Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were prosecuted for (a) killing and (b) taking certain species of wild birds (i) in (A) 2021, (B) 2022 and (C) 2023 and (ii) since general license 42 was updated on 1 January 2024.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions at criminal courts in England and Wales between January 2021 and June 2024 in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics. The offence ‘Prohibition of certain methods of killing or taking wild birds (Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981)' can be found using the following HO code; 19006. This can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code filter to select the above offence in the Outcomes by Offence data tool.
Between January 2021 and June 2024 there have been 6 prosecutions for the offence 'Prohibition of certain methods of killing or taking wild birds (Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981)'. However, it is not possible to separately identify killing or taking wild birds from the offence within the court proceedings database held centrally by the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the financial impact of outsourcing within prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In June 2019, the Ministry of Justice put in place the Prison Operator Services Framework to manage a pipeline of operator competitions for new build prisons, and existing private prisons as they expire. To date, nine operator competitions have been launched via the Framework, with seven contracts awarded. One further contract is due to be awarded in 2024 before the final contract is awarded in 2025.
The aim of all operator competitions is to secure an operator to provide high quality, sustainable, and value for money custodial and maintenance services that are safe, decent, secure, and rehabilitative.
In each competition, bidders are required to set out detailed, high quality, value for money prison specific proposals that must meet minimum quality and financial thresholds. Bids are evaluated against clearly defined quality and financial criteria and a public sector comparator.
All operator competitions to date have delivered savings and provided additional added value when compared against the public sector comparator.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation awards have been made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme to victims under the age of 18 experiencing (a) rape and (b) sexual violence in each of the last five years.
Answered by Laura Farris
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Schemes contain a tariff of injuries in which payments are based on specified injuries or offences. The Schemes provide that, in respect of sexual assault(s), the applicant will be entitled either to an award that reflects the nature of the sexual assault(s) or an award for their mental injury, whichever attracts the highest payment under the tariff.
Between April 2019 and March 2024, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority made awards to victims who were under 18 at the time of the incident(s):
(a) 920 awards in respect of rape* and
(b) 19,323 awards in respect of sexual assault
* The reported figure is referred to in the tariff of injuries as ‘non-consensual penile penetration of vagina, anus or mouth’.
The table below divides these payments by financial year.
The table below does not include awards made for mental injuries where the award payable was higher than the sexual offence tariff. This is because a manual check would be required to distinguish mental injury awards for rape/sexual assault from those for other types of violent crime. Therefore, the total awards made to victims under the age of 18, as a result of rape or sexual assault is likely to be considerably higher than the numbers in the table below.
Financial Year | Number of cases categorised as ‘rape’ | Number of cases categorised as ‘sexual assault’ |
19/20 | 166 | 4290 |
20/21 | 187 | 3361 |
21/22 | 189 | 3504 |
22/23 | 183 | 3903 |
23/24 | 195 | 4265 |
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of naloxone kits issued (a) within custodial settings in and (b) on release from HM Prisons in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many opioid overdoses in custodial settings have (a) been successfully reversed and (b) resulted in fatalities in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times naloxone has been administered in custodial settings in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that legal aid remains accessible.
Answered by Mike Freer
Access to justice is a fundamental right, and in 2022/23 we spent £1.86 billion on legal aid: £926 million on civil, £873 million on crime, and £56 million through central funds (central funds provide funding for, amongst other things, Defence Costs Orders, which are made in respect of non legally-aided defendants who are acquitted, and independent cross examination of vulnerable witnesses in criminal and civil proceedings).
The Ministry of Justice published the Government Response to the Means Test Review consultation exercise in May 2023, which sets out the detailed policy decisions underpinning the new means-test arrangements.
Our changes will increase the number of people eligible for civil legal aid in England and Wales by an additional 2.5 million, with 3.5 million more people eligible for criminal legal aid at the magistrates’ court.
We have also injected up to £10 million a year into housing legal aid through the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS). HLPAS provides early legal advice on housing, debt, and welfare benefits problems for anyone facing the loss of their home.
In 2023, we broadened the evidence requirements for victims of domestic abuse applying for legal aid. Special Guardianship Orders in private law proceedings were also brought into the scope of legal aid. This represented an injection of £13 million a year.
We will shortly be consulting on expanding the provision of legal aid at inquests related to major incidents where the Independent Public Advocate is appointed or in the aftermath of terrorist incidents. If implemented, this would mean that no family involved in such cases in future would face an inquest without proper legal representation.
To support and strengthen the criminal legal aid sector, in responding to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review, we uplifted most criminal legal aid fee schemes by 15% in 2022. We are also consulting on reforms to the police station fee scheme and the Youth Court fee scheme, for which we have allocated an extra £21 million per year. These changes increase spend by up to £141 million a year - taking expected criminal legal aid spend to £1.2 billion per year. The additional funding into the system will help contribute towards the sustainability of the market and help ensure legal aid is accessible for the future.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will undertake a review of the fixed recoverable costs scheme.
Answered by Mike Freer
Fixed recoverable costs (FRC) was extended for new cases on 1 October 2023. The Government will review the extended FRC regime in October 2026, three years after implementation. More information about the nature and scope of the review will be set out nearer the time.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps with the Isle of Man Government to establish a memorial to the Summerland fire on that site.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Isle of Man is a self-governing Crown Dependency and this matter falls within the jurisdiction of the Isle of Man Government. It would not be appropriate for the UK to intervene.
I understand that the site of the former Summerland complex is clear and available for redevelopment and that there is a willingness on the part of the Isle of Man Government to support the inclusion of a memorial within any future redevelopment.
An existing memorial, the Kaye Memorial Garden, which is very near to the Summerland site, was established on the 40th anniversary of the fire by Douglas Borough Council. The garden is recognised by Isle of Man Government as the national memorial site. This year, on the 50th anniversary, the Chief Minister, heads of emergency services, survivors and relatives of the victims gathered there to mark the occasion.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the prisons estate.
Answered by Damian Hinds
We received almost £4 billion of funding at SR21 to deliver 20,000 additional, modern prison places, ensuring the right conditions are in place to rehabilitate prisoners, helping to cut crime and protect the public. We continue to invest in prison maintenance so that existing places remain in use and are safe.