Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of (a) resettlement day release and (b) overnight release on resettlement outcomes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The latest information available shows that in the 12 months to September 2018 there were 340,163 incidences of resettlement day release involving 7,232 individuals, and 19,107 incidences of resettlement overnight release involving 4,955 individuals.
Data on release on temporary licence is published quarterly and can be found here:
Resettlement day and overnight release are the most common forms of release on temporary licence (ROTL) and allow suitable, risk assessed prisoners to be released to undertake activities linked to the sentence plan that will ease their transition back to the community. There is promising international evidence to suggest that temporary release is associated with better post release employment outcomes, as well as lower re-arrest rates, return to custody rates, and re-imprisonment rates.
The MoJ published research in 2018 entitled ‘The reoffending impact of increased release of prisoners on temporary licence’ showed that for those given ROTL in the six month period leading up to release, increased use of it during this period was associated with reduced reoffending. After controlling for some other variables that might influence prisoner’s outcomes (such as demographic characteristics, offending history and prior ROTL failure)
- Each additional Resettlement Day Release was associated with 0.5% reduced odds of reoffending over a one-year follow-up period
- Each additional Resettlement Overnight Release was associated with 5% reduced odds of reoffending over a one-year follow-up period
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how often (a) resettlement day release and (b) overnight release has been used in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The latest information available shows that in the 12 months to September 2018 there were 340,163 incidences of resettlement day release involving 7,232 individuals, and 19,107 incidences of resettlement overnight release involving 4,955 individuals.
Data on release on temporary licence is published quarterly and can be found here:
Resettlement day and overnight release are the most common forms of release on temporary licence (ROTL) and allow suitable, risk assessed prisoners to be released to undertake activities linked to the sentence plan that will ease their transition back to the community. There is promising international evidence to suggest that temporary release is associated with better post release employment outcomes, as well as lower re-arrest rates, return to custody rates, and re-imprisonment rates.
The MoJ published research in 2018 entitled ‘The reoffending impact of increased release of prisoners on temporary licence’ showed that for those given ROTL in the six month period leading up to release, increased use of it during this period was associated with reduced reoffending. After controlling for some other variables that might influence prisoner’s outcomes (such as demographic characteristics, offending history and prior ROTL failure)
- Each additional Resettlement Day Release was associated with 0.5% reduced odds of reoffending over a one-year follow-up period
- Each additional Resettlement Overnight Release was associated with 5% reduced odds of reoffending over a one-year follow-up period
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
What plans the Government has to use the centenary of Nancy Astor’s election to Parliament to encourage more women to stand for public office.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Everyone in this house owes a great debt to Nancy Astor. As the first woman to take her seat in the Commons in December 1919, she forged the way for women to take their rightful place in our representative democracy - and I’m proud that she was a Conservative. Since 2018 the government’s suffrage centenary fund has been supporting projects to increase women’s political participation in the years to come
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the use of short prison sentences for women.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
In June 2018, we published the Female Offender Strategy which set out the Government’s aim to see fewer women in custody, especially on short term sentences. There is persuasive evidence that many women, particularly on short custodial sentences, can be better supported in the community on robust and effective community sentences.
The Strategy set out a new programme of work to improve outcomes for female offenders and shift our emphasis from custody to the community. This included a £5m investment in community provision for female offenders over 2018/19 and 2019/20. We awarded £3.3m to 12 organisations last November, and on 23 January we announced a further £1.6m, which will benefit 17 organisations and 83 female rape support centres.
We consider that the availability of intensive residential support packages, both at the point of sentencing and on release, is one important element in achieving the changes we want to see. We are therefore committed to working with local and national partners to develop a ‘residential women’s centre’ pilot in at least five sites across England and Wales.
The Strategy is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/female-offender-strategy.
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the correlation between homelessness on release from prison and reoffending rates among prisoners serving sentences of under a year.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Published statistics for 2017/18 showing the accommodation status for all offenders released from custody and offenders on community sentences can be viewed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/729062/accommodation-cirumstances-tables-2018.xlsx.
Everyone leaving custody should have a safe and suitable home to go to on release.
As part of the Government initiative to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping across England, we will invest up to £6.4 million in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. The pilots will specifically focus on male prisoners who have served shorter sentences of under 12 months, who have been identified as having a risk of homelessness.
Furthermore, as of 1 October 2018, Prisons and Probation providers have had a “Duty to Refer” anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless to the Local Authority. Following a referral, Local Authorities are then required to make an assessment, meaning offenders can receive meaningful housing assistance at an earlier stage irrespective of their priority need.
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 21 of the Victims Strategy, published in September 2018, what progress has been made on abolishing the rule of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme which denied compensation for some victims who lived with their attacker prior to 1979.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is planning to abolish the so-called pre-1979 “same roof rule” from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Under this rule, a compensation award cannot be made for a criminal injury sustained by a child or adult before October 1979 if, at the time of the incident giving rise to that injury, the applicant (as a child or as an adult) and the assailant were living together as members of the same family.
We will be laying an amended Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 before Parliament in due course. The amended Scheme will remove the pre-1979 same roof rule. Importantly, it is intended to enable victims whose applications for compensation had previously been refused under this rule to reapply. Applicants will still need to meet all the remaining eligibility criteria within the Scheme.
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the UN Special Envoy's efforts to get parties to the Yemen conflict to agree to a cessation of hostilities.
Answered by Alistair Burt
On Monday 19 November, the UK circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities, steps to improve the humanitarian situation, and support for the work of the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths.
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to get (a) food and (b) fuel imports into Yemen during the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK government continues to raise concerns with the Saudi led-Coalition about the potential impact of any assault on the port and city of Hodeidah and is in regular contact with the Coalition about the need to ensure that any further military operations do not disrupt commercial and humanitarian flows both through the port and onwards across the country. To date, Red Sea ports remain operational and continue to import most of the food and fuel on which Yemenis rely.
As we have consistently made clear, the Houthis must facilitate access throughout areas they control which is where most of the population live.
As part of our effort to secure vital access for food, fuel, and medicine into and throughout Yemen, the UK is also providing £1.3 million to the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism to give the Saudi-led Coalition confidence that weapons are not coming in to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on large commercial ships.
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will provide guidance on the Government buying standards for food and catering services on sourcing game meat.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF) covers the categories of food typically served in public sector establishments. The Standards require that all UK legislative standards of production are met which, for meat and meat products, includes traceability, authenticity and animal welfare. These standards also apply to farmed game animals.
A complimentary tool to the GBSF is the Balanced Scorecard, which helps to evaluate the value of contract bids for bid and services. This tool references Statutory Management Requirements for wild birds.
In addition, the Food Standards Agency also provides a Meat Industry Guide and Wild Game guidance which set out comprehensive guidance on meeting legislative standards for meat production and hygiene regulations for supplying game for human consumption.
Asked by: Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the mitigation measures agreed by HS2 Ltd to reduce the negative effect on biodiversity are (a) secured for the duration of the project and (b) monitored.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
HS2 Information Paper E2 outlines how ecological impacts have been assessed and how they will be mitigated or compensated for during the construction of Phase One of HS2. It refers to the commitment to seek no net loss to biodiversity. Mitigation measures include the creation of habitat to maintain the populations of protected species. New areas of woodland, grassland, heathland and ponds will be created.
A route-wide monitoring strategy will be put in place. HS2 Ltd is responsible for maintaining and monitoring the new or managed habitat for a sufficient period to ensure that the nature conservation objectives are achieved. Indicative periods for the management and monitoring of habitats are set out in HS2 Information Paper E26. These include plans to monitor replacement woodland for up to 50 years.
A similar approach is being adopted for future phases of the scheme.