Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to review the impact of the 2019 HMPPS Strategy for Care-Experienced People.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We know that people taken into care as children are disproportionately likely to end up in the criminal justice system, with research estimating that 24-31% of the adult prison population spent time in care as children.
We are committed to addressing this disproportionality, both by improving support for people with care experience while in the criminal justice system, and by working with colleagues across government to reduce the number of people with care experience who enter the criminal justice system.
As part of this, we are reviewing existing support available to people with care experience in the criminal justice system, and considering how to build on the work set out in the 2019 strategy. We are developing our approach to this currently and will say more once our plans have been finalised.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) in respect of SEND plans found in favour of the appellant in cases relating to the content of an EHC plan in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Information can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals to the First Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) regarding SEND plans found in favour of the appellant in cases against the refusal to secure an EHC assessment in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Information can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) total number of sex offence cases waiting to go to trial and (b) current waiting time for sex offence cases going to trial in England and what were the (i) total number of sex offence cases and (ii) average waiting times for sex offence cases going to trial in England in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The table below shows the total number of sexual offence outstanding cases sent for trial to the Crown Court, the average outstanding time in days from June 2017 to June 2021 (the latest available MoJ data) and the total number of sex offence cases outstanding for England and London.1,2,3,4
Data up to 26 October 2021 is not currently available.
Year |
| England |
| ||
| Outstanding cases for trial | Median 5 | Mean | Total outstanding cases | |
2017 |
| 5,333 | 135 | 176 | 5,475 |
2018 |
| 3,469 | 164 | 202 | 3,607 |
2019 |
| 2,752 | 110 | 154 | 2,886 |
2020 |
| 3,758 | 179 | 204 | 3,916 |
2021 6 |
| 5,898 | 203 | 252 | 6,140 |
Year | London |
| ||
Outstanding cases for trial | Median 5 | Mean | Total outstanding cases | |
2017 | 802 | 98 | 134 | 841 |
2018 | 439 | 163 | 194 | 463 |
2019 | 322 | 104 | 156 | 347 |
2020 | 534 | 196 | 216 | 551 |
2021 6 | 893 | 209 | 257 | 940 |
Notes:
1) Outstanding time refers to the time, measured in days, between the receipt of a case in a specific Crown Court and the end of the reporting period, for example counts presented for 2021 relate to cases which are open as at the end of June 2021.
2) For trial' cases relates to the case type at the point of receipt into the Crown Court - we know that most of these cases will result in the entry of a guilty plea and that only a minority will require a trial.
3) Outstanding cases excludes cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case, at the end of the period. The number of cases outstanding at the end of each period will not be equal to the sum of cases outstanding at the start of the period and those received during the period, minus cases disposed due to the exclusion of cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case.
4) Appeal cases are not categorised by offence type and so are not included within the figures presented here.
5) Median here relates to the 50th percentile
6) Outstanding caseloads presented here excludes cases which have been recorded on the new case management system ('Common Platform') which has been rolled across England and Wales since September 2020. This is estimated to represent around 2% of the total outstanding sexual offence 'for trial' cases in England for the latest reporting period to June 2021.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) total number of sex offence cases waiting to go to trial and (b) current waiting time for sex offence cases going to trial in London; and what were the (i) total number of sex offence cases and (ii) average waiting times for sex offence cases going to trial in London in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The table below shows the total number of sexual offence outstanding cases sent for trial to the Crown Court, the average outstanding time in days from June 2017 to June 2021 (the latest available MoJ data) and the total number of sex offence cases outstanding for England and London.1,2,3,4
Data up to 26 October 2021 is not currently available.
Year |
| England |
| ||
| Outstanding cases for trial | Median 5 | Mean | Total outstanding cases | |
2017 |
| 5,333 | 135 | 176 | 5,475 |
2018 |
| 3,469 | 164 | 202 | 3,607 |
2019 |
| 2,752 | 110 | 154 | 2,886 |
2020 |
| 3,758 | 179 | 204 | 3,916 |
2021 6 |
| 5,898 | 203 | 252 | 6,140 |
Year | London |
| ||
Outstanding cases for trial | Median 5 | Mean | Total outstanding cases | |
2017 | 802 | 98 | 134 | 841 |
2018 | 439 | 163 | 194 | 463 |
2019 | 322 | 104 | 156 | 347 |
2020 | 534 | 196 | 216 | 551 |
2021 6 | 893 | 209 | 257 | 940 |
Notes:
1) Outstanding time refers to the time, measured in days, between the receipt of a case in a specific Crown Court and the end of the reporting period, for example counts presented for 2021 relate to cases which are open as at the end of June 2021.
2) For trial' cases relates to the case type at the point of receipt into the Crown Court - we know that most of these cases will result in the entry of a guilty plea and that only a minority will require a trial.
3) Outstanding cases excludes cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case, at the end of the period. The number of cases outstanding at the end of each period will not be equal to the sum of cases outstanding at the start of the period and those received during the period, minus cases disposed due to the exclusion of cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case.
4) Appeal cases are not categorised by offence type and so are not included within the figures presented here.
5) Median here relates to the 50th percentile
6) Outstanding caseloads presented here excludes cases which have been recorded on the new case management system ('Common Platform') which has been rolled across England and Wales since September 2020. This is estimated to represent around 2% of the total outstanding sexual offence 'for trial' cases in England for the latest reporting period to June 2021.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog and waiting times for sex offence cases going to trial in London.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The Ministry of Justice is working to reduce outstanding caseloads and waiting times across London by increasing capacity in the Crown court and improving collaborative working with partners across the Criminal Justice System.
Safe distancing measures, including protective screens and face coverings, are applied in all courts, allowing the majority of courtrooms to continue operating. To increase capacity in London, 14 Nightingale courtrooms have been opened, additional staff and salaried Judiciary have been recruited and limits on fee-paid Judiciary have been increased.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps is he taking to reduce the (a) backlog in cases and (b) waiting times for sexual offence cases in London to go to trial.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The Ministry of Justice is working to reduce outstanding caseloads and waiting times across London by increasing capacity in the Crown court and improving collaborative working with partners across the Criminal Justice System.
Safe distancing measures, including protective screens and face coverings, are applied in all courts, allowing the majority of courtrooms to continue operating. To increase capacity in London, 14 Nightingale courtrooms have been opened, additional staff and salaried Judiciary have been recruited and limits on fee-paid Judiciary have been increased.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the (a) total number of sex crime cases waiting to go to trial and (b) waiting time for sex crime cases to go to trial in England as of 26 October 2021; and what comparative assessment he has made of those figures with the number of cases and waiting times in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The table below shows the average outstanding time in days in the Crown Court for sexual offence 'for trial' cases in England, from June 2017 to June 2021 (the latest available MoJ data).1,2,3
Data up to 26 October 2021 is not currently available.
Year |
| England | ||
| Outstanding cases | Median 4 | Mean | |
2017 |
| 5,333 | 135 | 176 |
2018 |
| 3,469 | 164 | 202 |
2019 |
| 2,752 | 110 | 154 |
2020 |
| 3,758 | 179 | 204 |
2021 5 |
| 5,898 | 203 | 252 |
Notes:
1) Outstanding time refers to the time, measured in days, between the receipt of a case in a specific Crown Court and the end of the reporting period, for example counts presented for 2021 relate to cases which are open as at the end of June 2021.
2) For trial' cases relates to the case type at the point of receipt into the Crown Court - we know that most of these cases will result in the entry of a guilty plea and that only a minority will require a trial.
3) Outstanding cases excludes cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case, at the end of the period. The number of cases outstanding at the end of each period will not be equal to the sum of cases outstanding at the start of the period and those received during the period, minus cases disposed due to the exclusion of cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case.
4) Median here relates to the 50th percentile.
5) Outstanding caseloads presented here excludes cases which have been recorded on the new case management system ('Common Platform') which has been rolled across England and Wales since September 2020. This is estimated to represent around 2% of the total outstanding sexual offence 'for trial' cases in England for the latest reporting period to June 2021.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the (a) total number of sex crime cases waiting to go to trial and (b) waiting time for sex crime cases to go to trial in London as of 26 October 2021; and what comparative assessment he has made of those figures with the number of cases and waiting times in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The table below shows the number of outstanding sexual offence cases awaiting trial and the average outstanding time in days in the Crown Court for sexual offence ‘for trial’ cases in London, from June 2017 to June 2021 (the latest available data). 1,2,3
Data up to 26 October 2021 is not currently available.
Year | London | ||
Outstanding cases | Median 4 | Mean | |
2017 | 802 | 98 | 134 |
2018 | 439 | 163 | 194 |
2019 | 322 | 104 | 156 |
2020 | 534 | 196 | 216 |
20215 | 893 | 209 | 257 |
Notes:
1) Outstanding time refers to the time between the receipt of a case in a specific Crown Court and the end of the reporting period, for example counts in Q3 2020 relate to cases which are open as at the end of September 2020.
2) ‘For trial' cases relates to the case type at the point of receipt into the Crown Court - we know that most of these cases will result in the entry of a guilty plea and that only a minority will require a trial.
3) Outstanding cases excludes cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case, at the end of the reporting period. The number of cases outstanding at the end of each period will not be equal to the sum of cases outstanding at the start of the period and those received during the period, minus cases disposed due to the exclusion of cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case.
4) Median relates to the 50th percentile.
5) Outstanding cases used to calculate the outstanding time excludes cases which have been recorded on the HMCTS Common Platform Case Management System since September 2020, this is estimated to represent 1.8% of outstanding cases in the latest reporting period. Estimates of average duration for Common Platform cases remains in development, currently these cases are not included in the timeliness analysis reported here.
This is management information and reflects the data held at the date of extraction, which is subject to change.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) male and (b) women category D prisoners were waiting for transfer to an open prison on (a) 31 January 2020 and (b) 31 January 2021.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The number of prisoners awaiting transfer is information that is only held at the level of each individual prison and the central team that co-ordinate prison transfers - Population Management (PMU) - does not have a centralised waiting list process. This is because there are complex and wide-ranging issues involved in transferring prisoners and allocation decisions must reflect both the specific needs and circumstances of the prisoner, as well as the operating environment and range of services at the receiving prison. Within the context of these often competing operational and logistical demands, PMU seeks to ensure that prisoners who have been accepted for transfer are moved as soon as is practical.
Swift and efficient transfers between prisons, particularly progressive transfers to open and resettlement prisons, are necessary and desirable because they ensure that space remains within local/reception prisons. They also ensure that prisoners are held in prisons providing an appropriate level of security as well as the appropriate interventions to allow them to progress with their sentence plan.