Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the value for money of outsourced contracted services provided by (a) Capita, (b) Serco, (c) G4S and (d) Clearsprings.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Government will always aim to secure value for money and social value. With the creation of the Office for Value for Money the government will undertake value for money studies in specific high-risk areas of cross-departmental spending, and scrutinise investment proposals to ensure they offer value for money.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) standard delivery, (b) fast delivery, and (c) oral pre-sentence reports have been produced in (i) Wales and (ii) England in each of the last 10 years.

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

Pre-sentence reports (PSRs) provide an expert assessment of the nature and causes of the offender's behaviour, the risk the offender poses and to whom, as well as an independent recommendation of the options available to support the independent judiciary in deciding the appropriate sentence. The decision on whether to direct the preparation of a PSR and any adjournment to produce that report is, along with the sentence itself, a matter for the independent judiciary. Since 2014, the following numbers of PSRs have been produced in Wales and England:

Wales

England

1. Excludes breach, deferred sentence and court review reports (for further details please see the guide to offender management statistics, available at: Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK).

2. Between April and June 2020, the number of cases processed at the criminal courts was substantially reduced as a result of the operational restrictions that were put in place on 23 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the impact of these operational restrictions continued into subsequent periods, the figures in more recent periods have recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

3. The figures for England include a handful of pre-sentence reports prepared by the National Security Division (NSD), which was introduced in 2021 under the Probation Reform Programme and is specifically tasked with the enhanced monitoring of terrorists, serious organised criminals and very high-risk offenders.

Data quality: 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.

Data source: National Delius case management system

Information on the numbers of PSRs for England and Wales is published as part of the Ministry of Justice’s official statistics available at: Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of ethical standards in business practice at (a) Capita, (b) Serco, (c) G4S and (d) Clearsprings when undertaking outsourced UK Government contracts.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

We expect the highest standards of business ethics from all suppliers. The Government will bring forward a new National Procurement Policy Statement under the Procurement Act that will deliver a mission-led procurement regime. It will drive value for money, economic growth and social value.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what percentage of people subject to supervision by the Probation Service have (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four and (e) five or more named supervising officers during the course of their order or licence.

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

The information requested is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people released on home detention curfew were recalled to prison in (a) Wales and (b) England in each of the last 20 years.

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

We have provided the requested information in the Tables 1 and 2 below.

Data on total HDC recalls from 2015 onwards can be found in Table 1. A further breakdown of HDC recalls prior to 2015 could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Table 1: Recalls from Home Detention Curfew to prisons in England and prisons in Wales, 2015 to 2023

Data sources and quality
The figures in this table 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.

Methodological note
Recall data presented here are calculated on the basis of those who were recalled (and subsequently returned to custody) in this period, how many were on HDC. This is different to the method used in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly which looks at the number released to HDC who were later recalled. Numbers will therefore not be comparable.

Source: Prison NOMIS

Table 2: HDC releases from prisons in England and prisons in Wales, 2004 to 2023

Data sources and quality
The figures in this table 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.

Source: Prison NOMIS

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were released on home detention curfew in (a) Wales and (b) England in each of the last 20 years.

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

We have provided the requested information in the Tables 1 and 2 below.

Data on total HDC recalls from 2015 onwards can be found in Table 1. A further breakdown of HDC recalls prior to 2015 could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Table 1: Recalls from Home Detention Curfew to prisons in England and prisons in Wales, 2015 to 2023

Data sources and quality
The figures in this table 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.

Methodological note
Recall data presented here are calculated on the basis of those who were recalled (and subsequently returned to custody) in this period, how many were on HDC. This is different to the method used in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly which looks at the number released to HDC who were later recalled. Numbers will therefore not be comparable.

Source: Prison NOMIS

Table 2: HDC releases from prisons in England and prisons in Wales, 2004 to 2023

Data sources and quality
The figures in this table 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.

Source: Prison NOMIS

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) community sentences, (b) deferred sentences, (c) conditional discharges and (d) custodial sentences have been given in (i) Wales and (ii) England in each of the last 20 years.

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

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on sentences given at criminal courts in England and Wales between January 2010 and June 2024 in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

The attached table provides the requested breakdown of sentences for England (Tab 1) and Wales (Tab 2) for the requested time period 2004 to 2009.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training is available through the medium of Welsh for probation officers in Wales.

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

Currently, whilst we do not offer national training for Probation Officers in Welsh we can provide learning materials and effective practice briefings in Welsh upon request.

We are dedicated to fostering a workplace environment that encourages and embraces the use of the Welsh language in daily work practices. This commitment includes a staff Welsh language forum, and we will soon be launching a Welsh Language Skills Policy focused on supporting our staff.

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Prison maintenance insourcing

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Palestine Statehood (Recognition) (No. 2) Bill

Release of Emily Damari

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Found: _NC39 Liz Saville Roberts .

Found: _NC39 Liz Saville Roberts .

Found: _NC39 Liz Saville Roberts .

Found: _NC39 Liz Saville Roberts ★.