Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the roll out of the early prison release scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
SDS40 is a necessary measure to avoid the collapse of the Criminal Justice System. In designing the measure, we took every possible step to mitigate risk including an 8-week implementation period, clear offence exclusions, and a huge amount of collaboration with partners across the Criminal Justice System. Once released offender will be subject to strict licence conditions and face being immediately recalled to prison should they breach those conditions.
Following the first tranche of SDS40 releases that took place on 10 September, the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service have consulted our frontline and cross government partners on how things went. Following the release of prisoners under Tranche 1 on 10 September and Tranche 2 on 22 Octoberr, we are determined to continue to take every step possible to bring the prisons system under control, reduce reoffending and to keep the public safe.
As the Lord Chancellor has previously announced, the change will be reviewed in 18 months.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign-born criminals (a) are in prison and (b) were released under the revised terms of the early release scheme since 10 September 2024 in (i) Ashfield constituency and (ii) Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Information on the number of Foreign Nationals in prisons can be found in Table 1_Q_11 here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a1167cce1fd0da7b592c8d/Prison-population-30-June-2024.ods.
Data on SDS40 releases at the local level forms a subset of data intended for future publication. Therefore, data on foreign nationals released under SDS40 in the Ashfield Constituency and Nottinghamshire is not available. The number of prison places projected to be saved nationally by SDS40 releases are set out in the Impact Assessment (between 4,600 and 5,900 prison places for the male estate).
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans her Department has to inform victims of the early release of prisoners.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Victims and survivors who are eligible for and have opted into either the Probation Service’s Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme are provided with updates about an offender who perpetrated crime(s) against them, including when these offenders are due to be released from custody. In this way, the victims and survivors who have opted into the Schemes are given the opportunity to make representations as to the licence conditions which they would like to be in place on an offender’s release, such as an exclusion zone
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to tackle physical violence between prisoners in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Reducing violence in prisons remains a key priority. We are working hard to make prisons as safe as possible and are continuing our efforts to address the levels of violence in prisons.
We have completed our landmark £100 million Security Investment Programme to clamp down on illicit items such as drugs, mobile phones and weapons – that drive prison violence and undermine safety.
To support those at raised risk of being violent, we have introduced the Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan (CSIP), a case management approach that is centred around the individual and addressing the underlying causes of their violence, including specific risk factors and needs, to help them manage and move away from violent behaviours.
To ensure our staff are equipped with the right tools to protect themselves and prisoners from serious assaults, we have completed the roll out of PAVA – a synthetic pepper spray – for use by prison officers in the adult male estate alongside SPEAR, a personal safety training package.
We are continuing with plans for a phased removal of wet-shave razors in up to 30 prisons in the adult male estate in 2024/25.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to publish statistics on the (a) nationality and (b) visa status of offenders convicted in England and Wales every 12 months.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Ministry of Justice currently publishes the self-declared nationality of those entering custody as well as those in the prison population as part of their quarterly Offender Management Statistics: Offender management statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We refer all recorded foreign national offenders awarded a custodial sentence to the Home Office who can carry out immigration checks alongside consideration of each case for deportation. An offender’s nationality and immigration status is not routinely collected by the courts. We are working with the Home Office to explore the potential for the publication of further statistical data related to the nationality and immigration status of offenders.
The removal of foreign national offenders is a Government priority and my department continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.
On 11 March, the Government set out a plan to increase the number of foreign national offenders removed through:
the recruitment of 400 additional caseworkers and streamlining the end-to-end removal process;
extending foreign national conditional cautions to foreign national offenders with limited leave to remain; and
amending deportation policy to enable foreign national offenders given suspended sentences of 6 months or more to be considered for deportation.
These actions build on our expansion of the Early Removal Scheme to allow for removal of foreign national offenders up to 18 months before the end of the custodial element of their sentence and expediting prisoner transfers with priority countries such as Albania and seeking to conclude new transfer agreements with partner countries.
Published figures show that FNO returns have increased following the pandemic, in the latest 12-month period (ending December 2023) by 27% when compared to the previous 12-month period. Between January 2019 and December 2023 17,795 FNOs have been removed.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to issue guidance to the police on requirements to refer to the Crown Prosecution Service when using the new diversionary caution for hate crime offences.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister and Shadow Minister for London
As set out in the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act 2022, the Government legislated for a reformed two-tier cautions framework in England and Wales.
We have consulted on a draft Code of Practice to support future implementation. This covers the use, administration, and scrutiny of Diversionary and Community Cautions. The draft Code of Practice stipulates that a Diversionary or Community Caution may be given for a hate crime case but only once authorisation has been obtained from the Crown Prosecution Service. The draft Code of Practice was put to public consultation from 2 August to 13 October 2023 and invited views on the operational impact of the draft Code, including the approach to excluded offences.
Currently, we are analysing the consultation responses received to inform any necessary revisions to the draft Code of Practice and we will publish a Government response to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people convicted of hate crimes in magistrates' courts were sentenced to undergo a rehabilitative programme in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister and Shadow Minister for London
We do not centrally hold data on offences motivated by hostility or prejudice towards an individual based on a personal characteristic. This information may be held on court record, however, the information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The latest data on the number of offenders starting a community order or suspended sentence order supervised by the Probation Service with a rehabilitative programme imposed can be found in the Offender Management Statistics quarterly publication here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/653854823099f9000d7f30a4/Probation_Q2_2023.ods.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what rehabilitative programmes are provided by the Probation Service to help tackle hate crime; and whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the impact of these programmes on levels of recidivism.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
There are no rehabilitative programmes or interventions designed specifically to address hate crime. Hate crime offences are typically driven by a range of underlying factors that are shared with other types of offending for which there are a range of programmes and interventions available that may be suitable. What programme(s) or intervention(s) may be most suitable for someone convicted of hate crime offences is determined based on the nature of the offence and an assessment to determine eligibility and the specific rehabilitative needs of the offender.
A number of studies and evaluations have been carried out in recent years on HMPPS rehabilitative programmes and interventions, and can be found by visiting https://www.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-law#research_and_statistics.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reoffending rates were for people convicted of (a) racially-aggravated, (b) religiously-aggravated and (c) other hate crime offences who (i) received a (A) caution and (B) fine and (ii) were imprisoned in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister and Shadow Minister for London
We do not centrally hold data on other hate crime offences. This information may be recorded by individual police forces and in court records, however the information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
There are 79,456 offenders in the latest reoffending cohort (October – December 2021) which can be found in the Proven Reoffending Statistics review, here:
Proven reoffending statistics: October to December 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made on the effectiveness of the criteria for releasing prisoners who have committed a serious crime.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This Government has ensured that the courts have the fullest range of sentencing powers available to deal effectively with serious offenders, with release provisions that protect the public.
Those who commit the most serious offences may be given a life sentence, where the court sets a minimum period in custody (the tariff) after which the prisoner may be released by the Parole Board only if it is satisfied that detention is no longer necessary to protect the public. Other serious sexual and violent offenders may be given an Extended Determinate Sentence or a Sentence for Offenders of Particular Concern where they must serve their custodial term in full unless the Parole Board assesses they are safe to release before that point, having served at least two-thirds in prison. In the Victims and Prisoners Bill, we are strengthening the test which the Parole Board must apply when considering the release of prisoners. The new test makes clear that protecting the public must be the sole consideration - a prisoner must not be released unless there is no more than minimal risk of the prisoner committing a further offence that would cause serious harm. We also introduced a Serious Terrorism Sentence where a minimum custodial period of 14 years is imposed which must be served in full.
Most prisoners serve a standard determinate sentence of imprisonment which, in most cases, means release is automatic at the half-way point on licence for the remainder of the sentence. In the Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, for those sentenced to 4 years or more for certain serious sexual and violent offences, we strengthened the provisions to require those offenders to serve two-thirds of their sentence in prison, to better reflect the severity of their crimes. The Act also introduced a new power to prevent the automatic release of prisoners who receive a standard determinate sentence, if they pose a danger to the public.