Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) artificial intelligence and (b) machine learning projects are being (i) undertaken and (ii) considered for his Department.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The department does not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) in the true definition across its services. The department has an Analytical Platform which spots trends and create links between data sets; however, this wouldn’t fall under either category. A case study on the Analytical Platform can be found here:
With its analytical platform, the department has built a set of tools that provide the basis for the potential development of AI/ML tools, and alongside this, we are undertaking a project that builds on the Office for Artificial Intelligence guidance to develop practical tools and governance to support the ethical development of any future AL/ML project. The Government’s Data Ethics Framework and ‘Guide to Using AI in the Public Sector’, alongside other guidance are available on GOV.UK, to support ethical and safe use of algorithms in the public sector.
The Department continues to review where artificial intelligence or machine learning would add value to undertaking its duties. In most circumstances we use software in place of machine learning or Artificial Intelligence.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of appeals to the Tribunals Service for (a) personal independence payment, (b) employment and support allowance, (c) income support, (d) jobseekers allowance and (e) tax credits were successful in (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20 in (A) Glasgow South West constituency, (B) Glasgow, (C) Scotland and (D) Great Britain; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Information about the outcomes of appeals in the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
SSCS appeals are listed into the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. The published data (which can be viewed at the link above) provide information about the outcomes of (a) Personal Independence Payment and (b) Employment and Support Allowance appeals for hearing venues covering (A) Glasgow South West (B) Glasgow (C) Scotland and (D) Great Britain for the periods 2018-19 and 2019-20; they also provide information about the outcomes for (c) Income Support (IS), (d) Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and (e) Tax Credits for Great Britain for the same periods.
The table below contains the requested information for IS, JSA and Tax Credits for Glasgow and Scotland:
Proportion1 of appeals decided in favour of the appellant 2018-19 and 2019-20 | ||||||
| IS | IS | JSA | JSA | Tax credits2 | Tax credits |
2018-2019 3 | Glasgow 4 | Scotland | Glasgow | Scotland | Glasgow | Scotland |
| 38% | 33% | 36% | 34% | 41% | 35% |
2019-20203 | 40% | 39% | 25% | 29% | 36% | 34% |
1 Proportion based on the number of cases found in favour of the appellant at a tribunal hearing as a percentage of the cases heard at a tribunal hearing.
2 Includes Working Family Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit.
3 Financial Year 1 April to 31 March.
4 SSCS appeals for Glasgow South West constituents are heard in the Glasgow venue but this venue also hears appeals from other Glasgow constituencies. It is not possible to provide constituency-specific data.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available.
The data may differ slightly to that of the published statistics as these data were run on a different date.
Decisions on benefit entitlement can be overturned on appeal for a variety of reasons. For instance, further evidence, including evidence in the form of oral testimony, may be provided at the hearing. HM Courts & Tribunals Service cannot comment on decisions made by independent tribunal judiciary.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation has affected the right of recognised unions in his Department to bargaining information in relation to section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation has not affected the rights of unions in the Ministry of Justice in relation to bargaining information provided under section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is compliant with the requirement in section 3.1.8 of the Civil Service Management Code that time off with pay for safety representatives will not be set against facility time allowed under existing arrangements.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Ministry of Justice has an obligation to provide reasonable paid time off to recognised trade union representatives to undertake trade union duties. This includes paid time off to Health and Safety representatives as set out in section 3.1.8 of the Civil Service Management Code.
The Ministry of Justice, in line with the legislative obligation set out in the Trade Union Act (2016), annually publishes information relating to facility time for relevant union officials. Facility time is defined by the Act as including time off taken by a relevant union official that is permitted by the official’s employer, including under “regulations made under section 2(4) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974”.
The Government recognises there are significant benefits to both employers and employees when organisations and unions work together effectively to deliver high quality public services, but facility time within the public sector must be accountable and represent value for money.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of appeals to the Tribunals Service in (a) Glasgow South West, (b) Glasgow, (c) Scotland and (d) Great Britain for (i) personal independent payment, (ii) employment and support allowance, (iii) income support, (iv) jobseekers allowance and (v) tax credits were successful in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Information about the outcomes of appeals in the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
SSCS appeals are listed into the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. The published data (which can be viewed at the link above) provide information about the outcomes of (i) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and (ii) Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) appeals for hearing venues covering (a) Glasgow South West (b) Glasgow (c) Scotland and (d) Great Britain for the period July – September 2019, the latest period for which data are available. They also provide information about the outcomes for (iii) Income Support (IS). (iv) Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and (v) Tax Credits (TC) for (d) Great Britain
The tables below contain the requested information for (iii) IS, (iv) JSA and (v) TC for Glasgow and Scotland:
Proportion1 of appeals decided in favour of the appellant in the latest period for which figures are available (July – September 2019) | |||
| IS | JSA | TC2 |
Glasgow South West and Glasgow3 | ~ | 17% | 33% |
Scotland | 21% | 27% | 31% |
1 Proportion of decisions in favour, based on the number of appeals found in favour of the appellant as a % of the cases cleared at tribunal hearing.
2 TC includes Working Family Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Working Tax Credit.
3 SSCS appeals for Glasgow South West constituents are heard in the Glasgow venue but this venue also hears appeals from other Glasgow constituencies. It is not possible to provide constituency-specific data.
~ Equates to a value of five or fewer
Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many equal pay reviews there have been in his Department since 2010; what the dates were of those reviews; and whether his Department plans to undertake an equal pay review in 2019.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Ministry of Justice conducts regular equality impact assessments on all proposed pay and policy changes and implementation. The MoJ operates a pay and grading structure where pay is defined by job weight and content.
HMPPS is responsible for preparing and submitting the Government’s annual evidence on Prison Officer’s pay to the independent Prison Service Pay Review Body. As part of this process, HMPPS looks at all equality issues based on the proposals and monitor the diversity of the remit group from available data. A full review was conducted in 2012 which resulted in the introduction of a new pay and grading structure and new ways of working (Fair and Sustainable) for Prison Officer grades. Fair and Sustainable was introduced to support pay equality, with salary determined by the requirements of the role based on the Job description.
An Equality Impact Assessment on pay in the National Probation Service was carried out in September 2018 as part of a project to reform its pay structure.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the pay system in his Department has been changed to take account of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling on Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Mr G Willetts and Others on holiday pay and voluntary overtime; and whether affected workers in his Department have been given back pay as a result of that ruling.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Ministry of Justice (HMPPS, HMCTS, CICA, LAA, and OPG) pay system has been updated in response to the tribunal case to meet the requirement for holiday pay and overtime. Affected staff have received arrears backdated to 1 March 2016.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of staff who applied for promotion within his Department from 1 September 2018 to 1 September 2019 and who identified as (a) BAME and (b) White, were successful by each grade in his Department.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The available information relating to the request is provided below and in the attached table.
Number of internal3 applicants8 known to have applied for promotion1 into the Ministry of Justice (excluding HMPPS2), by ethnicity and grade of post advertised, for recruitment campaigns closed5 between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019 inclusive4:
Ethnicity | Number of applications made on promotion1, by grade of post | |||||
Bands A-E9 | Band A7 | Band B | Band C | Band D | Band E | |
All | 9,592 | 1,515 | 1,916 | 3,008 | 2,897 | 256 |
BAME | 3,829 | 480 | 740 | 1,320 | 1,203 | 86 |
White | 5,091 | 897 | 1,017 | 1,496 | 1,525 | 156 |
Not declared | 672 | 138 | 159 | 192 | 169 | 14 |
Ethnicity | Number of successful6 applications made on promotion1, by grade of post | |||||
Bands A-E9 | Band A7 | Band B | Band C | Band D | Band E | |
All | 932 | 117 | 185 | 247 | 346 | 37 |
BAME | 234 | 17 | 39 | 67 | 104 | 7 |
White | 660 | 95 | 137 | 169 | 230 | 29 |
Not declared | 38 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 1 |
Ethnicity | Percentage of applications submitted that were successful in the recruitment process | |||||
Bands A-E9 | Band A7 | Band B | Band C | Band D | Band E | |
All | 10% | 8% | 10% | 8% | 12% | 14% |
BAME | 6% | 4% | 5% | 5% | 9% | 8% |
White | 13% | 11% | 13% | 11% | 15% | 19% |
Not declared | 6% | 4% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 7% |
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the additional staff required by his Department in the event that the UK leaves the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The approximate total number of people working on EU exit across the MoJ is 110 MoJ EU exit programme includes work on both deal and no-deal scenarios in preparation for the UK exit from the EU.
Departments continually review workforce plans, reprioritise and assess changing needs, which includes identification and cessation of non-priority work where appropriate. We have accelerated our plans, and at the same time, the Civil Service as a whole is working to ensure that EU Exit
Implementation is carried out to high quality without impacting public service delivery across the whole of government.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff were employed in his Department on (a) 20 December 2018 and (b) 23 June 2016.
Answered by Edward Argar
In MoJ, staff data is collected monthly at month-end, as such we have provided data at the nearest available snapshot dates below:
70,227 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) - as at 30 November 2018
63,364 FTE – as at 30 June 2016
The increase noted is almost exclusively in HMPPS (6,311 FTE) and predominantly in the operational line.