Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on improving the mental health of people in prisons.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Ensuring that people have access to timely and effective mental healthcare that is tailored to their needs is a top priority for this Department and I have regular discussions with both Minister O’Brien and Minister Caulfield about our shared interests.
Our ongoing commitment to work closely with health agencies to strengthen services is reflected in the new National Partnership Agreement on Health and Social Care in England, which was published on 23 February 2023. This new agreement sets out a shared priority workplan to deliver safe, decent and effective care that improves physical and mental health outcomes for people in prison and those subject to statutory supervision by the probation service in the community.
Following the publication of the national mental health needs analysis of all prisons, commissioned by NHS England and produced by the Centre for Mental Health, NHS England have, in collaboration with justice agencies, refreshed the mental health service specification for health and justice settings.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase the safety of women in prisons.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Ensuring the safety of staff and prisoners whilst in custody is a key priority and we continue to do everything we can to improve the safety outcomes of women in prison.
The Prisons Strategy White Paper, published in December 2021, set out our approach for women’s prisons; one which is trauma responsive, recognises the distinct nature of women’s experience in custody, and provides the appropriate levels of support, particularly for pregnant women and those with young children. In January 2023 we published our Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan 2022-25, which set out our priorities for delivering the aims of the strategy, including better outcomes for women in custody.
Women in prison often face complex issues including mental health, self-harm, trauma, and separation from children. We are investing up to £14 million to support improvements in safety in women’s prisons between 2022-25.
We set up a Women’s Estate Self-Harm Task Force in April 2020 to help reduce levels of self-harm. To date, the Taskforce has:
o recruited psychologists to support women with the most complex needs;
o developed bespoke selection and assessment criteria for staff in women’s prisons and developed bespoke staff training for staff working with female prisoners which is being rolled out across the women’s estate;
o implemented a gender-specific Offender Management in Custody model to provide each woman with dedicated support; and
o jointly commissioned a review of health and social care in the women’s estate with NHS England to better understand the health needs in the women’s estate.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase prison staffing levels.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
HMPPS have recruitment and retention activity underway for all sites with a current or future need. At the end of March 2023, there were 22,288 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) band 3-5 prison officers in post – an increase of 655 FTE (3.0%) prison officers compared to 31 December 2022. Since March 2022, we have also streamlined the recruitment process with average time for hiring and training prison officers falling month on month.
But recruitment is only part of the solution, we are also focusing on improving retention across the Prison Service. To increase retention rates, we have introduced a retention framework – and for new prison officers, New Colleague Mentors (NCMs) have been introduced to support the wellbeing of new colleagues in establishments across the estate. Over 150 NCMs have been funded and recruited to date. Early indications show the positive impact of NCMs in improving retention overall.
Finally, an increase in prison officer pay has also had a positive impact for increasing and retaining prison officer staffing levels. The 2022/23 prison service pay award delivered at least a 4% award to all staff, with additional investment of a £3,000 increase in ‘Band 3’ prison officer pay. The starting salary for a Band 3 prison officer on a 39-hour/week national contract is now £30,702. Initial exit interview data since July 2022, has shown that pay and reward has become less likely to be referred to as a main reason for leaving the Prison Service.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, steps he plans to take to improve the safety of people in prisons.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Ensuring the safety of staff and prisoners whilst in custody is a key priority and we continue to do everything we can to improve the safety outcomes of everybody in the prison estate.
The Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision for prisons of the future, including our ambitious plans to make prisons safer for staff and prisoners.
The right actions to improve safety fundamentally centre on supporting prisons to maintain key safety interventions. We have implemented a strengthened case management approach for prisoners who are assessed as at risk of suicide and self-harm as well as implemented one-to-one key work.
We have announced additional investment in our workforce, expansion of the prison estate and access to healthcare that are vital for delivering safer prisons. Between October 2016 and December 2022, the number of full-time equivalent officers at band 3-5 increased by 3,677. This means staff can provide more one-to-one support for prisoners and better monitor risk to prevent harm.
We have also invested £100 million to improve security in prisons by clamping down on the weapons, drugs and mobile phones that fuel crime and violence behind bars.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing levels across the youth estate.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Youth Custody Service’s first priority is the safety and well-being of the young people in its care. In the current challenging circumstances, that requirement continues to be paramount. Staff retention and recruitment is a challenge in all parts of HMPPS, not only within the youth secure estate. We are actively working to reduce high turnover of staff in the Young Offender Institutions. In addition to changes to national pay progression arrangements, we are focusing on action to improve retention. Exit interviews are made available to every leaver, to help us understand and address the reasons why staff may decide to leave.
Since December 2022, there has been a reduction in resignations by frontline staff across the Young Offender Institution sector. Whilst staffing is challenging in the Secure Training Centre too, this has not affected the levels of regime for education or enrichment available to children.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on how many times an individual child was removed from association for periods (a) up to three days, (b) up to 14 days, (c) up to 21 days, (d) up to 42 days and (e) more than 42 days for each juvenile young offender institution in the 12 months to31 March 2022; and if he will break down those removals by the (i) age, (ii) sex, (iii) ethnicity of the children removed from association, (iv) number of children who were classed as disabled and (v) recorded reasons for those removals.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Young people are only temporarily separated from their peers as a very last resort to protect others. When this happens, they receive extra support from specially trained staff. We are bolstering training for every frontline officer, backed by £5m of funding, to improve care and support for all those in custody. Children are never separated as a punishment. The information relating to the number of separations is provided below:
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Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the current backlog of applications is at the Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre in Bury St Edmunds; and what the wait time is for each application to be processed.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of when the secure school will open.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The secure school is on track to open by Spring 2024. Our provider, Oasis Restore Charitable Trust, is continuing to develop the integrated education, health, and operating model for the secure school, including its safeguarding practices. They will also continue to engage with Ofsted and other key stakeholders throughout this process.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many restraining orders were (a) issued and (b) breached (i) once, (ii) twice, (iii) three times and (iv) on four or more occasions in each of the last three years; how many custodial sentences were given in each category of breach; and what was the average length of sentence issued.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Please find attached a table detailing the number of restraining orders issued in each of the last 3 years in criminal courts.
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants prosecuted, convicted and sentenced for breaching a restraining order in criminal courts, for the years 2017-2021, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool 2021.
The number of defendants prosecuted for the offence in question can be found using the ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ tab. The number of defendants sentenced for the offence in question, along with sentencing outcomes (e.g., immediate custody) can be found using the ‘Sentence Outcomes’ tab. The average custodial sentence length for this offence can be found using the ‘Average Amounts’ tab.
Use the HO offence code filter to select the applicable offences:
The Ministry of Justice’s court proceedings database records each instance in which a breach offence enters the court system. It is not possible to identify a specific restraining order against which a breach offence has been committed. It is therefore not possible to identify the number of times an individual may have breached the same restraining order, as it may be entered into the system under one or multiple breach offences. This information may be available by accessing court records, however, the costs of making such a search would be disproportionate.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether bereaved families are still entitled to claim compensation under the rules of Directive 2004/80/EC following the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
EU Directive 2004/80/EC provides for EU Member States to have reciprocal compensation schemes for victims of violent crime or other persons affected by such a crime.
Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in December 2020 any such agreements have now ended. The 1983 Council of Europe Convention on compensation for victims of violent crimes (‘the Convention’) remains applicable and has requirements in place for assisting victims of violent crime. Where the crime was committed in an EU Member State, UK victims of violent and bereaved families may be eligible to apply to the compensation scheme in that State, under the Convention.
EU and EEA nationals can continue to apply for compensation in the UK, under the 2012 Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, including those not party to the Convention.