Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to tackle the building maintenance backlog for courts and tribunals.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It is important that the infrastructure of our courts does not prevent hearings from taking place. It is a priority for this Government to ensure that cases can be heard, and victims can be given the justice that they deserve.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has a plan for future works to improve the resilience and quality of the court estate, and this is kept under regular review to make sure it meets operational priorities. Available maintenance funding is prioritised to sites that need it most, to ensure that buildings are safe, secure, meet statutory requirements and protect continuity of service.
£120 million was allocated for court maintenance and capital project funding for 2024/25. Funding for 2025/26 will be agreed through the concordat process and will be announced in due course. Funding for 2026/27 and beyond will be agreed through the Spending Review process, which is currently ongoing. The Chancellor has confirmed that the Spending Review will conclude on 11 June 2025.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve use of prison libraries to increase prisoners' literacy.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All prisons are legally required to offer a library service, and all prisoners are regularly able to access appropriately stocked libraries that support them in their learning and personal development.
HMPPS has recently issued best practice guidance to all prisons across England to ensure the quality of library services can be maximised regardless of a prison’s cohort, function or available resource.
In Wales, we have well-established library services across the Welsh estate with several satellite library services for extra accessibility in prison residential areas, and the national reading strategy is in progress.
Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and every prison now has a reading strategy which has been supported by the donation of over 150,000 books to prisons by publishing houses through the ‘Bang-Up-Books’ campaign. We also engage with experts as part of a National Reading Group which advises on improvement work that includes better initial assessments of prisoners’ reading ability.
In addition, prisons in England and Wales frequently work with voluntary and community sector providers who provide reading support delivered by peer mentors as well as workshops to encourage creative writing, reading and book groups.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve reading education provision in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All prisons are legally required to offer a library service, and all prisoners are regularly able to access appropriately stocked libraries that support them in their learning and personal development.
HMPPS has recently issued best practice guidance to all prisons across England to ensure the quality of library services can be maximised regardless of a prison’s cohort, function or available resource.
In Wales, we have well-established library services across the Welsh estate with several satellite library services for extra accessibility in prison residential areas, and the national reading strategy is in progress.
Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and every prison now has a reading strategy which has been supported by the donation of over 150,000 books to prisons by publishing houses through the ‘Bang-Up-Books’ campaign. We also engage with experts as part of a National Reading Group which advises on improvement work that includes better initial assessments of prisoners’ reading ability.
In addition, prisons in England and Wales frequently work with voluntary and community sector providers who provide reading support delivered by peer mentors as well as workshops to encourage creative writing, reading and book groups.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the building maintenance backlog relating to prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
To keep our prisons safe and secure, we are investing £220 million in prison and probation service maintenance in 2024-25, and up to £300 million in 2025-26. This is the largest investment in maintenance per annum since 2021-22.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women serving a custodial sentence have been a victim of domestic violence.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The latest data available relates to those in custody on 30 June 2019, aged 18 and over. Information is available for individuals whose relationship status had been assessed by that date on the Offender Assessment System, which accounts for 2,437 women and 60,157 men.
From these totals 1,525 female prisoners were identified as having ever been the victim of domestic violence. This equates to 63% of female prisoners.
Figures for the extent of Offender Assessment System coverage exclude “layer 1” assessments, which do not include questions on domestic violence. Previous figures quoted for 2017 in the Answer of 9 October to Question 174010 included these, so percentages for 2019 are increased accordingly.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of abolishing prison sentences of six months and less.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
We are clear that sentencing must match the severity of the crime, and public protection is our priority. Custody should only be used as a last resort and community sentences will continue to be an important part of punishing and rehabilitating offenders.
In the Queen’s speech in December, the Government announced plans to introduce new sentencing laws. Ahead of any legislation, we intend to canvass proposals in a White Paper. This will contain proposals for community penalties that offer an appropriate level of punishment, while tackling the underlying drivers of re-offending.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of prison sentences of six months on reducing rates of reoffending.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
We are clear that sentencing must match the severity of a crime, and public protection is our priority.
The latest proven reoffending rate for adult offenders released from sentences of six months or less in the quarter July to September 2017 was almost two thirds (64.8%).
If we are to break the cycle of reoffending, solutions will often lie in community sentences, including those which address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, or provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community. However, sentencers should continue to have the option of imposing a short custodial sentence, where appropriate.
In the Queen’s speech in December, the Government announced plans to introduce new sentencing laws. Ahead of any legislation, we intend to canvass proposals in a White Paper. This will contain proposals for community penalties that offer an appropriate level of punishment, while tackling the underlying drivers of re-offending.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of women serving custodial sentences are serving a sentence of six months or less.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
As at 30 September 2019 (latest available data), 11% of the total female sentenced population were serving sentences of 6 months or less.
Further information is available in Table 1.1 of the document “Prison population: 30 September 2019” at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2019.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of mental healthcare provision in UK prisons.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Health services in prisons are commissioned by NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I) who are responsible for making assessments of the current provision of mental health services in the prison system in England. In Wales, health is devolved to the Welsh Government where separate arrangements are made.
We take mental health provision very seriously and are committed to working closely with health partners to ensure that offenders are able to access the treatment and support required for their mental health needs. The health and justice partners include: Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHSE/I, and Public Health England (PHE). In prisons, this relationship has been formally set out in the National Partnership Agreement for Prison Healthcare in England, which has been in place since April 2018. Its associated workplan sets out a detailed programme of work, agreed by health and justice partners, to deliver safe, decent, effective healthcare for offenders.
We recognise the importance of the prison environment for enabling better health outcomes. For example, we have worked to refresh safety training packages, with staff receiving training in key areas such as mental health and substance misuse. Over 25,000 new and existing prison staff (including those who work for other bodies) have now completed at least one module of the revised suicide and self-harm prevention training; 14,000 staff have received all six modules.
We continue to work with our partners to improve mental healthcare in prisons.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) men and (b) women serving custodial sentences died by suicide during their sentence in each month in 2019.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The numbers of self-inflicted deaths of prisoners between January and September 2019 (the most recent month for which figures are available) are shown in the attached table.
Every death in custody is a tragedy, and we are committed to learning lessons from these deaths wherever possible. The Government is investing £2.75 billion to transform the prison estate and bolster security - introducing X-ray body scanners and enhanced gate security - and taking unprecedented action to improve safety in custody.
We have recruited over 4,400 more prison officers since October 2016, and we now have the greatest number in post since early 2012. This is allowing us to implement the key worker role, providing staff dedicated time to support individual prisoners.
We are improving support for prisoners in their early days in custody and developing a new version of the multi-disciplinary ACCT case management process for those at risk of suicide. We have rolled out a revised and improved Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention course. This is being completed by all new staff and as refresher training by all existing staff. Nearly 25,000 staff have already begun this training and over 14,000 have completed all six modules.