Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 6 of his Department's Education and Employment Strategy 2018, Cm 9621, published in May 2018, what assessment his Department has made of reasons for the under-utilisation of the Workplace on Release on Temporary Licence.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The number of prisoners using release on temporary licence (ROTL) has fallen by about a third since 2013, when we reviewed the approach to ROTL. Following that review, there is now a greater focus on linking all ROTL activity to the individual’s sentence plan and an improved risk assessment and management approach. This has, however, had an unintended consequence – restrictions to improve risk management of the most serious offenders have resulted in some lower risk offenders not being able to benefit from ROTL.
We are therefore consulting those involved in making ROTL decisions and those who provide ROTL placements to explore how to improve access to temporary release for those who can be trusted to take it where it supports the key aims of better engagement with individual sentence planning objectives, and particularly workplace ROTL.
We want prisoners to know that there is a route to a better life and this is through purposeful activity, through education, through skills and through employment.
We have an important role to help offenders build the experience they need whilst they are in prison so they can have the right attitude for work, get a job when they are released and turn their back on crime for good.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the commitment to recruit ex-prisoners directly into the civil service on page 8 of his Department's Education and Employment Strategy 2018, Cm 9621, published in May 2018, what estimate he has made of the number of such recruitments that will be made over what time period.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Reoffending is costing society approximately £15 billion a year. Effective rehabilitation needs prisoners to be willing to commit to change, take advice, learn new skills and take opportunities to work – both during their sentence and after. For those individuals willing to engage, the prison system must deliver.
That is why we have launched the Education and Employment strategy. The strategy will create a system in which each prisoner is set on a path to employment, with prison education and work geared towards employment on release from the outset.
In line with the Education and Employment strategy, we are leading by example to remove barriers to recruitment by employing ex-offenders into Civil Service roles across Government through our ‘Going Forward into Employment’ initiative.
The initiative was launched in the North West and is delivered by Civil Service Local in collaboration with HMPPS. It will be rolled out to other regions throughout 2018. Candidates are being selected from the community and the three pilot prisons- HMP Styal, HMP Thorncross and HMP Kirkham.
Once the first phase of the pilot is complete we will evaluate the project, consider lessons learned and review targets for the next phase.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the commitment to recruit ex-prisoners directly into the civil service on page 8 of his Department's Education and Employment Strategy 2018, Cm 9621, published in May 2018, what steps the Government plans to take to deliver that commitment.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Reoffending is costing society approximately £15 billion a year. Effective rehabilitation needs prisoners to be willing to commit to change, take advice, learn new skills and take opportunities to work – both during their sentence and after. For those individuals willing to engage, the prison system must deliver.
That is why we have launched the Education and Employment strategy. The strategy will create a system in which each prisoner is set on a path to employment, with prison education and work geared towards employment on release from the outset.
In line with the Education and Employment strategy, we are leading by example to remove barriers to recruitment by employing ex-offenders into Civil Service roles across Government through our ‘Going Forward into Employment’ initiative.
The initiative was launched in the North West and is delivered by Civil Service Local in collaboration with HMPPS. It will be rolled out to other regions throughout 2018. Candidates are being selected from the community and the three pilot prisons- HMP Styal, HMP Thorncross and HMP Kirkham.
Once the first phase of the pilot is complete we will evaluate the project, consider lessons learned and review targets for the next phase.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant the Answer of 9 May 2018 to Question 139479, what rehabilitation strategies his Department has put in place to prepare Gypsies and Travellers for release from prison.
Answered by Rory Stewart
All rehabilitation schemes within Her Majesty’s Prison Service are available to all and tailored to the specific needs of the individual. They focus on areas such as employment and accommodation.
The general training of new prison officers covers information about working with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller prisoners. Refreshed Probation Officer training is currently being introduced. This includes content on the particular needs of the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller groups, with a particular focus on the challenges that these groups may face in complying with community orders or periods of licence, associated with lifestyle.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what number and proportion of Gypsies and Travellers undertook a vocational training course whilst in prison for each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Data on the number and proportion of Gypsies and Travellers that have undertaken vocational training courses whilst in English prisons is not held by the Ministry of Justice.
There is a wide range of vocational training available to prisoners. The prison governor is responsible for commissioning education and training based on the needs of learners in the prison establishment and the skills in demand by employers in the areas to which prisoners will be released.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans are in place to support women and men on indeterminate public protection sentences in meeting the requirements for their release.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Our priority remains the protection of the public, and this is reflected in the work HM Prison and Probation Service undertake with IPP prisoners prior to and following their release.
A joint action plan is in place, co-owned by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and the Parole Board, with the specific aim of providing opportunities for IPP prisoners to progress to safe release. A key part of the action plan is to ensure that the parole process runs as smoothly as possible, providing IPP prisoners with timely access to parole reviews. The Parole Board has effectively eliminated its backlog and is now listing more hearings than ever before.
The release of IPP sentence prisoners is solely a matter for the Independent Parole Board, based on a thorough assessment of risk. The Board will direct the release of these prisoners only if it is satisfied that the levels of risk posed to the general public are reduced enough to be safely managed in the community under supervision by the National Probation Service and its partner agencies.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women sentenced to Imprisonment for Public Protection have been recalled since their release.
Answered by Phillip Lee
As of 31 December 20171, 74 women IPPs are being held in prison. Out of these, 54 have never been released by the independent Parole Board and 20 are in prison after being recalled (and they can be released only on a direction from the parole board).
Those unreleased are serving sentences for the following offences:
Offence Group | Count |
Violence against the person | 25 |
Sexual offences | 8 |
Robbery | 7 |
Theft Offences | 1 |
Criminal damage and arson | 13 |
All | 54 |
Those unreleased received the following minimum tariffs:
Tariff Length | Count |
Less than 2 years | 15 |
2 years to less than or equal to 4 years | 26 |
Greater than 4 years to less than or equal to 6 years | 7 |
Greater than 6 years to less than or equal to 10 years | 6 |
All | 54 |
Between 2010 and 20171 a total of 40 women IPPs have been recalled.
Public protection is our priority and offenders on licence must comply with a strict set of conditions. If any offender breaches his or her licence conditions, he or she is liable to be recalled immediately to prison.
The independent Parole Board will continue to assess rigorously all tariff-expired IPP prisoners, in order to determine whether they are safe to be released.
1By statistics code of practice, we cannot provide data for the most recent quarter as we have declared intention to publish such information next week.
The figures provided are for offenders recalled from 2010 to 2017 whose first releases were directed by the Parole Board. Information datasets held by the department do not record the data in this format prior to 2010. The figures may include offenders recalled more than once across multiple years but not within years. The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Recall reasons do not sum to the total number of recalls as more than one reason can be recorded against each recall.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women are still held in prison on indeterminate public protection sentences by (a) offence and (b) original length of sentence.
Answered by Phillip Lee
As of 31 December 20171, 74 women IPPs are being held in prison. Out of these, 54 have never been released by the independent Parole Board and 20 are in prison after being recalled (and they can be released only on a direction from the parole board).
Those unreleased are serving sentences for the following offences:
Offence Group | Count |
Violence against the person | 25 |
Sexual offences | 8 |
Robbery | 7 |
Theft Offences | 1 |
Criminal damage and arson | 13 |
All | 54 |
Those unreleased received the following minimum tariffs:
Tariff Length | Count |
Less than 2 years | 15 |
2 years to less than or equal to 4 years | 26 |
Greater than 4 years to less than or equal to 6 years | 7 |
Greater than 6 years to less than or equal to 10 years | 6 |
All | 54 |
Between 2010 and 20171 a total of 40 women IPPs have been recalled.
Public protection is our priority and offenders on licence must comply with a strict set of conditions. If any offender breaches his or her licence conditions, he or she is liable to be recalled immediately to prison.
The independent Parole Board will continue to assess rigorously all tariff-expired IPP prisoners, in order to determine whether they are safe to be released.
1By statistics code of practice, we cannot provide data for the most recent quarter as we have declared intention to publish such information next week.
The figures provided are for offenders recalled from 2010 to 2017 whose first releases were directed by the Parole Board. Information datasets held by the department do not record the data in this format prior to 2010. The figures may include offenders recalled more than once across multiple years but not within years. The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Recall reasons do not sum to the total number of recalls as more than one reason can be recorded against each recall.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General of 2 November 2016, Official Report, column 879, what progress his Department has made in using the 2011 census classifications that differentiate Gypsies and Travellers.
Answered by Phillip Lee
In the Government’s response to David Lammy’s review of the treatment of BAME people in the Criminal Justice System, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) committed to publishing more and better data on ethnicity. As a standard, we seek to use 2011 census classifications in MoJ datasets, though in some instances, due to the numbers involved, it is often necessary to publish at the 5+1 level or binary white/BAME level.
The Race Disparity Audit website displays data where possible using the Census 2011 ethnic categories, which includes Gypsy or Irish Traveller. My department has provided available data on Irish Traveller and Gypsy/Roma groups to the Audit in relation to the criminal justice system.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General of 2 November 2016, Official Report, column 879, and pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2018 to Question 134113, on Travellers: Equality, what meetings (a) he and (b) his predecessors have had since 2016 with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on using the 2011 census classifications that differentiate Gypsies and Travellers.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Race Disparity Audit Inter Ministerial Group chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster discusses matters pertaining to the progress of the Race Disparity Audit, including on the collection of ethnicity data. The IMG includes Ministerial representation from the Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry of Justice is actively supporting the Cabinet Office’s Race Disparity Unit, which is working with the Office for National Statistics to further progress the harmonisation of ethnicity data across the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and to improve the coverage of ethnic groups, including Gypsy, Roma and Travellers.