Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to receive the report of HM Chief Inspector of Probation’s thematic review of probation recall culture and practice.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The report of the Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) thematic review titled 'A thematic review of probation recall culture and practice' was published in November 2020. This was the second part of the review which the Secretary of State had asked the Chief Inspector of Probation to undertake, following the conviction of Joseph McCann for a series of sexual offences committed in 2019. A link to the report is here: A thematic review of probation recall culture and practice (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk).
In December 2023, following a commission by the Secretary of State to the Inspectorate in response to the Justice Select Committee IPP inquiry report, HMIP published a report titled ‘A thematic inspection of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions’. A link to this report is here: A thematic inspection of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk).
In both reports, the Inspectorate found that the Probation Service were taking proportionate and necessary decisions to recall offenders on licence for public protection.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost to the public purse was for the Ministry of Justice Language Service Contract in (a) 2018 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The total cost to the public purse for the Ministry of Justice Language Service Contract was £26,774,286.01 in 2018, and £24,992,225.55 in 2023.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 in each of the last two years.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders convicted for offences relating to assault on emergency worker, covering the period requested. The latest data available, up to the year ending June 2023, can be obtained with the following data tool: Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.
In the data tool, navigate to ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ tab and select ‘8.22 Assault of an emergency worker’ in the ‘Offence’ filter.
The pivot table will present the total number of offenders convicted for assaulting an emergency worker since year ending June 2011, including the requested last two years.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing income received by his Department from confiscation orders to charitable organisations.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Confiscation orders are the principal means by which the government carries out its policy to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crime. They are used with the intent to disrupt and deter criminality. Receipts from confiscation orders, excluding any compensation amounts, are paid to the Home Office by agreement with HM Treasury. The Home Office remain the lead department on confiscation orders, and each financial year distribute a proportion of the funds they collected to partner agencies (including the Ministry of Justice). This funding is provided by the Home Office to respective partner agencies with a primary purpose of investing in asset recovery capabilities.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the average length of referral orders in the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 17 November 2023 to Question 927: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-11-08/927).
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pet owners (a) have been convicted of and (b) served prison sentences for offences against their pets under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in the last two years.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions, convictions and sentence outcomes in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: June 2023 including offences as set out in the Offence Group Classification. The total number of individuals convicted and sentence outcomes for offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, can be obtained by selecting the following HO codes: 10829, 10830, 10831, 10832, 10833, 10834, 10835, 10836, 10837, 10838, 10839, 09701, 09702, 09703, 09704, 09705.
However, whether the offence was committed by a pet owner against their pet is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings Database. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been for (a) selling and (b) supplying knives to those aged under 18 in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of convictions in England and Wales for the following offences:
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.
19520 - Summary offences under the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988’ includes offences related to supplying offensive weapons. However, information on whether these relate to supplying knives specifically or whether they are sold to those aged under 18 is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings database.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 18 September 2023 to Question 199877 on Probation Service: Recruitment, whether 843 full time equivalent staff were recruited by 31 December 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are unable to answer this question currently. This is because the data that contains workforce statistics up to 31 December 2023 will not be published until 15 February 2024 in the HM Prison and Probation Service Workforce Statistics release. Providing these figures ahead of time would be a breach of pre-release procedures for Official Statistics.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 14 September 2023 to Question 198320 on Ipsos MORI: Prisons, when he expects to receive the results of the research project on the retributive benefit of prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department is working with Ipsos Mori to finalise the research design and ensure it is analytically robust. The survey has not yet been conducted but the expectation is that results will be available later this year.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 6 March 2023 to Question HL5679,on Prisoners, what recent discussions he has had with the Chief Inspector of Probation on his timetable for completing the requested inspection of proportionality of recall decisions for people who are imprisoned for public protection.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As Minister of State for Prisons and Probation, I met with the interim Chief Inspector of Probation on 6 December 2023, where the Inspectorate’s upcoming report on the thematic inspections of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions was discussed. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation are due to publish their report on the thematic inspections of IPP recall decisions before the end of the year.