Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted of knife crime offences in the year ending March (a) 2023 and (b) 2018; and how many such people were first time offenders.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In the year ending March 2023, 2,108 children were convicted of a knife crime offence (defined as knife possession and knife threatening offences) and for 1,924 of those individuals this was their first knife crime offence. Compared to the year ending March 2018, 2,635 children were convicted of a knife crime offence and for 2,398 of those individuals this was their first knife crime offence.
In the year ending March 2023, 11,899 people (i.e. adults and children) were convicted of a knife crime offence and for 9,314 of those individuals this was their first knife crime offence. Compared to year ending March 2018, 12,163 people were convicted of a knife crime offence and for 9,865 of those individuals this was their first knife crime offence.
Tackling knife crime is a priority and this Government is determined to do all it can to break the deadly cycle of violence that devastates the lives of individuals, families and communities.
We are taking significant action to both prevent and respond to crimes involving weapons through the Serious Violence Strategy, the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers, and increasing stop and search powers.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people under the age of 18 were convicted of knife crime offences in the year ending March (a) 2023 and (b) 2018; and how many such people were first time offenders.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In the year ending March 2023, 2,108 children were convicted of a knife crime offence (defined as knife possession and knife threatening offences) and for 1,924 of those individuals this was their first knife crime offence. Compared to the year ending March 2018, 2,635 children were convicted of a knife crime offence and for 2,398 of those individuals this was their first knife crime offence.
In the year ending March 2023, 11,899 people (i.e. adults and children) were convicted of a knife crime offence and for 9,314 of those individuals this was their first knife crime offence. Compared to year ending March 2018, 12,163 people were convicted of a knife crime offence and for 9,865 of those individuals this was their first knife crime offence.
Tackling knife crime is a priority and this Government is determined to do all it can to break the deadly cycle of violence that devastates the lives of individuals, families and communities.
We are taking significant action to both prevent and respond to crimes involving weapons through the Serious Violence Strategy, the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers, and increasing stop and search powers.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons have had safety assessments for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
This information is not held centrally. The professional advice from experts on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has evolved over time, from advice in the 1990s that RAAC did not pose a safety hazard to more recent advice on identifying and assessing structural adequacy. The Government's approach throughout has been to follow the best technical advice. Departments have been surveying properties and depending on the assessment of the RAAC, decided to either continue to monitor the structure, reinforce it, or replace it. This is in line with the approach recommended by the Institution of Structural Engineers.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of section 21 evictions was in each region of England in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the volume of Section 21 evictions.
These figures are published up to March 2023 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of hours of unpaid work completed at home in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London as part of community sentences in each year since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Unpaid Work completed from home was introduced as a temporary delivery method in response to Covid-19. As such, there are no data prior to the year 2020-21. It is not possible to provide the data for individual London boroughs or constituencies due to how data is recorded, data is available for the London Probation region, provided below.
Year | UPW Hours Completed at home (London Probation Region) |
2020-21 | 14563 |
2021-22 | 99334 |
01/04/2022-31/12/2022 | 36590 |
Independent working projects enabled eligible offenders to complete some of their hours from home. All offenders were assessed by Probation staff before being offered any independent working projects.
All products created by offenders via independent working projects were for the benefit of prisons or local charities. Projects have included a range of robust and practical tasks such as, producing hats and scarves for Ukrainian refugees and making face masks and PPE for Care Homes and charities during the pandemic. Safeguards were in place to ensure that offenders complete the project to a high standard within a set time period.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of hours of community service that were carried out in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London in each year since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The table below shows the number of community service hours offenders have completed as a part of community sentences for the period between April 2014 to December 2022 for the London Probation region, it is not possible to provide data on a London Borough level due to the way data is recorded.
Years | Number of hours delivered |
2014/2015 | 836,696 |
2015/2016 | 957,170 |
2016/2017 | 784,856 |
2017/2018 | 849,515 |
2018/2019 | 848,230 |
2019/2020 | 730,669 |
2020/2021 | 153,963 |
2021/2022 | 462,288 |
01/04/2022-31/12/2022 | 478,829 |
Total | 6,102,215 |
A significant dip in performance can be seen in the years 2019/20 and 2020/21, which is attributed to the pandemic. Community Payback was severely affected by projects, and organisations that provided them, being closed, along with the social distancing rules making it difficult for delivery to continue as normal.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of community sentences that were handed down in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London in each year since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the number of individuals that a community sentence was issued to based on a principal offence, principal disposal basis, from 2010 to 2022, is publicly available and can be found in the Outcomes by Offence tool: 2022.
Geographical area presented in this data tool is by police force area. Data for Enfield and London can be obtained by selecting the Metropolitan Police.
Information on the proportion of people given community sentence who reoffended is not publicly available by geographical breakdown. It would be of disproportionate cost to provide such information. However, the information on the proportion of those given community orders who reoffended in each year since 2010 can be found in our Proven Reoffending Tables (Annual Average), April 2020 to March 2021.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people given community sentences who reoffended in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London in each year since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the number of individuals that a community sentence was issued to based on a principal offence, principal disposal basis, from 2010 to 2022, is publicly available and can be found in the Outcomes by Offence tool: 2022.
Geographical area presented in this data tool is by police force area. Data for Enfield and London can be obtained by selecting the Metropolitan Police.
Information on the proportion of people given community sentence who reoffended is not publicly available by geographical breakdown. It would be of disproportionate cost to provide such information. However, the information on the proportion of those given community orders who reoffended in each year since 2010 can be found in our Proven Reoffending Tables (Annual Average), April 2020 to March 2021.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of hours of community service that were not carried out in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London in each year since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
It is not possible to provide the data for individual London boroughs due to how data is recorded, but data is available for the London region.
For the period April 2014 to December 2022, 2,841,311 hours of Community Service were not carried out.
The vast majority of these hours were unworked because offenders received tougher sentences through orders revoked and suspended sentences activated, including prison time.
The attached table shows the total hours recorded as not carried out at termination of the requirement, by business year for the London region for the entire period 01/04/2014 – 31/12/2022.
The dataset covers reasons hours are not carried out including offender deaths, deportation, orders revoked and resentenced, successful appeals and Suspended Sentence Order activated.
For context: In 2019-2020, pre pandemic, Probation delivered 4,869,778 hours of unpaid work nationally. Between the 1 April 2022 and the 31 December 2022 (not a full year), Probation delivered 3,220,827 hours. We estimate that this will project to a full year delivery total of 4,294,436. All efforts are made to work hours, but where that is not possible then robust action is taken. For hours not worked due to non-compliance, enforcement action will be taken. Where it is not possible to work hours due to specific risk factors orders will be returned to the court.
It has not been possible to provide data prior to April 2014. This date marked the completion of Transforming Rehabilitation’s migration of data to the National Delius system. Prior to this, the use of multiple differing local recording systems has resulted in less robust data which cannot be used with confidence, in response to this PQ.
In the years 2019/20 and 2020/21, Community Payback was severely impacted by the pandemic and the resulting court backlogs. This included projects and organisations that provided placements being closed, along with the social distancing rules making it difficult for delivery to continue as normal.
This Government has committed to invest an additional £93 million in Community Payback over the next three years. This is so that we ramp up delivery to 8 million hours per year, focusing on outdoor projects that help to improve public spaces, ensuring that people can see justice being done.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many evictions have taken place under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 in the last (a) 12 months, (b) 6 months and (c) 3 months in (i) Enfield North Constituency, (ii) the London Borough of Enfield and (iii) London.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the volume of Section 21 evictions. These figures are published up to March 2023 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics.