Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the maximum number of offenders is who can be tagged and monitored at any one time under the new national GPS tagging of offenders scheme.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The current national rollout of new GPS technology, will help strengthen supervision, enforce exclusion zones and give victims greater peace of mind.
Legislative and policy guidelines determine which offenders and subjects on bail are eligible to be tagged. Within this framework, decision makers will apply normal, reasonableness, proportionality and necessity tests, along with consideration of the practical outcome that the imposition of the tag is aiming to achieve.
Data from the Department’s GPS pilot indicates that in steady state there will be approx 4000 location monitoring starts a year with a maximum of approx 1000 subjects on a GPS tag at any one time.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average daily number of offenders on Home Detention Curfew has been in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Home Detention Curfew (HDC) is a robust scheme which allows prisoners to be released early and work towards rehabilitation in the community, while remaining subject to strict conditions. If they breach these, they can be returned to custody.
It is not possible to provide the average daily number of offenders on HDC without incurring disproportionate costs. However, to give an indication, the table attached provides the number of offenders on HDC each week for the last 12 months. This is taken from the prison population statistics, which are published weekly and can be found on Gov.uk
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-population-statistics
All offenders released on HDC are required to wear a tag for 24 hours a day. They are subject to a curfew, which is electronically monitored through the tag. Legislation requires that the curfew period(s) must not total less than nine hours during any one day, but the general expectation is that the curfew should be set for 12 hours a day.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether all offenders on the Home Detention Curfew scheme are required to wear a tag 24 hours a day.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Home Detention Curfew (HDC) is a robust scheme which allows prisoners to be released early and work towards rehabilitation in the community, while remaining subject to strict conditions. If they breach these, they can be returned to custody.
It is not possible to provide the average daily number of offenders on HDC without incurring disproportionate costs. However, to give an indication, the table attached provides the number of offenders on HDC each week for the last 12 months. This is taken from the prison population statistics, which are published weekly and can be found on Gov.uk
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-population-statistics
All offenders released on HDC are required to wear a tag for 24 hours a day. They are subject to a curfew, which is electronically monitored through the tag. Legislation requires that the curfew period(s) must not total less than nine hours during any one day, but the general expectation is that the curfew should be set for 12 hours a day.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what criteria will be used to determine which offenders are required to wear (a) a new GPS tag and (b) the older type of location tag.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The current national rollout of new GPS technology, will help strengthen supervision, enforce exclusion zones and give victims greater peace of mind.
Legislative and policy guidelines determine which offenders and subjects on bail are eligible to be tagged. Within this framework, decision makers will apply normal, reasonableness, proportionality and necessity tests, along with consideration of the practical outcome that the imposition of the tag is aiming to achieve.
Data from the Department’s GPS pilot indicates that in steady state there will be approx 4000 location monitoring starts a year with a maximum of approx 1000 subjects on a GPS tag at any one time.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, at how many prisons officers have been issued with PAVA spray since January 2019.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Since January 2019 planning has taken place to ensure a thorough and safe implementation of PAVA. Prior to issuing the product every site is required to undertake a readiness assessment, in addition we are undertaking a thorough Equalities Analysis to inform policy and training. These necessary steps are progress towards the national rollout of PAVA, therefore to date since January 2019 no prisons have been issued with PAVA whilst these tasks are underway.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when it is planned to issue officers at all adult male public sector prisons with PAVA spray; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The planning for the national rollout has been underway since October 2018 when the decision was announced. With such a significant introduction to our service it is necessary to thoroughly prepare our prisons and ensure that all policy and training is reviewed. We are currently undertaking a thorough Equalities Analysis which is a vital step towards implementation, subsequently we will commence readiness assessments at each prison before training and issuing of PAVA will commence. The implementation is planned to take 18-24 months, establishments will receive PAVA once all of the above actions are complete and within the timeframe set out.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 211736 on Prison Service: Pay, what estimate he has made of the number of Operational Managers that have incorrectly claimed to be up to date with their Control and Restraint training in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
It is important to note that it is not mandatory for operational manager’s band 7 and above to complete Control and Restraint training.
The MoJ does not hold information on the number of operational managers who have claimed to be up to date with their control and restraint training. All managers have a personal responsibility for and an understanding that training must be kept up to date in order to maintain and increase levels of safety. Training levels are also consistently monitored by Governors to ensure that staff are equipped with the required level of training to complete their role in a safe manner, both for themselves and prisoners.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 211736 on Prison Service: Pay, how many Operational Managers were not up to date with their Control and Restraint training in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Initial control and restraint training is delivered by HMPPS Learning and Development, thereafter it is the responsibility of the individuals establishment to ensure that refresher training takes place. The information you have requested is recorded at a local level and therefore could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
All managers have a personal responsibility for and an understanding that training must be kept up to date in order to maintain and increase levels of safety. Training levels are also consistently monitored by Governors to ensure that staff are equipped with the required level of training to complete their role in a safe manner, both for themselves and prisoners.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 211736 on Prison Service: Pay, whether Operational Managers that are not up to date with their Control and Restraint training are entitled to claim the required hours addition allowance.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The payment of Required Hours Addition (RHA) is not linked to any the completion of any training, including control and restraint. RHA is made to recompense for having to work unsocial and predictable working hours, and is automatically paid as a separate salaried element (pensionable) on taking up duty in a qualifying role.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2019 to Question 206776 on Prison Service: Pay and with reference to the National Offender Management Service's document of 13 July 2013, Required Hours Addition (RHA), reference PSI 26/2013, whether the requirement specified in Section 3.1 of PSI 26/2013 that RHA recipients must be up to date with control & restraint training is still in effect; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The payment of the Required Hours Addition is made as recompense for having to work unsocial and unpredictable working hours, and is automatically paid as a separate salaried element (pensionable) on taking up duty in a qualifying role (both operational and non-operational).
Operational Managers are expected to remain up to date with their Control and Restraint (C&R) training, to ensure the safety and security of prisoners and staff is continued to be met.