Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the safety of judges.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Secretary of State for Justice regards judicial office holders' safety with great importance. This is a matter that the Ministry of Justice takes very seriously.
There are a range of judicial security policies and procedures in place to protect judicial office holders inside of court, outside of court and online. HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) works jointly with both the Judicial Office and the Police to deliver these. Over £20m in additional funding in 2025/26 has been allocated to a programme of works to further strengthen the existing arrangements, and Ministry of Justice and HMCTS are working with the Security Taskforce, commissioned by the Lady Chief Justice and chaired by Deputy Senior Presiding Judge Mrs Justice Yip, to consider opportunities for further improvement.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will review the Guide to Judicial Conduct.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice have a joint responsibility for judicial discipline. However, to preserve judicial independence, the statutory responsibility for the guidance of the judiciary, including for setting the conduct standards for the judiciary, is held by the Lady Chief Justice, Senior President of Tribunals and Chief Coroner, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively.
The Lord Chancellor has no role in this respect, and it is not constitutionally appropriate for the Government to review the judiciary’s guidance.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps is her Department taking to fund voluntary community sector organisations to support people leaving prison as part of her Sentencing Review.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I recognise the valuable role of the thousands of voluntary organisations that work in partnership with probation to provide vital support to people serving their sentence in prison, in the community and people returning to the community after prison.
The Government has welcomed the findings and recommendations of the Rt Hon David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review. This includes specific recommendations on increasing the role of the third sector in supporting offenders in the community. My Department is exploring the best approach to implementing these recommendations as part of the wider programme of reform that we are taking forward to implement the Sentencing Review. We will look to work with the Third Sector on these recommendations.
These reforms are backed by significant investment of up to £700 million in the Probation Service by the final year of the Spending Review. We are currently finalising the allocations process to set internal budgets for the spending period, including how this probation settlement will be spent.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has she made of the adequacy of funding for organisations in the voluntary community sector working in the area of sexual violence.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice provides funding for victim and witness support services, including community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services, in addition to core funding for Police and Crime Commissioners to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need.
To ensure these services can continue to be delivered, I have protected dedicated Violence Against Women and Girls victims spending in the Department by maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse support this year. This includes the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund grant for specialist sexual violence support services.
Now that the Department has its Spending Review settlement, there will be a process within the Department to allocate this budget to individual areas, including victims funding. This will require difficult and carefully considered decisions to balance priorities within the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking help reduce waiting times for support services for survivors of sexual abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade.
We recognise the invaluable role support services play in the delivery of this mission. This is why the Ministry of Justice provides funding that ensures victims of sexual abuse can access the support they need.
This includes funding for the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to commission local support services for victims of all crime, including sexual abuse, based on their assessment of local need, as well as grants for specialist support organisations through the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund. Furthermore, the MOJ-commissioned 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, delivered by Rape Crisis England and Wales, provides victims and survivors 24/7 access to vital help and information, including whilst waiting for longer term support.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to give indirect witnesses of criminal offences that have taken place on social media standing in law to complain to the (a) Police and (b) Independent Office for Police Conduct about those offences.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
Any individual is entitled, and should be encouraged, to report anything they believe to be criminal behaviour, however they became aware of it, to the police.
Section 12 of the Police Reform Act 2022 sets out that to use the police complaints system, a person (member of the public) must have been adversely impacted by the events about which they complain.
The Home Office are responsible for policy and legislation on the reporting of crime and complaints to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many confiscations of nitazines took place in prisons in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The information requested is not collected in a format that would enable it to be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department is recording the number of cases of nitazene use in prison which has required (a) on site medical attention and (b) an ambualance to be called in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The information requested, which relates to the responsibilities of more than one Government Department, is not collected in a format that would enable us to do so without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that people on early prison release have (a) housing, (b) employment and (c) sufficient probation provision to support them.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Individuals released through the Standard Determinate Sentence changes, known as SDS40, and at risk of homelessness can be referred to HMPPS’s Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3), which can provide up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation. We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Welsh Government to mitigate any impact on Local Authorities, as well as taking practical steps to minimise the chances that individuals are released homeless. This includes ensuring data is shared with the 49 Strategic Housing Specialists based in prisons and the Probation-based Homeless Prevention Teams to make sure plans are in place for those who need accommodation support.
We are also working closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to ensure that prisons and Jobcentres are prepared to support temporarily higher volumes of prisoners approaching release. We will collectively ensure that relevant staff in prisons and Jobcentres have the right data on prisoners who are being released and will provide guidance and regular communications to those staff, so they are aware of what actions to take. This will ensure that prisoners are supported on release in the community with provision of bank accounts and ID, referrals to work programmes on release, arranging employment pre-release, and timely access to benefits where appropriate.
It is vital there is sufficient probation capacity to manage these individuals upon release. The move to SDS40 gives probation staff more time to prepare and plan for release, compared to the previous government’s End of Supervised Licence Scheme meaning there will be more resilience in the system. We are also onboarding 1,000 new trainee probation officers by March 2025.
Once released, offenders will be subject to the same set of strict licence conditions that would apply had they been released at a 50% automatic release point and will be liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions or are judged to be a risk to public safety. These could include electronic monitoring, alcohol tags, and exclusion zones.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to (a) develop a different approach to youth justice and (b) use programmes of diversion to prevent young people entering the youth estate.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government is committed to intervening early and supporting the most vulnerable children to address their needs and reduce the risk of young people offending. We are developing a new approach to youth justice by creating a new Young Futures programme with a network of hubs reaching every community. These hubs will have youth workers, mental health support workers and careers advisers to support young people’s mental health and avoid them being drawn into crime. Local prevention partnerships will identify young people who could be drawn into violence and crime and intervene.
Custody should always be a last resort for children. To divert more children from custodial remand, we are also running pilots in Greater Manchester and London for new forms of community accommodation as robust alternatives to custody and will continue to explore potential further reforms and steps in this area.