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Written Question
Prison Service: Staff
Tuesday 18th October 2016

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve the safety of prison staff at work.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

Prisons should be places of safety and reform. Improving safety and decreasing violence is an urgent priority for the Government.

Prison officers are some our finest public servants. We do not underestimate the challenges faced by everyone working in prisons. We will continue to support our staff to help them maintain safe and secure prisons.

Funding of £14 million will be given to 10 prisons with some of the highest rates of violence for additional staff to implement new offender management arrangements, including dedicated prisoner contact time.

We will be setting out our plans for prison safety and reform in a White Paper in the coming weeks, including our plans to reduce prison violence.


Written Question
Prisons: Drugs
Monday 17th October 2016

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the relationship between the use of (a) illegal drugs and (b) legal high in prisons and incidents of violence against prison staff.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

Prisons should be places of safety and reform. Improving safety and decreasing violence is an urgent priority for the Government.

The increase in psychoactive substances in prisons has contributed to a rise in prison violence, making offenders more volatile and their reactions more difficult to judge and manage.

We have introduced legislation to restrict the supply and possession of psychoactive substances in prisons, and put in place new penalties for possession of a psychoactive substance in custody. Following a successful trial in 34 prisons over the summer, we have introduced an innovative new programme of mandatory drug testing for psychoactive substances in all prisons.

We will be setting out our plans for prison safety and reform in more detail, including our plans to reduce prison violence, in a White Paper in the coming weeks.


Written Question
Prisons: Drugs
Monday 17th October 2016

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the levels of the use of (a) illegal drugs and (b) legal highs in prisons in the UK in each of the last 5 years.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

Prisons should be places of safety and reform. The increase in psychoactive substances in prisons has contributed to a rise in prison violence, making offenders more volatile and their reactions more difficult to judge and manage. Improving safety and decreasing violence is an urgent priority for the Government.

We have introduced legislation to restrict the supply and possession of psychoactive substances in prisons, and put in place new penalties for possession of a psychoactive substance in custody. Following a successful trial in 34 prisons over the summer, we have introduced an innovative new programme of mandatory drug testing for psychoactive substances in all prisons.

Mandatory Drug Testing (MDT) figures for prisons in England and Wales are published by financial year on gov.uk. MDT for psychoactive substances began in September 2016 and figures will be published in due course.


Written Question
Child Arrangements Orders: Scotland
Monday 10th October 2016

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of prohibited steps orders on access to families across the Scottish English border; and on the movement of families and individuals across that border.

Answered by Phillip Lee

The welfare of the child is the court’s paramount consideration when making a prohibited steps order and such orders restricting the freedom of a parent to choose his or her place of residence are exceptional.


Written Question
Juries
Wednesday 20th April 2016

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the (a) gender, (b) age and (c) ethnicity of people who have served on juries.

Answered by Shailesh Vara

Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service does not collect the information requested.


Written Question
Magistrates: Tees Valley
Tuesday 8th July 2014

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates there are on Teesside; what the gender and ethnic composition of that bench is; and what recruitment there has been to that bench in the last three years.

Answered by Damian Green

There are 302 magistrates serving in Teesside. Of this total number, 151 are male and 151 are female. The ethnic composition of the bench in Teesside is as follows:

White - 288

Mixed - 2

Black - 0

Asian –10

Chinese – 0

Any other - 2

A total of 25 new magistrates were recruited to the bench in Teesside in the last three years; 18 of these new appointments were made in 2012-2013 and seven of the new appointments were made in 2013-2014. No new recruitment took place for the Teesside bench in 2011-2012.


Written Question
High Speed 2 Railway Line: Buckinghamshire
Monday 28th April 2014

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the availability of books to prisoners; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Jeremy Wright

There have been no changes in the availability of books in prisons Every prison has a library, to which every prisoner has access. Up to 12 books may be held by prisoners in their cell at any one time and additional volumes may be stored locally at the prison.

The National Offender Management Service works closely with schemes such as the Shannon Trust Reading Network,which includes peer mentoring.