Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Failure to Appear warrants were issued by courts for (a) murder and (b) rape in each of the last five years up to March 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Data showing the number of failure to appear warrants issued for (a) murder and (b) rape from 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2020 in both Crown and Magistrates’ Courts can be found in the table below:
YEAR | CROWN | MAGISTRATES | ||
| MURDER | RAPE | MURDER | RAPE |
2015/16 | 27 | 71 | 18 | 143 |
2016/17 | 29 | 76 | 26 | 227 |
2017/18 | 13 | 65 | 10 | 146 |
2018/19 | 29 | 28 | 23 | 146 |
2019/20 | 29 | 33 | 21 | 161 |
5 YR TOTAL | 127 | 273 | 98 | 823 |
Notes:
1. Data are taken from a live management information system and can change over time
2. The data is based on statistics from management information system extract only
3. Data are management information and may differ from previously published stats and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics
4. Magistrates where a defendant is charged with an indictable offence and if more than one offence and a Failure to Appear Warrant is issued each offence is counted separately
5. Crown if a defendant has had a bench warrant issued on more than one occasion, they have been counted separately
6. Offences include attempted and conspiracy sub-groups
7. Data has not been cross referenced with case files.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times a young person has been remanded to custody due to a lack of suitable local authority accommodation in each of the last five calendar years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Courts apply the provisions of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 which sets out the basis for deciding whether a child is remanded into custody or Local Authority accommodation. The reasons for the court’s decision on remand are not recorded and so the information requested is not held.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the transition of individuals turning 18 years old from the youth justice system to the adult justice system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
We recognise that transitioning from youth justice services to the adult justice system can be a particularly challenging time for young people and we are taking steps to ensure that this transition is as effective as possible.
The Youth Custody Service is working in partnership with adult prison service to develop a national transitions pathway that will ensure effective and thorough planning and support for all young people being transitioned to the adult or young adult estate. This includes the development of a transitions policy framework, bringing consistency and alignment across the children and young people secure estate.
The Youth Justice Board’s transition guidance in Wales for children transitioning from youth offending teams to probation services has recently been updated with a focus on trauma informed practice. The Youth Justice Board is working with the National Probation Service to revise the transitions guidance in England and are aiming that this refreshed guidance will be in place shortly.
We are also working in partnership with the Mayor for London’s Office for Policing and Crime and other relevant Government Departments and agencies to run a 3 year pilot (2020-23) to meet the needs of young adults (18-25 year olds) and 17-year olds due to transition from youth offending services into adult probation services in London.
By co-locating probation staff and commissioned wraparound services such as, mental health, speech and language therapy and substance misuse, distinct to the needs of young adults, the pilot aims to create smoother transitions, encourage compliance, promote desistance and reduce reoffending through the hub. To measure if the aims of the hub have been achieved a full evaluation will be externally commissioned and it will incorporate both process (daily operations of the hub) and longitudinal data (reoffending data). Key findings from this pilot will help inform policy for this cohort.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the evidence base on the experience of girls in the youth justice system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The number of girls entering the youth justice system for the first time has fallen by 92% between 2009-10 and 2019-20 (from around 22,400 to around 1,900). The national standards for youth justice guide local authorities’ youth offending teams to personalise the approach to each child under their supervision and assess children’s individual needs, which will include those relating to gender.
Girls in secure settings form a small but vulnerable cohort, often with complex needs. To develop the evidence base to better support girls in custody, the Youth Custody Service and NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to review the needs of, and pathways for, girls in the secure estate.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the (a) needs and (b) characteristics of girls in the youth justice system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The number of girls entering the youth justice system for the first time has fallen by 92% between 2009-10 and 2019-20 (from around 22,400 to around 1,900). The national standards for youth justice guide local authorities’ youth offending teams to personalise the approach to each child under their supervision and assess children’s individual needs, which will include those relating to gender.
Girls in secure settings form a small but vulnerable cohort, often with complex needs. To develop the evidence base to better support girls in custody, the Youth Custody Service and NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to review the needs of, and pathways for, girls in the secure estate.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many failure to appear warrants have been issued for (a) murder, (b) rape and (c) serious sexual assault offences since March 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Data showing the number of failure to appear warrants issued for (a) murder, (b) rape and (c) all sexual offences excluding rape since March 2020 until 30 September 2020 in both Crown and Magistrates’ Courts can be found in the table below:
Offence Category | Crown Court | Magistrates’ Court |
Murder | 9 | 17 |
Rape | 14 | 61 |
All Sexual Offences (excl Rape) | 109 | 28 |
Source: HMCTS management information
Notes:
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employees of youth offending teams have left the profession in each of the last five years (a) nationally, and (b) by region.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Ministry of Justice and the Youth Justice Board do not hold data on how many employees of youth offending teams have left the profession in the last five years.
The annual youth justice statistics include national totals for the youth offending team workforce. However, the data does not show if individuals have left the profession or have moved elsewhere in the profession. The most recent staffing data is published in Annex E in the additional annexes at Youth Justice Statistics: 2019 to 2020.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of children cautioned or sentenced in each of the last five calendar years had previously been resident in unregulated care settings.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
We do not hold information on the number of children sentenced or cautioned who have previously been in unregulated care settings. We published experimental statistics in January 2021 setting out the assessed care status of children who receive a custodial sentence, Youth Rehabilitation Order, Referral Order or Reparation Order. These statistics can be found on the page https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/youth-justice-statistics-2019-to-2020 under ‘Assessing the needs of sentenced children in the Youth Justice System: Supplementary Tables’.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 11 of the Criminal Justice Inspectorates January 2021 report, Impact of the pandemic on the Criminal Justice System, what steps he is taking to reduce the digital divide amongst children under youth offending supervision.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
As a direct response to the lack of digital access amongst some of the children with whom Youth Offending Teams work, the Youth Justice Board has amended the terms and conditions in the Youth Justice Grant for 2020/21 to allow Youth Offending Teams, where appropriate, to use funds from their annual grant to provide children under their supervision with access to suitable equipment to facilitate regular virtual engagement. The Youth Justice Board is also revising its national protocol for case responsibility as part of new Case Management Guidance, which will take into account remote working and virtual service delivery. This is due for publication later this year.
Within the custodial estate, the Youth Custody Service will be rolling out in-room technology in public sector under-18 Young Offender Institutions. This will help enhance connectivity, facilitate education, and improve outcomes for children in custody. It is also providing additional free phone credits and ‘virtual visits’ via the Purple Visits app.
Local Authorities are responsible for Youth Offending Teams provision. In recognition of the fact that Local Authorities are best placed to decide how to meet Covid-19 service pressures in their area, the Government has allocated over £8 billion directly to councils since the start of the pandemic. Much of this funding is un-ringfenced and could be used to support any areas of local pressure, including potentially Youth Offending Teams. The Youth Justice Board works with Local Authorities and Directors of Children’s Services to provide strategic support as to how they can best provide for the needs of all their vulnerable children.