Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the average length of time between an person appealing a decision on (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payments to that person receiving an outcome in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
(1) Information about waiting times for appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), including (a) Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and (b) Personal Independence Payment (PIP), is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
(2) HM Courts & Tribunals Service administers appeals from appellants living in England, Scotland, and Wales (Great Britain) and not the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland Courts & Tribunals Service administers appeals from appellants living in Northern Ireland. The data requested at 2(a) and (b) for appellants in Great Britain are not held centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Latest figures (between April 2014 – September 2018) indicate that 3.9m ESA (post WCA) decisions have been made. Of these, 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned. For PIP, the latest figures (to December 2018) indicate that since it was introduced, 3.9 million decisions have been made. Of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned at tribunals.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of people that have waited 12 months or more from the time they appealed a decision on (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payments to receiving an outcome in country of the UK in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
(1) Information about waiting times for appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), including (a) Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and (b) Personal Independence Payment (PIP), is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
(2) HM Courts & Tribunals Service administers appeals from appellants living in England, Scotland, and Wales (Great Britain) and not the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland Courts & Tribunals Service administers appeals from appellants living in Northern Ireland. The data requested at 2(a) and (b) for appellants in Great Britain are not held centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Latest figures (between April 2014 – September 2018) indicate that 3.9m ESA (post WCA) decisions have been made. Of these, 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned. For PIP, the latest figures (to December 2018) indicate that since it was introduced, 3.9 million decisions have been made. Of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned at tribunals.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of people that have waited 12 months or more from the time they appealed a decision on (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payments to receiving an outcome; and what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for appeal outcomes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The data requested at a) and b) are not available centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Information about volumes and waiting times generally for appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), including Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
To improve clearance times, additional fee-paid judicial office holders have been recruited: 250 judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members and up to 230 medical members. In addition, more PIP appeals are being listed per session and case-management “triage” sessions are being conducted, in order to reduce the time taken for appeals to reach final determination. These measures will increase the capacity of the Tribunal, with the aim of reducing waiting times for appellants.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is also developing a new digital system with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals and a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital service can be found at www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision.
Finally, HMCTS is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to understand what could be done to reduce the number of appeals being submitted to the Tribunal, through their focus on improving decision-making and the mandatory reconsideration process.
Latest figures (between April 2014 – September 2018) indicate that 3.9m ESA (post WCA) decisions have been made. Of these, 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned. For PIP, the latest figures (to December 2018) indicate that since it was introduced, 3.9 million decisions have been made. Of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned at Tribunals.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serving HM Prison and Probation Service staff have passed the end-of-course assessment of courses entitled (a) mental health conditions and dementia: support for customers, (b) mental health awareness, (c) mental health at work, (d) becoming a dementia friend and (e) well-being, resilience and stress in the last three years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Civil Service Learning data is only available from the 1st April 2016 due to a new learning platform being introduced. Furthermore, Mental Health Awareness is currently not an active course and the data provided below for that specific course is until 31st March 2018.
The total number of Prison and Probation Service staff who have passed the end of course assessment on the courses named below since the 1st April 2016 are as follows:
| Total |
Mental health conditions and dementia: support for customers | 106 |
Mental health awareness | 360 |
Mental health at work | 23 |
Becoming a dementia friend | 90 |
Well-being, resilience and stress | 2313 |
These courses are additional learning on top of the core training provided to Prison and Probation staff.
In Prison Officer Entry Level Training, there are a number of sessions on Mental Health within this training such as Introduction to Mental Health’, ‘Introduction to Suicide and Self Harm (SASH) Prevention’ and ‘Personality Disorders.
In addition, over 14,000 staff have already received new suicide and self-harm reduction training which includes a module on Mental Health Awareness, in addition to the safer custody training already provided across the estate.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many current HM Prison and Probation Service staff have completed voluntary civil service learning courses entitled (a) mental health conditions and dementia: support for customers, (b) mental health awareness, (c) mental health at work, (d) becoming a dementia friend and (e) well-being, resilience and stress in each of the last three years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Civil Service Learning data is only available from the 1st April 2016 due to a new learning platform being introduced. Furthermore, Mental Health Awareness is currently not an active course and the data provided below for that specific course is until 31st March 2018.
The total number of Prison and Probation Service staff who have passed the end of course assessment on the courses named below since the 1st April 2016 are as follows:
| Total |
Mental health conditions and dementia: support for customers | 106 |
Mental health awareness | 360 |
Mental health at work | 23 |
Becoming a dementia friend | 90 |
Well-being, resilience and stress | 2313 |
These courses are additional learning on top of the core training provided to Prison and Probation staff.
In Prison Officer Entry Level Training, there are a number of sessions on Mental Health within this training such as Introduction to Mental Health’, ‘Introduction to Suicide and Self Harm (SASH) Prevention’ and ‘Personality Disorders.
In addition, over 14,000 staff have already received new suicide and self-harm reduction training which includes a module on Mental Health Awareness, in addition to the safer custody training already provided across the estate.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the changes to the civil standard of proof proposed in the recent consultation from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on users of legal services.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent of government. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has a statutory right to make its own rules, under section 46 of the Solicitors Act 1974. We understand the SDT is still reviewing consultation responses, and no final decisions have been made. The SDT will no doubt consider the impact on users of legal services of any changes to its rules that it wishes to make.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the funding allocated to his Department in Budget 2018 will be used to tackle violence in prisons.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We have committed to spending £30m to make improvements to the safety and decency of our prison estate and address the drivers of violence in prisons. We will do this through enhancing security and tackling drugs and continue our programme of decency upgrades. This latest investment is on top of the £40m announced over the summer, meaning a total of £70m is already being directed to tackling drugs and violence, and improving the basic conditions of our prisons.
But the Foundation of managing violence in prisons is of course our front line operational staff, whose work and service constitutes approximately £812m of our budget.*
* Front line operational staff defined as public sector Band 3 prison officers, Band 4 specialist officers and Band 5 Custodial Managers, across England and Wales, includes adults and youth prisons.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) prisoners and (b) prison staff injured in violent incidents in prisons in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The latest figures for assaults on prisoners and on prison staff can be seen in the Safety in Custody summary tables at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-june-2018.
While we collect details of the injuries sustained, I regret that it will not be possible in the time available to separate those sustained by prisoners from those sustained by staff. I will write to the Hon Member as soon as the more detailed figures become available.
To improve safety, we have recruited 4,300 new prison officers over the last two years, with 1,400 more due to begin training soon. We are investing an extra £70 million to improve safety, security and decency, and we are equipping officers with PAVA incapacitant spray to help prevent serious harm to staff and prisoners when dealing with violent incidents. We are also tackling the drugs that we know are fuelling much of the violence in custody. This includes spending on new x-ray scanners, drug-detection dogs, phone-blocking technology and dedicated search teams.
In addition, the Government supported the recent Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act, which increases sentences for those who attack emergency workers, including prison officers.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department plans to respond to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s consultation on changes to its procedural rules.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This consultation closed on 8 October. As the legal profession in England and Wales is independent of government, the department did not respond. We understand that the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal is currently reviewing consultation responses.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps, excluding the provision of legal aid, his Department is taking to widen access to justice for (a) individuals and (b) small businesses.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Government is currently undertaking a post-implementation review of the impact of the legal aid changes made under Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), and remains committed to publishing the findings by the end of this year. This comprehensive, evidence-based review will be used as an opportunity to inform our wider consideration on the future of legal support for those engaged in the justice system.
We are also investing over £1bn to modernise the justice system, introducing 21st Century technology, online services and digital working, while making sure justice remains accessible.