Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of domestic abusers perpetrated further crimes in prison in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, and (c) 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It is not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate. This is because these crimes are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation. Data relating to crimes in prison is held across police referral and adjudication records. To be able to identify these cases we would have to access and review all potentially relevant records which would be of disproportionate cost.

The Public Protection Policy Framework and the Unwanted Prisoner Contact Service work to protect victims and prevent offenders, such as domestic abusers, from continuing to carry out crimes such as stalking or coercive controlling behaviour from prison.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of domestic abusers perpetrate domestic abuse against their original victims within (a) one year, (b) three years, (c) five years and (d) ten years of conviction.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It is not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate. This is because these crimes are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation.

This Government is prioritising public protection from, and rehabilitation for, this cohort through measures such as better training for probation officers and improved use of monitoring technology. We have also recently introduced Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, which brings together the strongest elements of existing orders to protect victims.

This Government also ensured that a range of offences linked to domestic abuse have been excluded from the early release programme, unlike the scheme run by the previous Conservative Government. We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, using every tool available to us to deliver transformative change.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of domestic abusers reoffend within (a) one year, (b) three years, (c) five years and (d) ten years of conviction.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It is not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate. This is because these crimes are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation.

This Government is prioritising public protection from, and rehabilitation for, this cohort through measures such as better training for probation officers and improved use of monitoring technology. We have also recently introduced Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, which brings together the strongest elements of existing orders to protect victims.

This Government also ensured that a range of offences linked to domestic abuse have been excluded from the early release programme, unlike the scheme run by the previous Conservative Government. We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, using every tool available to us to deliver transformative change.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many domestic abusers are serving prison sentences in England and Wales.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It is not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate. This is because these crimes are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation.

This Government is prioritising public protection from, and rehabilitation for, this cohort through measures such as better training for probation officers and improved use of monitoring technology. We have also recently introduced Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, which brings together the strongest elements of existing orders to protect victims.

This Government also ensured that a range of offences linked to domestic abuse have been excluded from the early release programme, unlike the scheme run by the previous Conservative Government. We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, using every tool available to us to deliver transformative change.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of violent offenders reoffend within (a) one year, (b) three years, (c) five years and (d) ten years of conviction.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Offences are recorded on the Police National Computer using the Home Office Classification, which does not allow us to identify whether an offence is ‘violent’ or ‘non-violent’. As a result, it is subsequently not possible to identify violent offenders through digital records. Providing this information would therefore require a manual search of court records and would therefore be of disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of offenders perpetrated further crimes in prison in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, and (c) 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Data relating to crimes committed in prison are held in HMPPS’s police referral and adjudications records. To be able to identify all such cases, it would be necessary to review all potentially relevant records, and this could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers reported abuse by offenders in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, and (c) 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Abuse of prison officers by prisoners is taken very seriously, and will never be tolerated. It is comprehensively recorded through various mechanisms, including internal reports, disciplinary records, and external investigations. The goal of these systems is to ensure the safety and security of staff, while also managing the behaviour of prisoners within the system. As the information is collected in a variety of formats, collating it would be a labour-intensive process, which could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate cost.

Attacks on prison officers are taken very seriously, and they are treated equally with assaults on the police and other emergency service workers under the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act (Offences) 2018. Since June 2022, the maximum penalty for those who assault emergency workers, which covers prison officers, has now doubled.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) programmes and (b) interventions are used to reduce reoffending among domestic abusers in prison; and what the reoffending rates are among prisoners who participate.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

HM Prison and Probation Service currently offers five Accredited Programmes that may be undertaken by those convicted of domestic abuse offences. These are the Building Better Relationships programme, Becoming New Me +, New Me Strengths, Building Choices (available in prisons and probation), and Kaizen (available in prisons only). These programmes may also be undertaken by offenders with a range of offending types, however, so it is not possible to provide re-offending outcomes specifically in relation to domestic abusers.

Accredited Programmes more generally are well-evidenced. Most international reviews indicate that programmes reduce reoffending generally by about 20% to 30%.

In addition to Accredited Programmes, a number of approved interventions are also delivered by HMPPS and other partners, including Third Sector organisations. The National Framework for Interventions Policy Framework - GOV.UK sets out the minimum design standards for these types of interventions.

Structured Interventions are available as a sentence of the court, by inclusion in a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. They are part of a set of interventions delivered by regional interventions teams in the community. Those which focus specifically on domestic abuse include Stepwise Relationships, Positive Pathways Plus, Help, and Developing Assertiveness for Women in Relationships.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the processing time for Disclosure and Barring Service checks for people working in the health and social care sector.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent from the Home Office and operates to service standards of completing 85% of Basic check applications within 2 days, 85% of Standard check applications within 3 days, and 80% of Enhanced check applications within 14 days.

The DBS year to date performance against these targets up to November 2024 is 87.9% for Basic checks, 90.2% for Standard checks, and 75.7% for Enhanced checks. These attainments apply to applications across all employment sectors, including the health and social care sectors.

Specific support to the health and social care sectors is provided by the DBS Partnerships Team who have held recent meetings with NHS England, NHS Employers, Skills for Care, Care Quality Commission and Home Care Association, as well as on a regional level with local NHS, local authorities and care providers, about how checks are processed and how to improve the quality of applications submitted to the DBS in order to reduce processing times.

The DBS also provides the ‘adult first’ service to employing organisations in the care sector. Under this service, organisations can request a check of the DBS adults’ barred list and, depending on the result, a person can be permitted to start work, under supervision, with vulnerable adults before the result of an Enhanced DBS check.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) programmes and (b) interventions are used to reduce reoffending among domestic abusers in the community; and what the reoffending rates are among people who participate.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

HM Prison and Probation Service currently offers five Accredited Programmes that may be undertaken by those convicted of domestic abuse offences. These are the Building Better Relationships programme, Becoming New Me +, New Me Strengths, Building Choices (available in prisons and probation), and Kaizen (available in prisons only). These programmes may also be undertaken by offenders with a range of offending types, however, so it is not possible to provide re-offending outcomes specifically in relation to domestic abusers.

Accredited Programmes more generally are well-evidenced. Most international reviews indicate that programmes reduce reoffending generally by about 20% to 30%.

In addition to Accredited Programmes, a number of approved interventions are also delivered by HMPPS and other partners, including Third Sector organisations. The National Framework for Interventions Policy Framework - GOV.UK sets out the minimum design standards for these types of interventions.

Structured Interventions are available as a sentence of the court, by inclusion in a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. They are part of a set of interventions delivered by regional interventions teams in the community. Those which focus specifically on domestic abuse include Stepwise Relationships, Positive Pathways Plus, Help, and Developing Assertiveness for Women in Relationships.

Care for PANS and PANDAS

Found: Tuesday 29 October 2024 Members present Andy Slaughter, in the Chair Josh Babarinde Alex

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Andy Slaughter (Chair); Josh Babarinde; Mr Alex Barros- Curtis; Pam