Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Albanian nationals (a) have been sentenced to imprisonment in the last 12 months, (b) are in prison, (c) have been released in the last 12 months and (d) have been deported to Albania in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Nationality data held by courts is not held centrally by the Ministry of Justice. We are therefore unable to provide information on how many Albanian nationals have been sentenced to imprisonment at court in the last 12 months. We have instead provided information on sentenced prison admissions for Albanian nationals between April 2023 and March 2024 (the latest 12 months published period). This information has been provided in the data attached.
The nationality of foreign national offenders in prison is published quarterly in table 1_Q_12 of Offender Management Statistics, with the latest data (30 June 2024) available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a1167cce1fd0da7b592c8d/Prison-population-30-June-2024.ods. As of 30 June 2024, there were 1,227 Albania nationals in HMPPS custody.
We have provided information on prisoner releases of Albanian nationals between April 2023 and March 2024 (the latest 12 months published period). This information has been provided in the data attached. Please note, not all these were released into the UK community: the number of prisoner releases includes those who were deported to Albania directly from prison, having completed their UK custodial sentence, and those who were transferred from prison to Albania to serve their prison sentence there.
Information on deportations is a matter for the Home Office.
Foreign nationals who commit crimes should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced, and where appropriate the Government will pursue their deportation and ensure the rules are respected and enforced. This will help to manage prison pressures, keep the public safe and reduce crime. The Government have already begun delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to remove people with no right to be in the UK, with 3,000 people already being returned since the new government came into power.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been in Greater London for (i) dangerous cycling in contravention of section 28, (ii) careless and inconsiderate cycling in contravention of section 29 and (iii) cycling when under the influence of drink or drugs in contravention of section 30 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in each of the last three years for which information is available.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister and Shadow Minister for London
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions and convictions in England and Wales for the following offences:
13711 - Reckless and dangerous driving by pedal cyclist - Contrary to section 28(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.
13712 - Careless driving by pedal cyclist - Contrary to section 29 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.
13713 - Pedal cyclist driving under the influence of drink or drugs - Contrary to section 30 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.
These can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code filter to select the above offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool.
The police force area filter enables you to select specific areas, in this case, select ‘Metropolitan’.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the full written reasons for the decision of the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Chamber of 23 August 2023 will be made available following the request of 6 September 2023 by the respondent; and for what reason the award cannot be paid to the successful appellant.
Answered by Mike Freer
The provision of a written statement of reasons, following an appeal decision, is the responsibility of the Judge, who is independent of Government. It would therefore be inappropriate for Ministers to comment on this matter. Payment of any award is a matter for the decision-making body, Veterans UK.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 19 June to Question 189480 on First-tier Tribunal: Property, how many of the applications received by the First-Tier Tribunal Property Chamber in October 2022 (a) have been decided, (b) have been withdrawn and (c) remain outstanding.
Answered by Mike Freer
The data requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on receipts and disposals in the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). The published statistics are available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2023.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals to the First -Tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability against decisions by (a) Dorset and (b) Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council on special educational needs (i) were decided in each of the last six months for which data is available and (ii) are awaiting a hearing; and what is the (A) average time and (B) maximum time between an appeal being made and heard.
Answered by Mike Freer
Information about appeals to the First -Tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
The table below sets out the number of appeals to the SEND Tribunal against decisions by (a) Dorset and (b) Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council for the period 1 December 2022 to 14 June 2023 (the latest period for which data are available):
| Dorset (a) | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (b) |
Dec 2022 | 6 | 0 |
Jan 2023 | 5 | 1 |
Feb 2023 | 0 | 0 |
Mar 2023 | 5 | 2 |
Apr 2023 | 7 | 0 |
May 2023 | 4 | 5 |
Jun 2023 (up to 14/06/23) | 3 | 2 |
The table below sets out the number of SEND appeals as at 14 June 2003 (the latest period for which data are available) for (a) Dorset and (b) Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (ii) awaiting a hearing; and (A) the average time and (B) the maximum time between an appeal being made and heard as at the same date.
| Dorset (a) | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (b) |
Number of appeals awaiting a hearing (ii) | 38 live appeals | 15 live appeals |
Average time between an appeal being made and heard (A) | 26 weeks | 28 weeks |
Maximum time between an appeal being made and heard (B) | 65 weeks | 43 weeks |
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications to the First-tier Tribunal (property chamber) have been (a) made and (b) decided in each of the last six months for which information is available; and what the average time is between an application being made and it being decided
Answered by Mike Freer
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on receipts and disposals in the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) which handle applications, appeals and references relating to Residential Property, Land Registration and Agricultural Land & Drainage disputes.
Receipt and disposal data for each of the last six months of published statistics is set out in the table below.
First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) |
|
|
|
Receipts |
|
Oct-22 | 782 |
Nov-22 | 952 |
Dec-22 | 914 |
Jan-23 | 1,007 |
Feb-23 | 923 |
Mar-23 | 1,738 |
|
|
Disposals |
|
Oct-22 | 912 |
Nov-22 | 805 |
Dec-22 | 580 |
Jan-23 | 814 |
Feb-23 | 830 |
Mar-23 | 935 |
The MoJ does not hold figures for the average time between an application being made to a decision.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information the Government holds on the average time between (a) a landlord making an application to court for the eviction of a tenant and (b) the court hearing taking place in England in the latest period for which information is available; and whether it is his policy that this average time period should change as a result of the Renters (Reform) Bill.
Answered by Mike Freer
The MOJ Publishes quarterly statistics for all possession claims by mortgage, social and private landlords which includes median timeliness from claim to order.
These figures are published up to March 2023 here –https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics.
The MOJ will work closely with DLUHC to manage any impacts of the Renters (Reform) Bill on the court possession process.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason the target for the maximum time within which responses should be made to Probate applications was changed from eight to 16 weeks; and how many applications have been outstanding for more than 16 weeks.
Answered by Mike Freer
The service standard for a grant of probate has not been increased to 16 weeks but our messaging to applicants has changed to reflect the longer waiting times that a minority of cases can wait for their grant.
For case received in December 2022, the average percentage of cases taking longer than 16 weeks to issue was 40%.
The average time taken from receipt of all documents required to the issue of the grant was 6.5 weeks in October to December 2022, compared to 7 weeks in the same period in 2021.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to take steps to action the application for letters of administration under case reference 1656578944616 in respect of a death on 4 June 2022; and for what reason this application has not yet been actioned.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Probate service contacted the applicant on the 28 February to clarify the extra information that was required to resolve the outstanding query.
Cases can be delayed where more information is needed from the applicant or where cases are complex. HMCTS has recruited, and is in the process of training, additional staff to reduce waiting times and is continually improving the digital service to reduce the number of applications which need to be queried.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November to Question 94678, if he will make it his policy to prevent courts in England issuing arrest warrants for non-payment of fines for television licence fee offences.
Answered by Mike Freer
This Government is committed to ensuring the payment of financial penalties and it is right that the courts have a full range of enforcement powers. However, courts will typically use other methods of recovery to arrest warrants unless they are deemed inappropriate. There is currently no intention to change this approach.