Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to support (a) victims of harassment who have been unable to secure a conviction against the perpetrator and (b) other victims of harassment.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In its manifesto, the Government committed to strengthening protective orders, which can be used to protect from harassment in different situations, to make sure victims can get the strongest protection they need, at the earliest opportunity. Last November, we launched a new Domestic Abuse Protection Order that goes further than the current protective orders, including tagging of perpetrators and mandating attendance on behaviour change programmes, to help address root causes of abuse. This order is available across family, civil and criminal courts in selected areas, so that victims can get protection at the best time and place for them.
A civil claim may also be brought for harassment, where it is a connected course of conduct by the same person causing the victim distress or alarm. Civil remedies include injunctions to prohibit the conduct and damages to compensate for distress and loss.
Additionally, the 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales receive annual grant funding from the Ministry of Justice victim and witness budget to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims. This includes ‘core’ funding for victims of all crime types and funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. PCCs allocate funding locally at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need. PCCs are well placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support services to meet the need of victims in their area including those affected by harassment.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to re-open HMP Dartmoor.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Elevated radon readings were first found at Dartmoor in 2020. HMPPS have been monitoring radon levels to manage exposure to prisoners and staff.
Dartmoor has been temporarily closed since August 2024 after monitoring results were higher than expected. We are working with specialist radon experts to investigate whether we can re-open the prison safely.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to support individuals with unspent convictions seeking employment.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We know that finding employment after release reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. That is why the Government’s manifesto commits to break the cycle of reoffending by better supporting prisons to link up with employers and the voluntary sector.
Employment roles are in place across all 93 resettlement prisons to prepare prisoners for work on release, match them to jobs and provide ID documents to secure work. These are supported by employment advisory boards, linking local employers with the prison resettlement.
We have launched regional Employment Councils which bring businesses together with prisons, probation and the Department of Work and Pensions to support offenders in the community.
In addition, HMPPS’ Creating Future Opportunities programme offers tailored support for ex-offenders - particularly those who are furthest from the labour market - to secure employment, training and education opportunities for release.
We also work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure support is in place for ex-offenders in the community, for example, through co-location of services.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probation officers retired from the service in (a) 2010, (b) 2014, (c) 2019 and (d) 2023.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the leaving reasons of probation officers in Table 14b of the quarterly “HM Prison and Probation Service workforce statistics” publication. The latest publication and tables, which covers the year to September 2024, are available here:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-september-2024
Data is only available since the National Probation Service was formed in June 2014, as a result of which the number who retired in 2010 is unavailable. The number of probation officers who retired in 2019 and 2023 is included in the above publication.
The number who retired in 2014 is available in the December 2015 publication available here: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-offender-management-service-workforce-statistics-december-2015
This only includes data for those who retired after the formation of the National Probation Service in 2014.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of probation officers had a caseload of (a) above 30, (b) above 40, (c) above 50 and (d) above 60 in (i) 2010, (ii) 2014, (iii) 2019 and (iv) 2023.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Caseload data for Probation Officers is unavailable pre-unification of the Probation Service (June 2021). Caseload data for the service as a whole is published for earlier periods (Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK) but is not broken down by which Probation Service grade delivers it.
As of 30 June 2023, the proportion of Probation Officers with a caseload above 30, 40, 50 and 60 is:
Percentage of total POs | |
a. caseload above 30 | 52.7% |
b. caseload above 40 | 14.9% |
c. caseload above 50 | 2.3% |
d. caseload above 60 | 0.5% |
i) Dataset as of 30 June 2023 from the Workload Measurement Tool (WMT). Data has been taken as of a single day in 2023 and caseload per officer is likely to fluctuate across the year.
ii) For caseloads of less than 30, the percentage of total Probation Officers is 47.3%
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of probation officers had (a) less than one years’ experience (b) less than three years' experience and (c) three or more years’ service at (i) 30 June 2010, (ii) 30 June 2014 and (iii) 30 June 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the length of service of Probation Officers in Table 4 of the quarterly “HM Prison and Probation Service workforce statistics” publication. The latest publication and associated tables, which cover the year to September 2024, are available here:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-september-2024.
Data is only available since the National Probation Service was formed in June 2014, as a result of which length of service data for 30 June 2010 is unavailable. Length of service data for Probation Officers in post on 30 June 2024 is included in the above publication.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the net change in prison places since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The capacity of the prison estate is published weekly and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-population-figures-2024.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the recall rate was for offenders released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme between October 2023 and June 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The recall rate for people released under the End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme that have been recalled in the most recent period for which data is available could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
9,782 number of recalls took place between April 2024 and June 2024, which coincides with the highest level of quarterly ECSL releases under the previous Government.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison places have been added to the estate since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
475 places have been delivered as part of the 20,000 place prison programmes since this Government took office on 5 July 2024. We will be publishing a 10 year capacity strategy by the end of the year.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) total cost and (b) cost for each new prison place was for the Prison Estate Transformation Programme between 2016 and 2019.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The total cost of the prison places delivered by the Prison Estate Transformation Programme (PETP) was c.£37.4m. The cost per place was c.£182k. This includes some places delivered in 2020 where they relate to the phased delivery of a single project.