Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister made representations to the Prime Minister and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia on the prison sentences given to (a) Salma al-Shehab and (b) Noura al-Qahtani during his meeting on 9 December 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the read-out of the meeting.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister discussed with the Prime Minister and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia the (a) application of (i) Juvenile Law 2018 and (ii) Royal Decree 2020 and (b) risk of (A) the re-imposition of a death sentence on Abdullah al-Howaiti and (B) potential execution of Abdullah al-Derazi during their meeting on 9 December 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the read-out of the meeting.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister raised the use of the death penalty for offences that do not meet international standards for the most serious crimes during his meeting with the (a) Prime Minister and (b) Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the read-out of the meeting.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of supported accommodation rather than custody for (a) women and (b) their families.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
HMPPS offers a three-tier structure of temporary accommodation known as Community Accommodation Service (CAS), two tiers of which provide accommodation that can be used to support community orders, releases on Home Detention Curfew, and bail. CAS1 (also known as Approved Premises) provides 24-hour staffed accommodation with a high level of monitoring, and CAS2 provides accommodation with a minimum of two hours support per week from a support worker, in addition to probation supervision.
We are establishing a Women’s Justice Board, to set the vision and strategic direction to address the distinct needs of women in or at risk of contract with the Criminal Justice System and will include a focus on residential alternatives to custody.
We know that, for women specifically, supported accommodation as an alternative to custody can be particularly valuable: women supported in the community are 4 percentage points less likely to reoffend than those on short custodial sentences. CAS1 can be used to fulfil a community order residential requirement, CAS2 can support individuals with temporary accommodation who are part of the current Intensive Supervision Court pilots, including the female pilot; and we are providing grant funding for dedicated residential women’s centres to build the evidence base around their use and inform future work. We are working closely with the Judiciary and Offender Managers to promote greater awareness and use of these options.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department is taking steps to utilise supported accommodation rather than custody to reduce the impact of prison.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
HMPPS offers a three-tier structure of temporary accommodation known as Community Accommodation Service (CAS), two tiers of which provide accommodation that can be used to support community orders, releases on Home Detention Curfew, and bail. CAS1 (also known as Approved Premises) provides 24-hour staffed accommodation with a high level of monitoring, and CAS2 provides accommodation with a minimum of two hours support per week from a support worker, in addition to probation supervision.
We are establishing a Women’s Justice Board, to set the vision and strategic direction to address the distinct needs of women in or at risk of contract with the Criminal Justice System and will include a focus on residential alternatives to custody.
We know that, for women specifically, supported accommodation as an alternative to custody can be particularly valuable: women supported in the community are 4 percentage points less likely to reoffend than those on short custodial sentences. CAS1 can be used to fulfil a community order residential requirement, CAS2 can support individuals with temporary accommodation who are part of the current Intensive Supervision Court pilots, including the female pilot; and we are providing grant funding for dedicated residential women’s centres to build the evidence base around their use and inform future work. We are working closely with the Judiciary and Offender Managers to promote greater awareness and use of these options.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his counterparts in (a) Kuwait, (b) Qatar and (c) Bahrain on their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and what steps he is taking to support participative democracy in those countries.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
His Majesty's Government continues to engage across a range of human rights priorities with Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. We remain committed to the promotion of universal freedoms and upholding human rights globally and encourage all countries to meet their international and domestic human rights commitments.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the delayed publication of the criminal court statistics due to an issue affecting the accuracy of the data, what steps her Department is taking to (a) mitigate against potential inaccuracies in that data that is used for criminal justice system planning or modelling and (b) ensure the accuracy of data used in making strategic decisions on sitting days.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
In June and September 2024, the Ministry of Justice made the decision to cancel publication of the quarterly Official Accredited statistics on the criminal courts, following concerns about the quality of criminal court performance data.
That initial work highlighted some necessary changes to court processing systems to enable robust and accurate data to be produced. These fixes do not affect the operation of the courts and are purely an issue for the data reporting.
Despite these data issues, we know that the Crown Court outstanding caseload has been increasing in the last 6 months, and remains one of the biggest pressures facing the criminal justice system.
These data fixes are being implemented alongside work to align the Ministry of Justice Official Accredited statistics and HMCTS management information methodologies. This will benefit users by providing greater transparency and coherence in court data.
Publishing accurate statistics for our criminal courts is vital for public confidence in the justice system. I recognise that the prolonged absence of timely and accurate data is an unsatisfactory position. This work is a departmental priority and, is underway to deliver an updated data series (including those missing quarters) as soon as possible when we are confident it meets the required level of accuracy. The Government looks forward to updating the House on the action we are taking soon.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the statement on her Department’s webpage entitled Criminal court statistics, which Criminal court statistics quarterly publication was the first to require work to assure the quality of source data.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
In June and September 2024, the Ministry of Justice made the decision to cancel publication of the quarterly Official Accredited statistics on the criminal courts, following concerns about the quality of criminal court performance data.
That initial work highlighted some necessary changes to court processing systems to enable robust and accurate data to be produced. These fixes do not affect the operation of the courts and are purely an issue for the data reporting.
Despite these data issues, we know that the Crown Court outstanding caseload has been increasing in the last 6 months, and remains one of the biggest pressures facing the criminal justice system.
These data fixes are being implemented alongside work to align the Ministry of Justice Official Accredited statistics and HMCTS management information methodologies. This will benefit users by providing greater transparency and coherence in court data.
Publishing accurate statistics for our criminal courts is vital for public confidence in the justice system. I recognise that the prolonged absence of timely and accurate data is an unsatisfactory position. This work is a departmental priority and, is underway to deliver an updated data series (including those missing quarters) as soon as possible when we are confident it meets the required level of accuracy. The Government looks forward to updating the House on the action we are taking soon.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department’s data cleanse of the magistrates’ court data will (a) help with listing, (b) benefit other court processes and (c) improve the accuracy of the statistics.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
In June and September 2024, the Ministry of Justice made the decision to cancel publication of the quarterly Official Accredited statistics on the criminal courts, following concerns about the quality of criminal court performance data.
That initial work highlighted some necessary changes to court processing systems to enable robust and accurate data to be produced. These fixes do not affect the operation of the courts and are purely an issue for the data reporting.
Despite these data issues, we know that the Crown Court outstanding caseload has been increasing in the last 6 months, and remains one of the biggest pressures facing the criminal justice system.
These data fixes are being implemented alongside work to align the Ministry of Justice Official Accredited statistics and HMCTS management information methodologies. This will benefit users by providing greater transparency and coherence in court data.
Publishing accurate statistics for our criminal courts is vital for public confidence in the justice system. I recognise that the prolonged absence of timely and accurate data is an unsatisfactory position. This work is a departmental priority and, is underway to deliver an updated data series (including those missing quarters) as soon as possible when we are confident it meets the required level of accuracy. The Government looks forward to updating the House on the action we are taking soon.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the issue affecting the quality of the data for the Criminal Court Statistics affects data on the number of Crown Court cases disposed of each month.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
In June and September 2024, the Ministry of Justice made the decision to cancel publication of the quarterly Official Accredited statistics on the criminal courts, following concerns about the quality of criminal court performance data.
That initial work highlighted some necessary changes to court processing systems to enable robust and accurate data to be produced. These fixes do not affect the operation of the courts and are purely an issue for the data reporting.
Despite these data issues, we know that the Crown Court outstanding caseload has been increasing in the last 6 months, and remains one of the biggest pressures facing the criminal justice system.
These data fixes are being implemented alongside work to align the Ministry of Justice Official Accredited statistics and HMCTS management information methodologies. This will benefit users by providing greater transparency and coherence in court data.
Publishing accurate statistics for our criminal courts is vital for public confidence in the justice system. I recognise that the prolonged absence of timely and accurate data is an unsatisfactory position. This work is a departmental priority and, is underway to deliver an updated data series (including those missing quarters) as soon as possible when we are confident it meets the required level of accuracy. The Government looks forward to updating the House on the action we are taking soon.