Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the effect of (a) court closures and (b) the reduction of funding for legal aid on trends in the level of access to justice.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The closure of a court is subject to public consultation and a decision to close is not taken lightly. In every case, the Lord Chancellor will only agree to close a court when satisfied that effective access to justice can be maintained.
Every person should have access to legal advice when they need it – that’s why the Legal Aid Agency keeps availability under constant review and takes urgent action whenever it has concerns. There are enough solicitors and barristers for criminal legal aid-funded cases across England and Wales and the Civil Legal Advice Telephone Service, offers legal services in a range of issues to those who need it.
We are investing £5m in innovative new technologies to help people access legal support wherever they are in England and Wales.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many custodial sentences were given to first-time offenders in England and Wales in each year since 2008.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The number of custodial sentences given to first time offenders in England and Wales is available in the document “Offending History Data Tool: First Time Entrants Statistics” at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2017
This data covers the latest available calendar year figures (i.e. the 12 months ending December 2007 to the 12 months ending December 2017)
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the number of suicides recorded by the Coroners Office in each district in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice collects annual data, from each coroner area, on the number of inquest conclusions recorded which are available at:
These include conclusions of suicide and drug/alcohol deaths but do not distinguish between drug and alcohol deaths. We do not collect data on the type of drugs involved in the death.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many deaths attributed to the use of recreational drugs have been recorded by the Coroners Office in each district over the last 10 years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice collects annual data, from each coroner area, on the number of inquest conclusions recorded which are available at:
These include conclusions of suicide and drug/alcohol deaths but do not distinguish between drug and alcohol deaths. We do not collect data on the type of drugs involved in the death.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to meet staff representatives of the National Probation Service to discuss their pay and conditions.
Answered by Rory Stewart
There are no plans at present to meet with staff representatives of the National Probation Service, but we recognise the significant role that probation officers play within the criminal justice system, implementing the orders of the courts, rehabilitating offenders and protecting the public.
Since the creation of the National Probation Service in June 2014, officials from HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) have held regular and lengthy discussions with the National Association for Probation Officers (NAPO) (the trade union for probation officers), Unison and GMB SCOOP over pay and working conditions.
There have also been constructive and exploratory talks on pay reform.
We are working to progress a case, consistent with the Government’s overall approach to public sector pay, which can be agreed with Ministerial colleagues at HM Treasury at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many coroner's offices have been closed in each year since 2010.
Answered by Phillip Lee
Since 2010 there have been 23 mergers of coroner areas in England and Wales, reducing the overall number from 116 to 92 coroner areas.
It is the Chief Coroner’s aim, which the Government supports, to move, over time, to around 75 coroner areas, each having between 3,000 and 5,000 deaths reported annually. The aimn of this change is to promote consistency and generate efficiencies for local authorities, which fund coroner services.
The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for the coroner services and does not hold information about the number of coroner’s offices that have closed.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many coroner's offices have been subject to mergers in each year since 2010.
Answered by Phillip Lee
Since 2010 there have been 23 mergers of coroner areas in England and Wales, reducing the overall number from 116 to 92 coroner areas.
It is the Chief Coroner’s aim, which the Government supports, to move, over time, to around 75 coroner areas, each having between 3,000 and 5,000 deaths reported annually. The aimn of this change is to promote consistency and generate efficiencies for local authorities, which fund coroner services.
The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for the coroner services and does not hold information about the number of coroner’s offices that have closed.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who (a) were given a non-custodial sentence and (b) were given their first custodial sentence in each year from 2004 had previously had (i) no criminal convictions, (ii) one criminal conviction, (iii) two criminal convictions, (iv) three criminal convictions, (v) four criminal convictions, (vi) five to 10 criminal convictions, (vii) 11 to 20 criminal convictions, (viii) 21 to 30 criminal convictions, (ix) 31 to 40 criminal convictions, (x) 41 to 50 criminal convictions, (xi) 51 to 75, (xii) 76 to 100 criminal convictions and (xiii) more than 100 criminal convictions.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
Since 2010, crime has continued to fall and fewer individuals are entering the criminal justice system for the first time. But we have a persistent hardcore of offenders being recycled round and round the criminal justice system, as these figures bear out.
This Government is committed to tackling re-offending rates. We have reformed sentences, so that they combine both punishment and requirements that are effective at preventing further offending. We have legislated so that all community orders must now have a punitive element, and, from 2015, every offender leaving prison spends at least 12 months under supervision, where currently around 50,000 are released each year with no statutory support. We are transforming rehabilitation, by bringing together the best of the public, private and voluntary sectors, and only rewarding them when they actually do reduce reoffending.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent judiciary, taking account of the circumstances of the case and the maximum penalty for the offence. A court may only impose a community order or a custodial sentence where the offence is imprisonable. The overwhelming majority of repeat offenders have previously received a number of custodial sentences but the large majority of previous convictions identified in the table below resulted in a fine as they were for summary non-motoring offences.
The number of offenders who were given a non-custodial sentence in each year since 2004, broken down by their number of previous convictions, is given in Table 1. It is important to note that these figures are based only on those offences recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC) by an English or Welsh police force, including the British Transport Police, and include a number of offences for which the maximum sentence available to the court is a fine. It should also be noted that these figures are based on counting the number of separate occasions on which offenders were sentenced in each year and some offenders will therefore be represented several times in the figures.
Table 2 provides a similar breakdown for those offenders who received their first custodial sentence in each year. Again, the figures are drawn from the PNC and will include a number of offences for which the maximum sentence available to the court is a fine. A large proportion of each offender's criminal history is therefore likely to include some offences for which it is not possible to receive a custodial sentence. Of those offenders who had between 76 and 100 previous convictions between the 12 months ending September 2004 and the 12 months ending September 2013, 84% of the disposals for their previous convictions were fines. This increases to 96% when you look at the offenders who had over 100 previous convictions. It should also be noted that these figures are based on counting the number of separate occasions on which offenders were sentenced in each year and some offenders could therefore be represented several times in the figures.
The number of offenders who have received at least one previous conviction, or indeed multiple previous convictions, before receiving their first custodial sentence has decreased under this Government.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who (a) were given a non-custodial sentence and (b) were given their first custodial sentence in each year from 2004 had previously had (i) no criminal convictions, (ii) one criminal conviction, (iii) two criminal convictions, (iv) three criminal convictions, (v) four criminal convictions, (vi) five to 10 criminal convictions, (vii) 11 to 20 criminal convictions, (viii) 21 to 30 criminal convictions, (ix) 31 to 40 criminal convictions, (x) 41 to 50 criminal convictions, (xi) 51 to 75 criminal convictions, (xii) 76 to 100 criminal convictions and (xiii) more than 100 criminal convictions.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to the Honourable member in due course.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to Answer question number 191341, submitted by the hon. Member for Hyndburn on 10 March 2014 for Answer on 13 March 2014.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
It has not been possible to obtain the information required to respond to question 191341 from the hon Member forHyndburn. I will write to the hon Member shortly. I apologise for the delay in responding to these questions.