Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure children's wishes are considered by the Family Court during a hearing.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
When deciding an issue relating to the upbringing of a child, the child’s welfare must be the court’s paramount consideration. When considering arrangements to be made for a child, the court must have particular regard to a list of factors, including the wishes and feelings of the child, considered in light of the child’s age and level of understanding. Depending on the type of proceedings, the child may automatically be a party to the case or may be made a party by the court if it is in their best interests to do so.
In most proceedings relating to a child, it is part of the role of Cafcass, or Cafcass Cymru, to engage with children to establish their wishes and communicate these to the court. Cafcass and Cafcass Cymru officers can use various methods to ensure children can make their feelings and wishes clear to the court in their own words and will submit their own analysis of the evidence to the court.
The Government is exploring how to enhance the voice of the child in private family law proceedings to ensure children’s wishes and views are central to proceedings concerning them via the Pathfinder pilot currently in place in Dorset, North Wales, Birmingham and South-East Wales. As part of the evaluation of the pilots we are working with partners and stakeholders to assess methods of child engagement and understand more about the voice of the child in the initial pilot sites of Dorset and North Wales. We expect the findings of this to be published in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to protect parties during family court proceedings.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to ensuring the family court system is safe and supportive for all parties, particularly those who are survivors of domestic abuse.
Family courts have various tools available to protect participants. Courts have the power to prohibit the cross-examination of domestic abuse survivors by their abusers. Victims of domestic abuse are automatically considered to be vulnerable when the court is determining whether to make special measures, such as allowing someone to give evidence by video link, or from behind a screen. The Family Procedure Rules and Practice Directions allow for Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers to accompany parties in the courtroom.
In proceedings relating to children, the court has powers under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 to make orders to prevent a person from making applications to court without prior permission from the court, for example where further proceedings would risk causing harm to parents or children.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure that victims of domestic abuse are supported through the family courts system.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the impact family court proceedings can have on children and adult survivors of domestic abuse which is why we are is committed to halving incidences of violence against women and girls; reforming the family justice system so that victims of domestic abuse are supported is key to this.
The courts hearing family proceedings have the power to prohibit the cross-examination of domestic abuse survivors by their abusers. Victims of domestic abuse are automatically considered to be vulnerable when the court is determining whether to make special measures, such as allowing someone to give evidence by video link, or from behind a screen. The Family Procedure Rules and Practice Directions allow for Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers to accompany parties in the courtroom.
Central to the Department’s work on reforming the family justice system is the Pathfinder pilot. This entirely reformed court model uses a more investigative and less adversarial approach for private law proceedings relating to children and is currently operating in Dorset, North Wales, Birmingham and South-East Wales. The pilot seeks to improve the experiences of children and families in proceedings, in particular for survivors of domestic abuse, and reduce re-traumatisation. At the heart of this model is closer multiagency working which has led to improved communication, greater consistency in information and multi-disciplinary training. The pilot courts work closely with the specialist domestic abuse sector including Independent Domestic Abuse Advisers to ensure that adequate domestic abuse risk assessments and support is in place. We are exploring options for further rollout to ensure that more people can benefit from this approach.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of case backlogs in (a) criminal and (b) civil courts.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
Criminal Courts
The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. We have already shown we are committed to bearing down on the caseload and bringing waiting times down.
This Government has increased the number of Crown Court sitting days to 106,500, more than in six out of the last seven years. We are also in the process of extending magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 to 12 months, freeing up 2,000 days in the Crown Court to handle the most serious cases.
Judges have been prioritising rape cases that have been waiting for over two years to go to trial. Despite this, there are some cases in the outstanding caseload which are taking far too long to progress through the system. We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve. This is why we have committed to fast-tracking rape cases through the courts, to deliver swift and effective justice to some of the most vulnerable victims in the criminal justice system and will say more on this in due course.
We consistently invest in the recruitment of c.1,000 judges and tribunal members across all jurisdictions annually alongside continuing to use 18 Nightingale courtrooms across eight venues to hear more cases.
Civil Courts
The civil courts play a crucial role in supporting the economy and growth as well as ensuring citizens have access to justice.
Performance remains a challenge in the civil courts and the Government is committed to resolving cases quickly, as well as ensuring that claims are dealt with appropriately and proportionately according to their complexity and value.
The Ministry of Justice is working closely with the senior judiciary to improve performance across the jurisdiction by reducing demand, increasing capacity and introducing efficiencies. For example, we continue to explore the expansion of integrated mediation in certain disputes, to enable the swift and cost-effective resolution of disputes. The county courts use a ‘national and virtual region pool’ which enables judges to hear cases outside their regional circuit, to ensure that available judicial resource can be deployed to areas of significant demand elsewhere when needed.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2024 to Question 3550 on Probation, what access does the unified Probation Service have to information that was previously held by the Community Rehabilitation Companies; and whether current probation officers can access all relevant information about cases that were held by the CRCs.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Probation Service practitioners have a complete record of all cases that were managed by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). National Delius and Offender Assessment System (OASys) records were preserved as the primary case record, as was the position before, during and after the structural changes to probation made by the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms.
In addition to this, the Probation Reform Programme carried out extensive work to ensure that any information from local CRC recording systems was appropriately migrated at the point of reunification.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure the (a) rehabilitation and (b) education of offenders who took part in violent disorder during summer 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government is committed to reducing reoffending by giving offenders leaving prison the tools to rehabilitate and move away from crime.
Offenders involved in this summer’s violent disorder and given prison sentences will receive an education assessment on reception to prison. Prison staff and probation practitioners will work to create a sentence plan to ensure the right support is on offer during their time in prison and on release.
As well as the opportunity to improve English and mathematics (if needed) and to undertake vocational training, HMPPS offer a range of behavioural programmes and other interventions that may be considered for offenders convicted of violent offences as part of this summer's disorder. These include programmes to improve relationships, thinking skills and healthy identities. Eligibility is determined based on assessed risk and need.
Where individuals involved in this summer’s disorder have substance misuse issues we will work to tackle these To achieve this, 80 prisons have an Incentivised Substance-Free Living unit, where prisoners are regularly tested and receive incentives, and we have dedicated staff to tackle drugs in custody and support continuity of care. In the community we are diverting offenders into treatment at the earliest opportunity. This includes more offenders sentenced to Drug Rehabilitation Requirements, a form of community sentence which includes a requirement to engage in treatment
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many recalls to prison there were of people on licence in England and Wales in each of the last ten years for which figures are available; and what plans she has to reduce the number of recalls to prison.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The number of recalls to custody recorded in the ten years from 2013 to 2023 is provided in the table below.
Recall Year | Number of Recalls |
2014 | 17,649 |
2015 | 21,467 |
2016 | 21,559 |
2017 | 21,915 |
2018 | 24,268 |
2019 | 26,503 |
2020 | 24,437 |
2021 | 22,105 |
2022 | 23,571 |
2023 | 27,820 |
The table above shows the number of recalls not the number of offenders – an offender may be recalled more than once.
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. As such, figures are subject to change as information is updated.
Data source: Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD)
The Government’s absolute focus is on public protection. Offenders on licence can be swiftly recalled to prison if they breach their licence conditions in such a way as to indicate that their risk has increased and they are about to commit further offences. The recall of an offender to custody is an important public protection measure but our priority is to reduce reoffending and the risks presented by offenders, so that they do not need to be recalled in order to protect the public.
Additionally, HMPPS has issued guidance to the probation practitioners, to ensure all safe alternatives to recall are considered before a decision is taken to recall an offender. HMPPS has also re-invigorated the Secretary of State’s power to release recalled offenders following a risk assessed recall review without reference to the Parole Board.
With public protection as our top priority, we continue to work across government to ensure that we take the necessary steps to reduce the recall population and keep the system functioning safely.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average caseload of probation officers in England and Wales was in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The average caseload of Probation Officers has been calculated using data from the Workload Measurement Tool (WMT) and has been presented for the period July 2021 to June 2024. Data has been restricted to this period because the Probation Service unified in June 2021, with some Probation Officers and their caseload held by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) prior to this point. The Probation Service does not have access to data for caseload held by CRCs and so it would not be consistent to present a time series prior to June 2021.
Table One: Probation Officer average annual caseload across England and Wales
Period | Annual average caseload per Probation Officer |
July 21 – June 22 | 36.0 |
July 22 – June 23 | 37.1 |
July 23 – June 24 | 35.2 |
Notes
The data within the WMT are manually entered by Senior Probation Officers (SPOs) for those in their line management chain. These data are subject to inaccuracy as a result of the manual nature with which data are entered.
Annual average caseload per Probation Officer has been calculated by taking the average caseload on the last day of each month in that period (an average across the 12 months).
We are aware of data quality concerns regarding some of the data with some instances of cases being allocated to those who are not delivering caseload. There may be cases where staff who have left the Probation Service still appear to hold caseload on the WMT. Some staff on long-term absences (e.g. career breaks / long-term sickness) may still have a caseload allocated to them. There are also instances where those with no contracted hours are allocated cases without having an allocated capacity. Average caseload does not take into account the level of risk or complexity of cases, and this will have a large effect on the workload of Probation Officers.
Data have not been presented for the period prior to June 2021, the point at which unification of the Probation Service took place. Prior to June 2021, some Probation Officers and caseload were held by CRCs, data for which is not included in the WMT. It would not be consistent to present a time series of caseload per Probation Officer before and after unification.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the scope will be of her Department's strategic review of probation governance.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Probation Service has a crucial role in protecting the public and providing a path of reintegration into the community to break the cycle of reoffending. The Service delivers these goals by working closely with local partners – such as police forces, local authorities, and third sector organisations, amongst others. The Government is committed to learning from successful examples of local partnerships and support the whole service to improve join-up and deliver better outcomes.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost was of (a) a prison place, (b) the supervision of a person on licence following release from prison and (c) the delivery of a community order by the Probation Service in the latest 12 month period for which data is available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Information on the average annual cost per prisoner, cost per prison place and overall prison unit cost for each private and public sector prison in England and Wales is published by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) after the end of each financial year on the gov.uk website.
The overall average cost for running a prison place for a year (per prison place) in 2022-23 was £51,724. This information can also be found through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-performance-data-2022-to-2023.
The Ministry of Justice expects the 2023-24 Prison Unit Cost data to be published in December 2024, once the 2023-24 HMPPS Annual Report & Accounts have been published.
The average cost to the Probation Service in 2023-24 of an additional person on the probation licence caseload (including probation pre-release costs) was estimated at c.£4,500 compared with c.£3,150 for an additional person on the probation court order caseload (community orders and suspended sentence orders). This can be found through the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65537c7d50475b000dc5b590/Sentencing_Bill_-_IA_-_HDC.pdf.
Note that the costs presented exclude some costs to the Ministry of Justice, such as the costs of building prisons, costs not directly tied to changes in probation caseload and MoJ HQ costs.