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Written Question
Prisons: Education
Tuesday 19th September 2023

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to improve the (a) education and (b) literacy of adults in prison; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

We are delivering a new Prisoner Education Service to improve the literacy, numeracy and vocational skills of prisoners. This will support positive employment outcomes and reduce reoffending.

This year we have appointed new Heads of Education Skills and Work and Neurodiversity Support Managers to more than 100 prisons, introducing senior educational expertise and knowledge to improve support for prisoners with additional learning needs; developed a new reading assessment tool and rolled out whole prison reading strategies in all prisons; and committed £1.8m to charities to pilot new reading initiatives. We have also enabled prisoners released on temporary licence to undertake apprenticeships.

This week, we have opened a major competition for new Core Education contracts. These will go live from 2025 and be focussed on improving outcomes and delivering value for money.


Written Question
Prisoners: Literacy
Monday 31st October 2022

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve literacy rates in prison; what estimate he has made of illiteracy levels among prisoners (a) in 2022 and (b) in 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

We are working to deliver a Prisoner Education Service that equips prisoners with the numeracy, literacy, and skills they need to get jobs after they leave custody.

Since we introduced more consistent initial assessments in 2019, data has been relatively stable and indicates that many prisoners arrive with low levels of literacy. Our latest published data shows that, from April 2021 to March 2022, 61% of English initial assessment outcomes were at the entry levels 1-3 (equivalent to primary school). Data for 2022 will be published next year.

Improving functional skills is a significant element of education provision and we set ambitious targets for education providers regarding learners successfully obtaining qualifications.

We have also made progress on actions following Ofsted and HM Inspectorate of Prisons recent review of reading in prisons, including ensuring appropriate functional skills qualifications are delivered, increasing the scrutiny of library provision and piloting reading assessment tools.

To improve support for prisoners with additional learning needs we have started to recruit new support managers for prisoners with conditions such as learning disabilities, autism, acquired brain injury or ADHD and we are trialling the use of new reading assessment tools.

We are also trailing new approaches to encourage literacy including embedding literacy in workshops and vocational training as well as in football coaching via the Twinning project.


Written Question
Theft: Telecommunications Cables
Tuesday 11th October 2022

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will review penalties imposed by the courts for people convicted of theft of telecommunications cabling and where that theft caused the loss of a telephone service to multiple households; if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of treating that type of theft as aggravated with more severe sentencing regime reflecting the (a) value of the metal stolen and (b) the inconvenience and disruption caused to a wider local community; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

Sentencing is entirely a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose, the courts take into account the circumstances of the offence, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines – which are issued by the independent Sentencing Council. The sentencing guidelines for theft make clear that the value of the goods stolen will be taken into account when establishing the harm caused, and where there is established evidence of community or wider impact arising from the offence, the sentence may be aggravated.


Written Question
Divorce
Monday 28th March 2022

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions officials in his Department have had with relevant stakeholders on reforming the law governing financial provision on divorce to align with the introduction of no-fault divorce; and with which stakeholders such discussions have taken place.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, will commence on 6 April. Following the implementation of these fundamental reforms, the Government will consider how to best proceed with the commitment to review the law governing financial provision on divorce, at which point engagement with the relevant stakeholders will take place. We will announce our intentions in due course.


Written Question
Probate: Standards
Thursday 10th June 2021

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken is for a probate grant to be issued; what plans he has to reduce that time taken; what progress he has made in reducing the length of the time taken to process all probate cases in 2021; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The most recently published information regarding combined waiting times for a grant of probate, on paper and digital cases, covers September 2020 to December 2020 and is published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 26):

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2020

Average time to grant issue for grants of Probate, England and Wales, quarterly Q2 2019 - Q4 20201,2,3

Probate - All

Application submission to grant issue

Document receipt to grant issue4

Year

Quarter

Grants issued

Mean weeks

Median weeks

Mean weeks

Median weeks

2019

Q25

:

:

:

:

:

:

2,019

Q3

53,403

9.5

8.0

9.5

8.0

2,019

Q4

54,389

7.8

5.6

7.6

5.4

2020

Q1

49,706

6.7

4.3

6.5

4.1

2020

Q2

45,493

6.6

4.6

6.3

4.4

2020

Q3

60,225

6.7

4.9

6.0

4.4

2020

Q4

54,476

7.2

5.3

6.2

4.9

Probate - Digital

Application submission to grant issue

Document receipt to grant issue4

Grants issued

Mean weeks

Median weeks

Mean weeks

Median weeks

:

:

:

:

:

:

7,166

9.4

7.6

9.0

7.1

11,060

10.2

9.0

9.2

8.3

10,784

7.1

4.9

6.0

3.7

10,955

6.1

3.7

4.7

2.1

21,591

6.4

4.4

4.3

2.6

21,875

6.6

3.1

4.2

0.3

Probate - Paper

Application submission to grant issue

Document receipt to grant issue4

Grants issued

Mean weeks

Median weeks

Mean weeks

Median weeks

:

:

:

:

:

:

46,237

9.6

8.1

9.6

8.1

43,329

7.2

4.7

7.2

4.7

38,922

6.6

4.1

6.6

4.1

34,538

6.8

4.7

6.8

4.7

38,634

6.9

5.1

6.9

5.1

32,601

7.6

6.3

7.6

6.3

Source: HMCTS Core Case Data

Notes:

1) HMCTS Core Case Data came into effect at the end of March 2019, following a transition between data systems recording information regarding the Probate Service.

2) The average timeliness figures are produced by calculating the time from application/document receipt (which may be from an earlier period) to the grant issued made in that period. Currently grants being issued on the same day as the application submission/document receipt are being calculated as 0 days. This is being reviewed as to whether it is an accurate reflection of workload and may be adjusted in future..

3) Some averages presented here may be based on a small number of grants. Where this occurs, any conclusion drawn from these will be limited..

4) Document receipt occurs after payment has been made and all accompanying paperwork has been received by HMCTS.

5) Due to quality issues in the transition between data systems, the breakdown by type of grant has not been published for Q2 2019.

6) A probate application can be stopped for several reasons: a caveat can be entered when there’s a dispute about either who can apply for probate or issues with a will or proposed will, or if an error is identified and a request for further information is made.

Despite the unprecedented challenges faced by the probate service during the Covid 19 pandemic, the average waiting for a grant of probate following receipt of the documents required has been maintained at between four to six weeks.

More recent management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly) provides waiting time information up to March 2021. This shows that the waiting time on digital grant of probate applications, which are not stopped due to errors or missing documentation, has been below one week since September 2020. Similarly paper cases, not stopped, took less than three weeks on average in March 2021 compared to five weeks in March 2020.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-management-information-march-2021


Written Question
Probate
Tuesday 24th November 2020

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the average time being taken for Grants of Probate to be issued; what plans he has to reduce that length of time (a) during the covid-19 outbreak and (b) permanently; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The most recently published information regarding waiting times for a grant of probate covers April 2020 to June 2020 and is published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 26).

HMCTS increased resources in Spring 2020 in readiness of a potential increase in demand and waiting times have continued to improve despite the impact of Covid 19.

As of March 2020, all calls are now answered by the Courts & Tribunals Service Centres, which are equipped with modern technology to monitor performance levels and make improvements to the service being offered. The service can be contacted Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm or Friday, 8am to 4pm via:

For professional users, real time information about the progress of digital cases can be obtained via the online Probate service without the need to contact HMCTS.

The average wait for people telephoning the national Courts and Tribunal Service centre with queries relating to Probate between April 2019 to March 2020 was 2 minutes 21 seconds.

Volumes and waiting times for calls and emails have risen since March 2020, peaking at an average of 19 minutes in July 2020 but they are steadily improving, reducing to an average of 13 minutes in October 2020 and resources are being increased to meet the increased demand.


Written Question
Probate
Tuesday 24th November 2020

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what facilities exist for solicitors, practitioners and members of the public to obtain answers to their emails and telephone queries seeking information or progress updates from the Probate Service during the covid-19 outbreak; what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Probate Service in responding those inquiries; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The most recently published information regarding waiting times for a grant of probate covers April 2020 to June 2020 and is published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 26).

HMCTS increased resources in Spring 2020 in readiness of a potential increase in demand and waiting times have continued to improve despite the impact of Covid 19.

As of March 2020, all calls are now answered by the Courts & Tribunals Service Centres, which are equipped with modern technology to monitor performance levels and make improvements to the service being offered. The service can be contacted Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm or Friday, 8am to 4pm via:

For professional users, real time information about the progress of digital cases can be obtained via the online Probate service without the need to contact HMCTS.

The average wait for people telephoning the national Courts and Tribunal Service centre with queries relating to Probate between April 2019 to March 2020 was 2 minutes 21 seconds.

Volumes and waiting times for calls and emails have risen since March 2020, peaking at an average of 19 minutes in July 2020 but they are steadily improving, reducing to an average of 13 minutes in October 2020 and resources are being increased to meet the increased demand.


Written Question
Prisoners: Literacy
Tuesday 7th January 2020

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of the prison population who are illiterate; and what steps he is taking to tackle illiteracy in the prison population.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Department for Education publishes data on English & maths screenings undertaken when someone is received into prison. English screening data provides information on the proportion of prisoners who have very low levels of literacy. The most recent data available, for 2017/2018, can be found via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-education-and-training

For English, approximately 34% of prisoners were below the level expected of an 11-year-old. These prisoners would be regarded as having a high priority level of need.

We have recently overhauled the prison education system, giving Governors control over the education budget for their prison, and have implemented two new prison education frameworks: the Prison Education Framework (PEF) and the Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). Governors have the freedom to commission bespoke English education for prisoners with low levels of literacy through the PEF, aimed at addressing their high priority needs. The impact would be improvement in, for example, prisoners’ reading and writing.


Written Question
Prison Service: Sick Leave
Monday 22nd July 2019

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number and proportion of prison staff who are signed-off from work with stress or other work-related illnesses.

Answered by Robert Buckland

On 31st March 2019 there were 24 prison staff who were signed off from work due to work related illnesses. This is 1.6% of all prison staff who were signed off from work on that day due to sickness related absences.

Work related illnesses are defined as anyone who has been had a sickness classified either ‘Accident Injury Work Related’ or ‘Assault Work Related’ in the sickness data.

HMPPS is committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff in England and Wales, with all staff having access to a comprehensive occupational health service and employee assistance programme.


Written Question
Full Sutton Prison
Wednesday 6th February 2019

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to his Answer of 19 December 2018 to Question 201129 on Full Sutton Prison, what assurances he has sought that the Traffic Assessment for Full Sutton and the surrounding area was carried out at a representative time of the year in view of the fact that the East Riding is a tourist area; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Rory Stewart

Further to my answer to PQ 201129, the new Transport Assessment (TA) submitted in support of the Outline Planning Application (OPA) for the new prison at Full Sutton, a revision of the one submitted for the approved OPA in July 2017, is road surveys of both peak and off-peak traffic flows, speed data and turning movements at the existing HMP Full Sutton and were commissioned in October 2018. This was considered to be a robust representation of loads on the local network and is within the scope agreed with the Highway Authority. Traffic surveys are carried out outside school holidays because trips on the network are materially lower during these periods. Surveys carried out during school holidays might indicate that junctions are less busy than they are at all other times and so would not be representative.

The road survey data was used to calculate trip generation for the new prison, once operational, based on staff and visitor assumptions used for the planning of the larger HM Prison Berwyn in Wrexham which opened in February 2017. The conclusions of the assessment are that the highway network is expected either to continue to operate well within acceptable capacity parameters when the additional traffic generated by the prison is added to the network (in both the construction and operational phases), or that the additional impacts will be low.

The department remains committed to previously announced plans, subject to planning approvals, value for money and affordability, to build up to 10,000 modern prison places which, along with the reorganisation of the existing estate, will provide the physical conditions for Governors to achieve better educational, training and rehabilitative outcomes.

We will continue to engage with local stakeholders as we develop our plans for the new prison which forms a crucial part of the department’s commitment to deliver modern, safe and decent accommodation.