Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice on 14 May 2024, Official Report, column 119, whether a decision by a Governor to block the early release of a prisoner under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme can be overruled by HM Prison and Probation Service.

Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

It remains at the discretion of the prison service to prevent the End of Custody Supervised Licence release of any prisoners where releasing an offender earlier presents a heightened risk than if they were released at their automatic release date. A panel formed of HMPPS senior leaders take decisions over exclusions following advice from prison and probation staff.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of prisoners that were released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme who were homeless upon their release from prison.

Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community.

Release under ECSL follows the same planning and arrangements as release at the normal automatic release point and that includes making suitable arrangements for accommodation.

We know that having a safe place to stay helps cut crime which is why we are investing in our transitional accommodation service so prison leavers can have a guaranteed 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release.

Prisons and Probation have a statutory duty to refer someone at risk of homelessness to a local authority for assistance and we have worked closely with DLUHC on the design and delivery of their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme.

In 2022/23, 86% of prisoners were accommodated on first night of release, up from 80% in 2019/20.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an equality impact assessment of the proposal to extend the End of Custody Supervised License scheme to a maximum of 70 days within the women's prison estate.

Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

End of Custody Supervised License (ECSL) only operates in the prisons where it is required, and it is currently not operating in the women’s estate. The use of ECSL is under constant review and prior to extending its use in the male estate the impact on the criminal justice system, victims and others was carefully considered.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential risk to public safety of Operation Early Dawn.

Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

Operation Early Dawn is an existing contingency measure to ensure sufficient governance exists between HMPPS, the Prison Escort Custody Service (PECS) and HMCTS to maintain the effective management of prisoner transfers between courts and custody.

It involves an operational assessment being made each morning by HMPPS on which prisoners can be transferred from police cells and taken to courts to ensure there is a safe and secure location if remanded to custody.

At least a partial collection is made from every Police Station which allows Police (and HMCTS for subsequent collections) to identify priority collections, including those who pose a higher risk.

Public protection is carefully considered when taking decisions under Operation Early Dawn.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether beds of prisoners who have been released on temporary licence are counted as available for the purposes of determining capacity.

Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

Where a prisoner is authorised to temporarily leave prison, including hospital visits and release on temporary licence (ROTL), their bed remains allocated to them. This reflects the fact that such absences are strictly time limited and the prisoner must return within the short term. Their bed is not therefore considered vacant for the purpose of determining available capacity.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies there are in the probation service by region.

Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

The workforce position, at 31 March 2024, was 20,758 FTE Staff in Post working in Probation Service grades (including those working in Approved Premises). This is an increase of 728 FTE (3.6%) since 31 March 2023.

Recruitment and retention remain a priority across the Probation Service and we have injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year since 2021 to deliver more robust supervision, recruit more staff and reduce caseloads to keep the public safer.

We have recruited 4,582 trainee Probation Officers between 2020/21 and 2023/24. Many of these trainees have already qualified and taken up Probation Officer posts and we expect the remainder of these intakes to qualify by the end of 2025 and begin to take on Probation Officer caseloads. We will continue to run centralised recruitment campaigns in priority regions to help bolster the number of applications.

Table One: Vacancies across Probation Service Regions, March 2024, all Probation Service grades.

Notes

1. Data shows average resource across the month, adjusted for joiners and leavers within the month. Data shown as of March 2024, aligning with the most recent HMPPS Workforce Quarterly publication. More recent data cannot be provided due to potentially pre-empting future statistical publications.
2. Vacancies have been calculated as Target Staffing (Full Time Equivalent - FTE) minus Staff in Post (FTE).
3. Where the number of Staff in Post (FTE) in a region exceeds Target Staffing (FTE), the number of vacancies has been shown as 0 FTE. Summing the figures in the table will not give the overall number of vacancies across the Probation Service due to the surpluses in some regions that haven’t been shown in the table.
4. Vacancies have been netted off between grades and business units. As a result, the overall vacancy figures presented mask the presence of vacancies at both grade and business unit level.
5. Data have been taken from the Workforce Planning Tool and are subject to inaccuracy as a result of the manual nature with which returns are completed. This approach differs from the published statistics, which uses data from the Single Operating Platform (our departmental HR system).
6. Staff in Post (FTE) has not been adjusted for long-term absences (e.g., Trainee Probation Officer training time). In addition, we have not factored in loans / temporary cover / agency and sessional. The actual resourced position will therefore differ as a result of these.
7. Trainee Probation Officers are included in the data. Trainees spend a proportion of their time training and the remainder of their time carrying out work at a Band 3 Probation Services Officer level. Both training time and time spent delivering caseload are included in the Staff in Post (FTE) calculations, which means that number of vacancies is lower than the actual gap between Target Staffing and frontline delivery.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department consulted representatives of (a) magistrates and (b) solicitors before implementing Operation Early Dawn.

Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

The Ministry of Justice engaged with key Criminal Justice System partners, including the judiciary and legal profession, in advance of the activation of Operation Early Dawn.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appearances in magistrates courts were delayed on (a) 15 and (b) 16 May 2024 as part of Operation Early Dawn.

Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

Operation Early Dawn is a contingency designed to mitigate impacts across the Criminal Justice System. We monitor system impacts but it is hard to say how many appearances in the magistrates courts were delayed because of Operation Early Dawn, as this data is not collected in our management information systems (because Operation Early Dawn is a contingency).

The Ministry of Justice, across its agencies, is working to minimise any delays across the court system, which includes prioritising the most urgent cases.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the financial impact on people whose PIP payments have been paused as a result of them being in hospital for more than 28 days.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

We have no current plans of carrying out an assessment of the financial impact of those who have been in hospital for over 28 days.

Where an adult age 18 or over is maintained free of charge while undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in a hospital or similar institution funded by the NHS, payment of (but not entitlement to) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) ceases after 28 days. This is on the basis that the NHS is responsible for not only the person’s medical care but also the entirety of their disability-related extra costs and to pay PIP in addition would be a duplication of public funds intended for the same purpose. Once someone is discharged from hospital, payment of PIP recommences from the date of discharge.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of times PIP payments have been paused for individuals who are in hospital for more than 28 days.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been allocated to each (a) court and (b) tribunal in HM Courts and Tribunals Service budget for the financial year 2024-25.

Answered by Mike Freer

Sitting days in courts and tribunals are subject to formal agreement between the Lord Chancellor, Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals via an annual process. This process has not yet concluded for the financial year 2024/25 and therefore sitting day allocations, and the associated budget information, is not yet available.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many sitting days each (a) court and (b) tribunal has been allocated in the 2024-25 financial year.

Answered by Mike Freer

Sitting days in courts and tribunals are subject to formal agreement between the Lord Chancellor, Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals via an annual process. This process has not yet concluded for the financial year 2024/25 and therefore sitting day allocations, and the associated budget information, is not yet available.

Found: Resolved , That Ruth Cadbury and Mike Amesbury be discharged from the Transport Committee and Fabian