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 effectiveness of the probation service.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The effectiveness of the Probation Service is regularly assessed through internal quality audits and performance metrics. These contribute to a Probation Scorecard which is published annually. The publication of the 2022/23 Probation Scorecard is planned for July 2023.
HMPPS internally tracks the effectiveness of performance in the following ways:
HMPPS’ independent internal assurance function provides assurance of the quality of probation practice across all probation regions through annual Sentence Management Audits. These highlight strengths in quality of practice, and areas for improvement.
All regions have internal Quality Improvement Plans to drive improvements in service delivery. These plans are quality assured centrally by HMPPS’ independent internal assurance function.
As part of regional quality work, regions also complete their own assurance of the quality of practice, using a specialised audit tool, which provides a local indication of the effectiveness of Probation practice.
Effectiveness is also independently assessed by HMI Probation.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to make it mandatory for those who are convicted of a crime to attend sentencing.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Offenders should be brought before the court to face the consequences of their crimes.
An offender’s refusal to attend their hearing can cause anger and upset for victims and their families. We are looking carefully at how best to address this issue so that offenders face up to their actions and victims can see justice being served.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to require coroners to inform universities when the suicide of an enrolled student is registered.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Every student death is a tragedy. Where a student’s death is investigated by the coroner, it may be appropriate for the higher education provider to have “interested person” status in the investigation and, where this is the case, would be provided with the Record of Inquest which includes the cause of death. Inquest hearings are public and open for anyone to attend.
In addition, Coroners have a statutory duty to issue a report to prevent future deaths (a PFD report) where they consider that an investigation has identified circumstances which should be addressed to prevent or reduce the risk of future deaths. The report must be made to a person or organisation whom the coroner believes could have the power to take action, which may include higher education providers, and recipients are obliged by law to respond.
As coroners are independent judicial office holders, the way in which they conduct their investigations is entirely a matter for them. It would therefore be inappropriate to impose a duty on them to provide information to higher education providers in relation to individual student suicide cases. Moreover, coronial investigations are limited fact-finding exercises, and it therefore cannot be guaranteed that consistent and comprehensive information on a deceased person’s background will be made available to the coroner in every case.
The Government expects all higher education providers to take suicide prevention very seriously, providing information with place for students to find help, actively identifying students at risk, and intervening with swift support when needed. Where a tragedy does occur, this must be treated with the utmost sensitivity by a provider. This approach to suicide prevention is set out in the Suicide Safer Universities framework, led by Universities UK and Papyrus and supported by Government. Supporting mental health and ensuring action is taken to prevent future tragedies is a high priority for Government. That is why we have targeted funding at mental health support measure including, supporting partnerships between higher education providers and NHS services to provide better pathways of care for university students.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will suspend the rollout of the Common Platform.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Common Platform is a fundamental part of the HMCTS Reform programme. It is essential if we are to successfully increase the efficiency of the criminal justice system overall and bring people speedier access to justice. It is replacing whole networks of outdated systems that are no longer fit for purpose.
Common Platform is a large but vital system that will help make the criminal justice system more efficient and effective – allowing all parties involved in a case to access information on one system for the first time. Once Common Platform is operating at full capacity it will cut down on duplication and unnecessary wasted time for admin teams, freeing up resources to focus on things that really matter.
Common Platform will continue to roll out to all criminal courts in England and Wales, and as of 14th November is now live in 173 sites (58 Crown Courts and 115 Magistrates’ Courts). This equates to 76% of criminal courts that are now live with the system.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to remove doctor's fees for cremations.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government’s response to the 2016 consultation on reforms to death certification in England and Wales set out plans to remove cremation medical referees, as well as the two cremation medical certificates (forms Cremation 4 and Cremation 5), with the associated fees, following implementation of a statutory medical examiner scheme.
Form Cremation 5 was permanently removed on 25 March and we are committed to removing form Cremation 4 once the statutory medical examiner system has been implemented in full. Cremation medical referees will also be removed after a transitionary period following full implementation.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans to allow weddings to take place outside without the need for a permanent structure or in an approved structure, on a permanent basis.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
On 20 December 2021, the Government launched a public consultation on outdoor weddings and civil partnerships. The consultation set out, and sought views on, the Government’s proposal to continue to permit outdoor civil marriages and civil partnerships on approved premises indefinitely, and separately to permit outdoor religious marriages in the grounds of places of worship.
The Government response to the consultation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will set a target and milestones for reducing the number of women entering the criminal justice system; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government remains fully committed to delivering the Female Offender Strategy and its three overarching priorities of i) fewer women coming into the criminal justice system; ii) fewer women in custody (especially on short-term sentences) and a greater proportion of women managed in the community successfully; and iii) better conditions for those in custody.
The Government will be considering the recommendations in the report “Improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system” published earlier this month by the National Audit Office, one of which is to “set out a list of the work it is doing to implement the strategy’s aims, with milestones”. While the Government has not previously set targets or milestones for delivering the Strategy, it will be considering whether this would be practical and beneficial as part of its response to the report.
We launched the Female Offender Strategy in 2018 with the aim of steering women away from crime and since then, the number of women entering the criminal justice system has fallen by 30%. We are investing millions of pounds over the next 3 years into community services like women centres, drug rehabilitation and accommodation support so fewer women end up in prison.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the rate of self-harm was among prisoners in (a) women's prisons and (b) men's prisons in each of the last three years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Department publishes statistics on deaths, self-harm and assaults in prison custody in England and Wales in the quarterly Safety in Custody statistics. A spreadsheet containing statistics on all instances of self-harm broken down by category is available, in addition to quarterly bulletins outlining trends at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics.
Last year, we implemented a revised version of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) multi-disciplinary case management approach to support prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm. We continue to make the Samaritans phone service available and are working with the Samaritans to ensure that the Listener peer support scheme continues to function effectively.
We are also implementing a new safety training package for staff, which addresses related issues, including suicide and self-harm prevention, understanding risks, triggers and protective factors, and communication skills.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Human Rights Act 1998.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As the Deputy Prime Minister has set out, we will update the Human Rights Act (HRA) to make sure it meets the needs of the society it serves and commands public support. The Government has established the Independent Human Rights Act Review to examine the framework of the HRA, how it is operating in practice and whether any change is required. We have received the Panel’s report and are carefully considering the Panel’s conclusions as part of a wider reform programme. We will publish the Panel’s report in due course and have already committed to consulting on proposed changes to the Act.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Ministry of Justice, what consultation there has been with groups representing transgender and non-binary people on plans to include their former and current first names in The Gazette.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Master of the Rolls has established a Judicial Working Group to review and revise the current regulations for the enrolled deed process.
The Group is looking at a number of aspects of the existing regulations, and one of the issues is the current requirement for name changes to be publicly advertised, as part of the process, in the London Gazette.
A proposal under consideration by the Group is that the regulations are reformed so that the court would have a discretion on the need for, or terms of, an advertisement where there are sensitivities about a name change being made public. Examples would be name changes to reflect changes in gender and binary identification, as well as to protect people who wish to change their name following an abusive relationship. Guidance to applicants is also being reviewed as part of the reform process.
The Group is also considering public interest issues where an advertisement would be desirable, for example to place on record a change of name by a registered offender.
Home Office Ministers have written to the Master of Rolls and the Lord Chief Justice requesting that the Group considers criminality in regard to the enrolled deed poll process. Once the Group has completed its work, we will consider whether it is necessary to amend existing Home Office guidance to better protect the public.
Should a change be made to the guidance, we will take careful consideration of the potential impacts of that amendment including for European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 rights and the protection of the people who have changed their name to avoid danger.
Current Home Office Use and Change of Name guidance sets out that where there is a need to protect persons from risk of harm, separate arrangements should be implemented which protect the identity of the person who is seeking to change their name.
In addition, the policy sets out that transgender foreign nationals whose national authorities do not recognise changes to names and/or gender in their passports or national identity cards will be able to obtain a Biometric Residence Permit in their acquired name and gender, providing the person can demonstrate they are using the acquired name and gender for all purposes.