Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what methodology was used to determine a 18 month review period for the new Early Release Scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis. Due to ongoing pressures on prison capacity, the Government adjusted the release point for prisoners serving eligible standard determinate sentences (SDS), allowing release after 40% of their sentence rather than 50%, and have committed to review this change after 18 months. This measure was necessary to stop the collapse of the justice system and quickly free up prison places, as well as ensuring courts can continue to send offenders into custody. 18 months allows time for officials to monitor the impact of the measure on prison capacity and act accordingly based on the impact.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the number of veterans in prison.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
As per the statistics in the “Ex-service Personnel in the prison population: 2023” publication included at the following link, an estimated 3.6% of the prison population were ex-service personnel as of 30 June 2023: Offender Management Statistics quarterly: April to June 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure prisoners do not become homeless upon release.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service delivers a transitional accommodation service, known as the Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS3), which offers prison leavers who are subject to probation supervision and at risk of homelessness on release up to 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release. The service has been gradually rolled out nationwide since July 2021 and since then has supported over 12,200 prison leavers who would otherwise have been homeless.
However, we know there is more to do to ensure people leaving prison can move to long-term settled accommodation, and will work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been prosecuted for possession of cannabis since 1 January 2020.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister (Housing and Planning)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions for possession of cannabis, covering the period requested and this can be viewed in the following data tool:
Navigate to ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ tab, and use the ‘Offence’ filter to select ‘92E.01 Possession of a controlled drug - Class B (cannabis)’ and ‘92E.02 Possession of a controlled drug - Class C (cannabis)’.
Within the pivot tool, you can select specific quarters and years to show the period of interest.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions have taken place for the possession of cannabis excluding those with intent to distribute since 1 January 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions for possession of cannabis offences, in England and Wales, in the Outcomes by Offence tool, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1158218/outcomes-by-offence-2022.xlsx.
Using the HO offence code filter, select the following offences:
‘09261 - Having possession of a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)’
‘09266 - Having possession of a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) - historic’
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to repeal sections (a) 58 and (b) 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Government maintains a neutral stance in terms of changing the criminal law relating to abortion in England and Wales.
Any change to the law in this area would be a matter of conscience for individual Parliamentarians rather than for the Government.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average working days lost was for civil servants who (a) have and (b) have not declared themselves as having a disability in his Department in (i) 2019 and (ii) 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Average working days lost for 12 months to the end of December 2019 and 2020 by requested characteristics. Coverage: payroll staff within Ministry of Justice and executive agencies.
PQ 156621 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020p |
Male | 9.3 | 8.0 |
Female | 8.7 | 7.4 |
PQ 156622 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Black, Asian and minority Ethnic background | 9.7 | 8.9 |
White | 8.6 | 7.4 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 10.0 | 8.2 |
PQ 156623 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Under 30 | 8.0 | 6.8 |
30-49 | 8.2 | 7.0 |
50-59 | 10.3 | 8.6 |
60+ | 11.6 | 10.4 |
PQ 156624 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Declared disabled | 16.7 | 12.7 |
Declared not disabled | 7.9 | 6.6 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 8.8 | 8.6 |
The MoJ is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of all of its employees, and to reducing sickness absence levels.
(p) Figures relating to current financial year (April to December 2020) are provisional and may be subject to change in future.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average working days lost was for civil servants aged (a) 30 and younger, (b) 30 to 50 (c) 50 to 60 and (d) over 60 in his Department in (i) 2019 and (ii) 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Average working days lost for 12 months to the end of December 2019 and 2020 by requested characteristics. Coverage: payroll staff within Ministry of Justice and executive agencies.
PQ 156621 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020p |
Male | 9.3 | 8.0 |
Female | 8.7 | 7.4 |
PQ 156622 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Black, Asian and minority Ethnic background | 9.7 | 8.9 |
White | 8.6 | 7.4 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 10.0 | 8.2 |
PQ 156623 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Under 30 | 8.0 | 6.8 |
30-49 | 8.2 | 7.0 |
50-59 | 10.3 | 8.6 |
60+ | 11.6 | 10.4 |
PQ 156624 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Declared disabled | 16.7 | 12.7 |
Declared not disabled | 7.9 | 6.6 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 8.8 | 8.6 |
The MoJ is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of all of its employees, and to reducing sickness absence levels.
(p) Figures relating to current financial year (April to December 2020) are provisional and may be subject to change in future.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average working days lost was for civil servants (a) from Black, Asian and minority Ethnic background and (b) recording themselves as White in his Department in (i) 2019 and (ii) 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Average working days lost for 12 months to the end of December 2019 and 2020 by requested characteristics. Coverage: payroll staff within Ministry of Justice and executive agencies.
PQ 156621 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020p |
Male | 9.3 | 8.0 |
Female | 8.7 | 7.4 |
PQ 156622 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Black, Asian and minority Ethnic background | 9.7 | 8.9 |
White | 8.6 | 7.4 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 10.0 | 8.2 |
PQ 156623 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Under 30 | 8.0 | 6.8 |
30-49 | 8.2 | 7.0 |
50-59 | 10.3 | 8.6 |
60+ | 11.6 | 10.4 |
PQ 156624 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Declared disabled | 16.7 | 12.7 |
Declared not disabled | 7.9 | 6.6 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 8.8 | 8.6 |
The MoJ is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of all of its employees, and to reducing sickness absence levels.
(p) Figures relating to current financial year (April to December 2020) are provisional and may be subject to change in future.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average working days lost was for (a) female and (b) male civil servants in his Department in (i) 2019 and (ii) 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Average working days lost for 12 months to the end of December 2019 and 2020 by requested characteristics. Coverage: payroll staff within Ministry of Justice and executive agencies.
PQ 156621 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020p |
Male | 9.3 | 8.0 |
Female | 8.7 | 7.4 |
PQ 156622 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Black, Asian and minority Ethnic background | 9.7 | 8.9 |
White | 8.6 | 7.4 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 10.0 | 8.2 |
PQ 156623 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Under 30 | 8.0 | 6.8 |
30-49 | 8.2 | 7.0 |
50-59 | 10.3 | 8.6 |
60+ | 11.6 | 10.4 |
PQ 156624 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 | 01 Jan to 31 Dec 2020 p |
Declared disabled | 16.7 | 12.7 |
Declared not disabled | 7.9 | 6.6 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 8.8 | 8.6 |
The MoJ is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of all of its employees, and to reducing sickness absence levels.
(p) Figures relating to current financial year (April to December 2020) are provisional and may be subject to change in future.