Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of bereavement damages.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if the Government will publish all documents, including copies of emails, letters and minutes of meetings, in respect of its consideration of reform of bereavement damages.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims of childhood sexual abuse have (a) been refused compensation by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and (b) had a compensation award reduced as a result of their criminal record.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The statutory Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) requires that awards are withheld where the applicant has an unspent conviction of a specified type, including custodial sentences and community orders. Where the applicant has a different type of unspent conviction, the Scheme requires that any award is withheld or reduced unless there are exceptional reasons not to do so.
In the 3-year period between 12 March 2019 and 11 March 2022:
The above figures relate to finalised claims which were submitted on or after 1 February 2015. The data is not available in connection with claims submitted prior to that date. While the incident happened during childhood, many applications are submitted in adulthood. Applications may have more than one refusal reason.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Focus on women’s prisons, A briefing paper from HM Inspectorate of Prisons, published in February 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that lack of housing for women on release from prison is a critical risk factor in resettlement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We recognise the challenges facing women seeking accommodation on release. As part of our commitment to eliminate rough sleeping, we are working across Government, with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the Welsh Government and other Government Departments, to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation.
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-25 we will spend £200 million a year to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation. This includes expanding our new Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 (CAS3) provision, which currently provides up to 12 weeks temporary housing in five probation regions, to all prison leavers in England and Wales at risk of homelessness who are subject to probation supervision.
We understand that women face specific challenges in securing suitable accommodation because of their particular needs. For example, many require accommodation in women-only spaces as a result of their experiences of domestic abuse, or require additional space for their children.
The temporary accommodation we are providing takes account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs, with accommodation provision dedicated to single gender usage. Community Probation Practitioners (CPPs), working together with local partners, are responsible for ensuring that vulnerable female prison leavers receive appropriate support and have access to additional support through the Women’s Commissioned Rehabilitation Service (CRS). This provision is a holistic service offer, delivered by expert and experienced women’s services, that covers a broad range of interventions including accommodation support.
We will also increase the number of Housing Specialists from 20 to 48 across England and Wales. This will support prisons to be more strategic in their response to reducing homelessness and partnership working. Of the original 20 Housing Specialists, four were located in women’s prisons. This ratio will continue to apply to the additional 28 Housing Specialists.
We remain committed to the vision in the 2018 Female Offender Strategy, which set out the long-term framework to achieve better outcomes for women at all points of the system, and make society safer by tackling the underlying causes of offending and reoffending. The Strategy set out three main objectives: fewer women offending and reoffending; fewer women in custody, especially on short sentences, with more managed effectively in the community; and better conditions for women in custody that support effective rehabilitation.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how insecure and temporary accommodation for women leaving prison is accounted for in his Department's data of accommodation outcomes for former female offenders.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
To ensure consistent and accurate data recording, HMPPS, in collaboration with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government, has recently updated the Accommodation Recording Guidance to ensure Probation regions have a clear and consistent understanding of the accommodation status definitions, and how to record accurately. The Guidance defines homelessness as where an individual is rough sleeping, squatting, residing in night shelters, emergency hostels or campsites. Individuals with other forms of temporary, short-term or otherwise unstable accommodation is encompassed by the ‘unsettled accommodation’ category in published statistics.
As part of our commitment to eliminate rough sleeping, we are working across Government, with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the Welsh Government and other Government Departments, to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation.
Our Prisons White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. We will invest £200 million a year by 2024-25 to improve prison leavers’ access to accommodation, employment support, and substance misuse treatment. We are also delivering on our manifesto commitment to launch a new Prisoner Education Service, so that prisoners can gain the qualifications and skills they need to gain employment on release. By focusing on the factors we know reduce reoffending – employability, maintaining ties with family, accommodation, support through the gates and tackling substance misuse – we can help prison leavers resettle successfully in the community and turn their backs on crime.
Accommodation circumstances for offenders are reported annually as official statistics. Data for the period 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 will be published in July 2022 in the Community Performance Annual report.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Delivering justice for victims: A consultation on improving victims’ experiences of the justice system, and individually granted extensions for accessibility and exceptional pressure, what the process is; how long that process takes; and what steps his Department plans to take in the event that outstanding requests are made after the consultation deadline on 3 February 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We have listened to concerns from the victim sector and key stakeholders about their ability to respond to the consultation. The department is willing to consider individual extension requests of up to 14 days on the grounds of accessibility and exceptional pressure on organisations as a result of COVID-19.
To request an extension, individuals and organisations must contact the official consultation mailbox (victimsbillconsultation@justice.gov.uk) clearly setting out the reason for, and length of the extension, as it will be considered against the application of these criteria to the specific individual/organisation. Officials will consider and respond to requests as soon as possible.
In order to ensure that all responses receive equal consideration, requests should be submitted before the consultation deadline passes. Our extension policy does not apply to outstanding requests submitted after the consultation deadline, which will necessarily be treated differently and considered on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of scale of backlog in London courts; and whether he has plans to further increase courtroom use and Judicial capacity.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The department regularly publishes data on outstanding caseloads, which can be found here for the criminal courts (Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly: July to September 2021) and here for Civil and Family courts (Family Court Statistics Quarterly: July to September 2021 and Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly: July to September 2021).
We have allocated over a quarter of a billion pounds on recovery in the last financial year (20/21), making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings, recruiting additional staff and opening Nightingale courtrooms, including London’s fifth Nightingale courtroom at Monument in September. 32 Crown Court Nightingales have been extended to the end of March 2022.
We have undertaken one of our most ambitious programmes of judicial recruitment ever, so that we can hear as many cases as possible. We have also made greater use of part-time judges by lifting the number of days fee-paid judges can sit from 30 days to 80 for the second year in a row. The Spending Review will provide additional funding to recover performance following the pandemic.
We are now focused both on increasing capacity of the criminal courts and using the capacity we have in high-demand areas to its maximum. The Department continues to work with the judiciary to enable movement of additional judicial capacity into the London Crown Courts from other Regions, and where appropriate and agreed by all parties to move some Crown Court cases out of London into the South East and South West Crown Courts.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funds are allocated by his Department to the nightingale courts at Monument and Aldersgate past March 2022 for the purposes of supporting their continued work to help tackle the court backlog.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are assessing the need for the continued use of the Nightingale courts including at Monument and Aldersgate past March 2022. The decisions regarding Nightingale courts at Monument and Aldersgate will be made in due course. HMCTS will be provided with the funding needed to operate the Nightingale courts required to support recovery from the pandemic during 2022-23.
As part of the Spending Review we announced that we will be investing £477 million in the Criminal Justice System over the next three years. This will help to reduce the backlog and deliver the swift access to justice that victims deserve.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which nightingale courts in London will receive funding for operation past March 2022; and how long that funding is allocated for.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Our decisive action in the courts has kept justice moving during the pandemic.
Funding has been allocated to support additional court rooms in London to aid recovery from the pandemic. Plans for specific venues are being actioned and these will include both extensions of existing venues and new venues.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2022 to Question 94498 on the Victim's Bill Consultation, if he will publish a list of all the organisations he has had engagement sessions with up to 18 January 2022; and how many organisations have been consulted to date.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We recognise the importance of engaging and hearing from victims, frontline staff, and experts on this important topic and this consultation is the result of engagement the department has undertaken over the past six months. This includes fortnightly calls with the sector, which involve at least twenty-seven organisations involved in supporting victims.
As part of the consultation, we are working with partners in the victim sector to deliver a series of engagement events to hear directly from victims on the issues which are most important to them. As of 18th January, the first of these events has been delivered, with a further thirteen events confirmed to take place before 3rd February and plans for six further events being finalised. These events are being delivered in partnership with specialist organisations to ensure a diverse range of voices are heard, including those who work with victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse, victims who are women and girls, victims with disabilities, ethnic minority victims and victims who are children and young people.
We are also hosting a series of roundtables with staff of the frontline services which support victims. As of 18th January, we have ten events planned to be delivered before 3rd February, involving four inspectorates, sixteen policing related groups, three court-based organisations, thirty-five commissioning organisations, eighteen advocate organisations and ten community-based services.
These events will provide further opportunities to canvass views, and to speak to groups directly affected by the consultation. We will publish a full list of organisations we have engaged with as part of the consultation response.