Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We are building on the landmark Domestic Abuse Act to improve victims services, to ensure that victims can secure justice in our courts and to pursue perpetrators ruthlessly.
Victim support funding is rising to £185 million by 2024/25, including increasing the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Abuse Advisors to more than 1000 and we are extending the time limit for prosecuting domestic abuse-related common assaults to help victims secure justice.
The government’s focus on this most hidden and pernicious of crimes will continue with the publication of our Domestic Abuse Strategy in the coming months.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on protecting prisoners with underlying health conditions from covid-19.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
To protect those most vulnerable to COVID-19 and reduce transmission of infection, new cohorting strategies were developed by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service advised by the Public Health Authorities and implemented from March 31. As a result, prisons are in the process of implementing units to isolate the sick, shield the vulnerable (including those with underlying health conditions) and cohort new arrivals to reduce risk.
In addition, prisoners identified as ‘extremely vulnerable’ as defined in the NHS guidelines will merit consideration for Release on Temporary License (ROTL). Any prisoners released on temporary license must abide by the provisions of that licence; the licence can be revoked for breach of a condition or for any other reason. All prisoners released under ROTL will be returned to prison once the justification for temporary compassionate release ends, provided they are still serving the custodial element of their sentence at that point.
More widely, the Prison Service is creating extra cells, restricting regimes, limiting prisoner movement and releasing some prisoners early. The strong measures the Prison Service is taking are successfully limiting the transmission of the virus.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans the Government has to (a) conduct covid-19 testing among prison staff and prisoners and to (b) reduce transfer of staff and prisoners between sites during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
On 24 April, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced the rollout of COVID-19 testing for all essential workers and symptomatic members of their household, including prison and probation staff in England. To date, we have referred more than 2,000 staff working for HM Prison and Probation Service for testing.
As healthcare is devolved in Wales, testing for prison and probation staff, and symptomatic members of their household, is being delivered through local resilience forum arrangements and local health boards.
Tests will be conducted on symptomatic prisoners on site and are carried out by qualified healthcare practitioners. Those who are well enough to be safely managed by prison healthcare teams will remain in prisons, and those requiring hospital care will be transferred to the appropriate medical facility.
The testing capacity and availability can vary between establishments, depending on local circumstances at the time. This means that the total number of potential cases at any establishment can include clinically diagnosed but untested cases, as well as those who have a confirmed COVID-19 positive result. Outbreak control teams monitor and take account of these matters in their advice on the management of prison cases.
Routine transfers of both staff and prisoners are being minimised to reduce opportunities for transmission of COVID-19 between prisons and prevent the introduction of infection into prisons where there is no outbreak.
Some controlled prisoner movements between establishments have been authorised in order to utilise the headroom created by population control measures. All such moves require COVID-19 Gold Command authorisation and only take place once the receiving prison has a Reverse Cohorting Unit established to receive incoming prisoners.
Staff detached duty has been minimised and used only in exceptional circumstances.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What assessment he has made of the effect of delays in the (a) charging and (b) requisitioning of suspects on the outcome of subsequent court cases.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government has committed to recruiting 20,000 more police officers, investing £85 million in the CPS and doubled funding for support services to support victims of the most harmful crimes through the criminal justice process. I also welcome the announcement made by the Homes Secretary that the Government will review the use of pre-charge bail.
We’re also working across the CJS to help agencies join up and make processes more effective and efficient.