Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce the use of PAVA spray to the youth justice secure estate.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Following the roll-out of PAVA spray to the adult male estate, HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) is examining the case for making it similarly available to staff in Young Offender Institutions in the youth estate. Its use is not being considered in Secure Training Centres or Secure Children’s Homes. HMPPS separately have dedicated national response staff who are permitted to use PAVA when authorised to do so to resolve serious incidents in both adult prisons and Young Offender Institutions.
As with any potential safety measure, all available evidence is being assessed to make sure that an informed decision is taken. This assessment includes detailed consideration of the medical and legal implications, including any age-related factors, as well as an evaluation of its implementation in the adult male estate.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to tackle antisocial behaviour by large groups of people.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 27 March, the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-action-plan) which sets out a new framework for the Government, police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), local authorities and other partners – such as housing associations and youth offending teams – to work together to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour.
This plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. We are working with 10 police force areas who have started their patrols in July 2023 and from 2024 we will support a hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales, which will see thousands of additional patrols taking place in places blighted by anti-social behaviour.
In addition, we are providing up to £50m to establish new Immediate Justice pathways aimed at delivering swift, visible punishment for anti-social behaviour. This has started in 10 initial trailblazer police force areas in July 2023 and will be rolled out across England and Wales in 2024.
On 6 July, we launched a further fifth round of the Safer Streets Fund, which will support local initiatives aimed at increasing the safety of public spaces, including town centres, by tackling neighbourhood crime, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. Since the fund launched in 2020, we have invested £120 million through four rounds supporting 270 projects across England and Wales, with a range of interventions including CCTV cameras.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales indicates that in the year to December 2022, overall crime (excluding fraud and computer misuse) was 52% lower than in the year to March 2010.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what advice his Department has received on the use of the introduction of PAVA incapacitant spray in (a) Young Offender Institutions, (b) Secure Training Centres and (c) Secure Children’s Homes.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Following the roll-out of PAVA spray to the adult male estate, for use where necessary in response to serious disorder, HM Prison and Probation Service is examining the case for making it available to young offender institutions in the youth estate. This includes detailed consideration of the medical and legal implications, including any age-related factors.
Full account is being taken of the evaluation of implementation in the adult male estate. As with any potential safety measure, all available evidence is being assessed, looking at the many complex considerations, to enable an informed decision to be taken.
PAVA spray is not being considered for use in Secure Training Centres or Secure Children’s Homes.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans to introduce PAVA incapacitant spray into (a) Young Offender Institutions, (b) Secure Training Centres and (c) Secure Children’s Homes.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Following the roll-out of PAVA spray to the adult male estate, for use where necessary in response to serious disorder, HM Prison and Probation Service is examining the case for making it available to young offender institutions in the youth estate. This includes detailed consideration of the medical and legal implications, including any age-related factors.
Full account is being taken of the evaluation of implementation in the adult male estate. As with any potential safety measure, all available evidence is being assessed, looking at the many complex considerations, to enable an informed decision to be taken.
PAVA spray is not being considered for use in Secure Training Centres or Secure Children’s Homes.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the Guide Association on Government support for outdoor adventure centres in (a) Waddow Hall in Lancashire and (b) other places.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people.
We have guaranteed that by 2025, every young person in England will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and volunteering opportunities. This is supported by over £500 million of investment in youth services.
As part of the National Youth Guarantee, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is providing over £16 million to Uniformed Youth Organisations, including Girlguiding, to support them to tackle their waiting lists and create more opportunities for young people to participate in these groups.
As an independent organisation it is for Girlguiding to set its own policy. However, the government recognises the importance of Girlguiding’s outdoor adventure centres to many girls and is engaging with Girlguiding on these issues.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there has been a decrease in the rates of self-harm, assault and suicide in prisons since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions at the end of March 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The following tables show the rates of self-harm, assault and self-inflicted deaths in prisons.
For deaths the rate covers 12 monthly data to March for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. For self-harm and assaults this covers 9 months for April to December (latest available) for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Table 1; Rate of self-inflicted deaths per 1,000 prisoners, England and Wales1, April 2019 to March 2023
Year | Self-inflicted deaths2 |
2019-20 | 1.0 |
2020-21 | 1.0 |
2021-22 | 1.0 |
2022-23 | 1.0 |
(1) Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts, but exclude incidents at Medway STC
(2) All classifications of deaths remain provisional until confirmed at inquest.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. As classification of deaths may change following inquest or as new information emerges, numbers may change from time to time.
Table 2; Rate of self-harm and assault incidents per 1,000 prisoners1,2, England and Wales, April 2019 to December 20223
Time Period | Self-harm4 | Assaults |
April to December 2019 | 583 | 272 |
April to December 2020 | 503 | 170 |
April to December 2021 | 528 | 196 |
April to December 2022 | 530 | 201 |
|
|
|
(1) Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts, but exclude incidents at Medway STC.
(2) Figures exclude incidents occurring within the youth estate. The youth estate includes incidents occurring within Cookham Wood, Werrington and Wetherby, as well as the youth wing at Feltham and Parc. Figures for incidents occurring within the youth estate are published within the ‘Safety in the children and young people secure estate’ statistics bulletin via the following link - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/safety-in-the-youth-secure-estate-bulletin
(3) The rates are based on the number of incidents and average prison population for the 9 months from April to December each year.
(4) In prisons, as in the community, it is not possible to count self-harm incidents with absolute accuracy. In prison custody, however, such incidents are more likely to be detected and counted. Care needs to be taken when comparing figures shown here with other sources where data may be less complete.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.
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 he is taking to enable child victims of sexual violence to (a) provide video evidence ahead of a trial and (b) receive counselling immediately.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Child victims of sexual violence are eligible for special measures, including pre-recording their evidence, under Section 16 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (YJCEA), which considers all children as vulnerable witnesses. This enables the recording to be presented during the trial without the witness needing to attend, which helps them give their best evidence to the court and mitigate some of the stress associated with giving evidence. The aim is to enhance the quality and reliability of evidence by improving experiences of cross-examination and enhancing event recall by reducing the time between complaint and cross-examination.
Under the Victims’ Code, all victims, including children, have the right to receive information about and be referred to support services, including therapy and counselling, regardless of whether anyone has been charged or convicted of a criminal offence, or whether they decide to report the crime to the police or do not wish to cooperate with the investigation.
The Ministry of Justice is more than quadrupling funding for victims and witness support services by 2024/25, up from £41m in 2009/10. This includes funding for Police and Crime Commissioners to commission services supporting victims of sexual violence, including services providing counselling to children.
The Ministry of Justice is currently recommissioning the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, to make sure it meets the needs of all victims in the most effective way, including child victims of sexual violence. This funding is available to specialist, community-based sexual abuse support services to deliver a range of help, including counselling, to child and adult victims to cope, recover, build resilience and move forward with daily life.
Additionally, NHS England commissions 48 Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) across England with at least one in each county/region to ensure equitable spread. SARCs offer medical, practical and emotional support to anyone who has been raped, sexually assaulted or abused, including child victims of sexual violence.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish the details of the contract agreed with Social Investment Business to run applications to the Youth Investment Fund, including the amount of any payment to Social Investment Business for this service.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Youth Investment Fund will fund the construction or redevelopment of up to 300 youth facilities - such as small youth facilities, youth centres and activity centres - targeting investment in left-behind areas, where young people have the greatest need and lowest provision.
The fund is designed to target support towards both upper tier local authority areas and more isolated pockets of need at district ward level. These smaller areas of need are often overlooked because they are masked by other relatively less deprived areas. All eligible areas have been identified and ranked by a combination of youth need and low provision, with detailed methodology underpinning their selection using high quality, robust and publicly available data. The methodology used has been published on GOV.UK.
The main phase of the Youth Investment Fund, which opened on 1 August 2022, has received nearly 500 applications to date.
Following a competitive application process, Social Investment Business were appointed as the intermediary grant maker to deliver the Youth Investment Fund on behalf of DCMS. The grant awarded to Social Investment Business is in line with the typical costs and scope outlined in the IGM specification of requirements published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications to the Youth Investment Fund have been received as of 17 February 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Youth Investment Fund will fund the construction or redevelopment of up to 300 youth facilities - such as small youth facilities, youth centres and activity centres - targeting investment in left-behind areas, where young people have the greatest need and lowest provision.
The fund is designed to target support towards both upper tier local authority areas and more isolated pockets of need at district ward level. These smaller areas of need are often overlooked because they are masked by other relatively less deprived areas. All eligible areas have been identified and ranked by a combination of youth need and low provision, with detailed methodology underpinning their selection using high quality, robust and publicly available data. The methodology used has been published on GOV.UK.
The main phase of the Youth Investment Fund, which opened on 1 August 2022, has received nearly 500 applications to date.
Following a competitive application process, Social Investment Business were appointed as the intermediary grant maker to deliver the Youth Investment Fund on behalf of DCMS. The grant awarded to Social Investment Business is in line with the typical costs and scope outlined in the IGM specification of requirements published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason the Government has set up a second list of areas eligible for the Youth Investment Fund, comprising wards in upper tier local authorities.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Youth Investment Fund will fund the construction or redevelopment of up to 300 youth facilities - such as small youth facilities, youth centres and activity centres - targeting investment in left-behind areas, where young people have the greatest need and lowest provision.
The fund is designed to target support towards both upper tier local authority areas and more isolated pockets of need at district ward level. These smaller areas of need are often overlooked because they are masked by other relatively less deprived areas. All eligible areas have been identified and ranked by a combination of youth need and low provision, with detailed methodology underpinning their selection using high quality, robust and publicly available data. The methodology used has been published on GOV.UK.
The main phase of the Youth Investment Fund, which opened on 1 August 2022, has received nearly 500 applications to date.
Following a competitive application process, Social Investment Business were appointed as the intermediary grant maker to deliver the Youth Investment Fund on behalf of DCMS. The grant awarded to Social Investment Business is in line with the typical costs and scope outlined in the IGM specification of requirements published on GOV.UK.