Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the value was of the Youth Justice Board grant to each local authority in each year from 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Table A attached sets out the total funding the Youth Justice Board (YJB) has given to local authorities in each year from 2009/10 to 2017/18 as published in the 2017/18 annual youth justice statistics (published totals for 2018/19 are not yet available). Table B breaks this down by local authority. The majority of this funding helps support the day-to-day business of Youth Offending Teams (YOTs), but it also includes some discrete additional grants for specific projects or initiatives, for example funding for restorative justice. The annual recorded value of the additional grants is set out in Table C.
Due to a change in reporting processes the additional grants given in 2014/15 and 2015/16 were not included in the published totals in the 2017/18 youth justice statistics. The totals for these years therefore differ between Table A (where the additional grants are not included) and Table B (where they are included).
Reductions in the grant over the past decade have been made alongside a decrease in statutory caseloads and as part of wider savings.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) assaults and (b) serious assaults on staff were recorded in each prison in each quarter from 2010 to 2018 by the type of weapon used.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Data for the numbers of assaults and serious assaults in each prison, broken down by type of weapon and type of injury, is set out in the attached tables. The figures are presented by calendar year rather than by quarter. This is because analysis at the level of detail requested produces many results of 5 or fewer. Disclosure-proofing to reduce the risk of identification, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, requires such low numbers to be suppressed. Even at the annual level, some such values have had to be suppressed.
The Government is taking unprecedented action to improve safety in prisons. We have recruited over 4,700 more prison officers since October 2016, and we now have the greatest number in post since early 2012. The Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan case management process for prisoners at risk of violence has been mandated for all prisons to help staff to manage violent prisoners and those identified as posing a raised risk of being violent.
We are investing an extra £70 million to improve safety, security and decency, and equipping officers with PAVA incapacitant spray and body-worn cameras to help prevent serious harm to staff and prisoners when dealing with violent incidents. We are improving perimeter security and introducing new x-ray scanners, drug-detection dogs and dedicated search teams to address the supply of drugs that we know are fuelling much of the violence in custody.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) assaults and (b) serious assaults on staff were recorded in each prison in each quarter from 2010 to 2018 by the type of injury inflicted.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Data for the numbers of assaults and serious assaults in each prison, broken down by type of weapon and type of injury, is set out in the attached tables. The figures are presented by calendar year rather than by quarter. This is because analysis at the level of detail requested produces many results of 5 or fewer. Disclosure-proofing to reduce the risk of identification, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, requires such low numbers to be suppressed. Even at the annual level, some such values have had to be suppressed.
The Government is taking unprecedented action to improve safety in prisons. We have recruited over 4,700 more prison officers since October 2016, and we now have the greatest number in post since early 2012. The Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan case management process for prisoners at risk of violence has been mandated for all prisons to help staff to manage violent prisoners and those identified as posing a raised risk of being violent.
We are investing an extra £70 million to improve safety, security and decency, and equipping officers with PAVA incapacitant spray and body-worn cameras to help prevent serious harm to staff and prisoners when dealing with violent incidents. We are improving perimeter security and introducing new x-ray scanners, drug-detection dogs and dedicated search teams to address the supply of drugs that we know are fuelling much of the violence in custody.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the value was of contracts awarded by his Department to third sector organisations for the provision of services in the probation system in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the value was of contracts awarded by his Department to third sector organisations for the provisions of services in prisons in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in which prisons Staffline Group Plc provides education services.
Answered by Robert Buckland
PeoplePlus, a subsidiary of Staffline Group PLC, were awarded contracts worth the following for providing prison education services over the last three years:
Aug 2016 – Jul 2017: £11.246m
Aug 2017 – Jul 2018: £11.246m
Aug 2018 – Mar 2019: £7.498m*
*This period ended when new prison education contracts commenced on 1 April 2019.
PeoplePlus are (with effect from 1 April 2019) delivering education services in HMP Bedford; HMP Littlehey; HMP & YOI Norwich; HMP Bure; HMP Wayland; HMP Leicester; HMP Onley; HMP Lincoln; HMP North Sea Camp; HMP Whatton; HMP The Mount; HMP & YOI Chelmsford; HMP Warren Hill; HMP & YOI Hollesley Bay; HMP Highpoint; HMP Nottingham; HMP Ranby; HMP Stocken; HMP Sudbury; HMP & YOI Foston Hall; and HMP Drake Hall.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been paid from the public purse to Staffline Group Plc for the provision of education services in prisons in each of the last three years.
Answered by Robert Buckland
PeoplePlus, a subsidiary of Staffline Group PLC, were awarded contracts worth the following for providing prison education services over the last three years:
Aug 2016 – Jul 2017: £11.246m
Aug 2017 – Jul 2018: £11.246m
Aug 2018 – Mar 2019: £7.498m*
*This period ended when new prison education contracts commenced on 1 April 2019.
PeoplePlus are (with effect from 1 April 2019) delivering education services in HMP Bedford; HMP Littlehey; HMP & YOI Norwich; HMP Bure; HMP Wayland; HMP Leicester; HMP Onley; HMP Lincoln; HMP North Sea Camp; HMP Whatton; HMP The Mount; HMP & YOI Chelmsford; HMP Warren Hill; HMP & YOI Hollesley Bay; HMP Highpoint; HMP Nottingham; HMP Ranby; HMP Stocken; HMP Sudbury; HMP & YOI Foston Hall; and HMP Drake Hall.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many teaching posts in prisons are currently vacant.
Answered by Robert Buckland
As of 20 June 2019, there were 138 teaching posts reported vacant by the education providers who deliver services to 102 establishments in England under the Prison Education Framework.
New education contracts have recently been put in place across England which has resulted in some churn in staffing. This is being managed by our providers via the monitoring of Teacher Quality Management Plans that they must have in place, which detail vacancies and proposed actions for filling them.
We must ensure that offenders leave prison with the basic skills that are essential to entering the workplace and with the skills employers need. That is why we have put governors in full control of the education provided in their prisons so that they can tailor it, both to their specific populations and for the local jobs market.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many teachers were employed in prisons on (a) 31 December 2010, (b) 31 December 2018 and (c) 31 May 2019.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Education contracts were not managed by the Ministry of Justice prior to November 2016, so we are unable to provide figures for 31 December 2010.
The following figures were reported by Prison Education Framework providers and are correct as of 20 June 2019. The number of teachers employed in establishments with publicly funded education services across England is provided below:
Date | Number of teachers employed |
31 December 2018 (services delivered under the Offender Learning and Skills Services contracts) | 2,865 |
31 May 2019 (services delivered under the Prison Education Framework contracts) | 2,530 |
We must ensure that offenders leave prison with the basic skills that are essential to entering the workplace and with the skills employers need. That is why we have put governors in full control of the education provided in their prisons so that they can tailor it, both to their specific populations and for the local jobs market.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on education and employment services in prisons in each year from 2010.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Responsibility for prison education in England transferred from the Department for Education to the Ministry of Justice in November 2016. We can therefore only supply financial information for offender learning from that point onwards. Offender learning includes education focussed on supporting offenders into employment, including activities such as CV and interview training.
The information below is taken from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service’s annual accounts.
Offender learning spend:
2015/16 - £145,682m
2016/17 - £146,682m
2017/18 - £158,274m
We must ensure that offenders leave prison with the basic skills that are essential to entering the workplace and with the skills employers need. That is why we have put governors in full control of the education provided in their prisons so that they can tailor it, both to their specific populations and for the local jobs market.