Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pregnant women have been transported in prisoner transport vehicles in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A total of 1,700 pregnant women moves took place between August 2016 and September 2019. This does not necessarily equate to the number of individuals transported, as the same prisoner may have been moved more than once. Pregnant women are moved in multi-purpose vehicles as opposed to cellular vehicles in all but exceptional circumstances. A breakdown of journeys is provided in the table below.
Year | Number of female moves |
2016 (August – December) | 249 |
2017 | 640 |
2018 | 533 |
2019 (January – September) | 278 |
Below is a table showing the number of instances where both women and men have been transported in the same vehicle.
Year | Number of instances OF failure to separate females |
2017 | 81 |
2018 | 5 |
2019 YTD | 9 |
The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract is specifically designed for the movement of prisoners in cellular vehicles that meets MOJ standards. The contracts include a Contract Delivery Indicator which requires women to be separated from men for at least 97% of all journeys made. The current national performance is 99.89% of total journeys made.
Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. HMPPS will continue to closely monitor the performance of all providers and we will not hesitate to take action where standards fall short.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions women and men have been transported together in prisoner transport vehicles in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A total of 1,700 pregnant women moves took place between August 2016 and September 2019. This does not necessarily equate to the number of individuals transported, as the same prisoner may have been moved more than once. Pregnant women are moved in multi-purpose vehicles as opposed to cellular vehicles in all but exceptional circumstances. A breakdown of journeys is provided in the table below.
Year | Number of female moves |
2016 (August – December) | 249 |
2017 | 640 |
2018 | 533 |
2019 (January – September) | 278 |
Below is a table showing the number of instances where both women and men have been transported in the same vehicle.
Year | Number of instances OF failure to separate females |
2017 | 81 |
2018 | 5 |
2019 YTD | 9 |
The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract is specifically designed for the movement of prisoners in cellular vehicles that meets MOJ standards. The contracts include a Contract Delivery Indicator which requires women to be separated from men for at least 97% of all journeys made. The current national performance is 99.89% of total journeys made.
Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. HMPPS will continue to closely monitor the performance of all providers and we will not hesitate to take action where standards fall short.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to delay the start of a custodial sentence for pregnant women and new mothers until a place in a mother and baby unit has been made available to them.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Sentencing decisions are for the independent judiciary following relevant sentencing guidelines produced by the Sentencing Council.
In line with the sentencing guideline on the Imposition of Community and Custodial Sentences, the courts may choose to suspend a custodial sentence where there is strong personal mitigation or where immediate custody would result in significant harmful impact upon others. The expanded explanations produced by the Sentencing Council, which came into force on 1 October, provide further guidance on mitigation where an offender is pregnant.
Emergency Admissions Boards can be held to expedite a woman’s placement on a mother and baby unit, and there are a range of circumstances when these can be appropriate. Pregnant women receiving custodial sentences are also provided access to a number of supportive provisions reflective of that which is available in the community, including: being provided with the local NHS Pregnancy free advice line number; fortnightly multi-disciplinary Maternity Boards for all pregnant women; local mid-midwifery services; and appropriate Social Services support, including for pregnant women who refuse to engage with ante-natal services.
In recent weeks, an additional safeguard of hourly welfare observations during the night has been put in place by the Director of the Women’s Estate, for women who are post 28 weeks pregnant.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children that are EEA nationals receive services from youth offending teams.
Answered by Wendy Morton
This information is not held by MoJ or the Youth Justice Board. Although local level Youth Offending Services have the ability to collect data on children’s nationality using their case management systems, it is unknown how many actually do record this information because the Youth Justice Board do not collate data on nationality centrally. This is done to reduce the data reporting burden on frontline services.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Justice, what processes his Department has put in place to ensure that children that are EEA nationals who come into contact with the criminal justice system can be identified for the purposes of providing advice and support.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Youth Offending Services (YOS) were established in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which introduced a statutory duty for all local authorities to establish a multi-agency team, with members from police, social services, probation and education, to deliver youth justice services. YOS have a statutory duty to:
All children who come into contact with the YOS (including EEA nationals) will have their individual circumstances and needs assessed and will receive interventions and support accordingly.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training his Department provides to prison officers on Rule 39 in relation to private legal post.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) provides training for staff tailored to their specific role in relation to the handling of prisoner communications including Rule 39. Operational support grades who handle mail as part of their core tasks receive appropriate training. Prison officers are trained on some aspects of handling legal documents, such as during cell searches and as part of their initial Prison Officer Entry Level training course. Electronic learning is available for staff engaged in interception and monitoring of prisoners’ communications.
In addition, policy and guidance for staff on Rule 39 is set out in Prison Service Instructions (PSIs) on Prisoner Communication Services (PSI 49/2011) and The Interception of Communications in Prisons and Security Measures (PSI 04/2016), and further guidance to support the operation of these policies was issued to Governors earlier this month.
To confirm the number of complaints received by each prison about Rule 39 over the last 3 years, a search of each prison’s complaints log would be required. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, processes are in place for complaints to be raised, and addressed, locally and can be escalated to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, where appropriate. A new Prisoner Complaints Policy Framework will be implemented on 1 August 2019, shaped by feedback received from staff, prisoners and stakeholders during extensive consultation in 2018. This supports staff to resolve prisoners’ issues fairly and effectively at an early stage and implement relevant Lammy review recommendations.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints have been made in the last three years in relation the breach of Rule 39; and what steps his Department has taken to resolve those complaints.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) provides training for staff tailored to their specific role in relation to the handling of prisoner communications including Rule 39. Operational support grades who handle mail as part of their core tasks receive appropriate training. Prison officers are trained on some aspects of handling legal documents, such as during cell searches and as part of their initial Prison Officer Entry Level training course. Electronic learning is available for staff engaged in interception and monitoring of prisoners’ communications.
In addition, policy and guidance for staff on Rule 39 is set out in Prison Service Instructions (PSIs) on Prisoner Communication Services (PSI 49/2011) and The Interception of Communications in Prisons and Security Measures (PSI 04/2016), and further guidance to support the operation of these policies was issued to Governors earlier this month.
To confirm the number of complaints received by each prison about Rule 39 over the last 3 years, a search of each prison’s complaints log would be required. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, processes are in place for complaints to be raised, and addressed, locally and can be escalated to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, where appropriate. A new Prisoner Complaints Policy Framework will be implemented on 1 August 2019, shaped by feedback received from staff, prisoners and stakeholders during extensive consultation in 2018. This supports staff to resolve prisoners’ issues fairly and effectively at an early stage and implement relevant Lammy review recommendations.