs of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam and accessibility of assessments.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that aspiring solicitors from low-income households have access to the funds necessary to complete the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, alongside any associated preparation or training courses.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The legal services sector in England and Wales is independent of Government, and as such, the Government does not have a role in setting or approving the framework for admission into the legal profession.
In March 2018, the Legal Services Board (LSB) approved a rule change application made by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This application laid out a framework upon which the SRA could seek to introduce new requirements for trainee solicitors to pass a centralised Solicitors Qualifying Exam before being admitted into the profession. However, the application only established the framework. The SRA will need to submit another rule change application to LSB in order to implement it.
In its March 2018 decision notice, the LSB set out the substantive issues that it had not been able to fully assess and would need to evaluate before it approved any further application from the SRA seeking to implementing the framework. This included assessing the full costs of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam and accessibility of assessments.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the solicitor profession remains accessible to all applicants.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Under the framework established by the Legal Services Act 2007, the legal profession in England and Wales is independent from government. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is responsible for authorising, and setting the qualifications standards for, solicitors in England and Wales.
Following the publication of the Legal Education and Training Review, the Legal Services Board issued statutory guidance on regulatory arrangements for education and training in 2014, and all the legal services regulators reviewed their arrangements. Subject to the approval of the Legal Services Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority is planning to introduce a new Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) from September 2021. It is hoped that the flexibility and projected lower costs of the SQE will help attract a more diverse range of candidates.