Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what processes her Department has in place to share data with (a) contractors, (b) the Department of Health and Social Care, (c) directors of public health, (d) local authorities and (e) the UK Health Security Agency for the (i) prevention, (ii) treatment and (iii) containment of infectious diseases in immigration centres.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The safety and health of people in the immigration detention estate is of the utmost importance. The Home Office has robust contingency plans in place and follows national guidance issued by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Public Health Scotland (PHS) and the National Health Service, including advice on preventing and controlling infectious disease outbreaks in prisons and other prescribed places of detention.
In addition, all immigration removal centres (IRCs), residential short-term holding facilities (RSTHF) and holding rooms operated by private contractors have communicable disease contingency plans, based on UKHSA advice. The detail of these contingency plans varies depending on the size, nature and infrastructure of the facility and will include guidance on sharing data with relevant partners such as IRC contractors, healthcare providers and UKHSA.
All IRCs have dedicated health facilities run by doctors and nurses which are managed by the NHS or appropriate providers. All receptions into IRCs receive an assessment within two hours by a nurse and are offered a doctor’s appointment within 24 hours. In line with UKHSA guidance, measures such as protective isolation are considered on a case by case basis to minimise the risk of infectious diseases spreading to vulnerable groups in the immigration detention estate or into the community if the individual is released. In RSTHFs and holding rooms operated by private contractors where there is a healthcare presence, any communicable diseases identified are notified to UKHSA or PHS by medical professionals, as appropriate, and wherever possible the individual is temporarily isolated from the main population.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to prevent people in immigration centres with infectious diseases from being moved to other locations.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The safety and health of people in the immigration detention estate is of the utmost importance. The Home Office has robust contingency plans in place and follows national guidance issued by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Public Health Scotland (PHS) and the National Health Service, including advice on preventing and controlling infectious disease outbreaks in prisons and other prescribed places of detention.
In addition, all immigration removal centres (IRCs), residential short-term holding facilities (RSTHF) and holding rooms operated by private contractors have communicable disease contingency plans, based on UKHSA advice. The detail of these contingency plans varies depending on the size, nature and infrastructure of the facility and will include guidance on sharing data with relevant partners such as IRC contractors, healthcare providers and UKHSA.
All IRCs have dedicated health facilities run by doctors and nurses which are managed by the NHS or appropriate providers. All receptions into IRCs receive an assessment within two hours by a nurse and are offered a doctor’s appointment within 24 hours. In line with UKHSA guidance, measures such as protective isolation are considered on a case by case basis to minimise the risk of infectious diseases spreading to vulnerable groups in the immigration detention estate or into the community if the individual is released. In RSTHFs and holding rooms operated by private contractors where there is a healthcare presence, any communicable diseases identified are notified to UKHSA or PHS by medical professionals, as appropriate, and wherever possible the individual is temporarily isolated from the main population.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to HMP Wandsworth restricting prisoner’s postal services to Moonpig and Funky Pigeon, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of restrictions on postal services on prisoner’s families finances during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Rob Butler
HMP Wandsworth does not currently restrict postal services to Moonpig and Funky Pigeon. Any decisions to apply restrictions to communications are made locally by assessing the level of risk against what is a proportionate and necessary response to that risk.
HMP Wandsworth has seen an increased ingress of illegal substances through the postal system – this unfortunately is a developing area of conveyance in several of our prison establishments, notably Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Antagonists (SCRA) commonly known as ‘Spice’. HMP Wandsworth ensures all mail that does not test as positive for Spice is issued to prisoners.
To address this, prisons that identify SCRA as an issue have implemented several countermeasures which in some cases include the use of photocopying domestic mail and greetings cards in line with the national policy.
An assessment has not been made of the impact of restrictions on postal services on prisoner’s families.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the new Enhanced Support Service on tackling the most challenging behaviour in prisons.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are investing to make our prisons safer for both prisoners and staff through a preventative approach, including introducing specialist support and developing bespoke interventions. Over the next three years we will make available an Enhanced Support Service (ESS) to 18 prisons, where we find the most violent behaviour. ESS provides a multi-disciplinary team of a prison officer, mental health nurse and psychologist, to work with individuals, and address their risk of harm to self and others, intervening in the most acute situations.
There has been a positive evaluation about the impact of ESS in one prison and key learning from the evaluation showed a reduction in aggressive behaviours. We will continue to evaluate the impact of ESS on violence and self-harm.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the strength of security protocols at HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We do not provide public assessments of a prison’s security as this may risk undermining the security of that prison. However, the overall score is published within the Prisons Performance Tool, and when the prison was last assessed in 2018 it received a substantial rating indicating that at the time of the audit the framework of governance, risk management and control at HMP Leyhill was adequate and effective. The next iteration of the performance ratings for 2021/22 is due to be released on 28 July 2022.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of prison sentences given to offenders; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of longer sentences for offenders.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The government’s top priority is protecting the public; it is essential that we have a sentencing framework that delivers this and ensures victims and the wider public have confidence that the punishment fits the crime in every case.
In 2020, the Government published a Sentencing White Paper and consequently delivered measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act which received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. Measures include ending automatic halfway release from prison for serious crimes, making a Whole Life Order the starting point for a premeditated murder of a child and a new power to refer high-risk offenders to Parole Board in place of automatic release.
While prisons keep people safe by taking dangerous criminals off our streets, we recognise that they can only bring down crime and keep the public safer in the longer-term if they properly reform and rehabilitate offenders. We therefore published the Prisons Strategy White Paper in December 2021 where we re-iterated our commitment to help individual turn their backs on crime and we will spend £200 million a year by 2024-25 to improve prison leavers’ access to accommodation, employment support and substance misuse treatment.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring offenders who are released from prison on parole to carry out maintenance within their local communities as part of their parole conditions.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Offenders released from prison are subject to licence conditions and supervised by the Probation Service. The statutory purposes of the licence period as set out in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 are to protect the public, reduce reoffending and help the offender resettle into the community. For those purposes, a set of standard and discretionary conditions are available which between them can put restrictions on the offender and require them to participate in relevant activities. The licence conditions are intended to enable the Probation Service to manage the offender’s risks effectively, and where an offender breaches them in such a way as to indicate increased risk, they may be recalled to custody.
Unpaid work is available as a requirement of a community sentence (a community order or a suspended sentence order). Its key purposes are punishment and reparation. As a result, unpaid work does not form part of the current statutory framework for release on licence. While we have no plans to integrate unpaid work into custodial sentences, we recognise the benefits of offenders gaining skills for employment and we are committed to delivering a presumption in favour of offering offenders the chance to work in prison, on Release on Temporary Licence and on release where appropriate, including by building stronger links with employers. We are on track to roll out Prison Employment Leads, Employment Hubs and Employment Advisory Boards across all 91 resettlement prisons by April 2023.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many privately operated prisons are currently without (1) up-to-date fire risk assessments, or (2) sufficient first aid cover, in place.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
In accordance with the Fire Safety Order 2005, all government-operated prison buildings have fire risk assessments which are reviewed periodically. Sufficient first aid cover in the prison estate is provided by trained first aiders, and the number of those required in each establishment is achieved via a First Aid Risk Assessment of need. Prisoners also receive first aid/medical cover through on-site healthcare teams or local hospitals when required.
In accordance with the Fire Safety Order 2005, all privately operated prisons have fire safety risk assessments which are reviewed as part of the annual statutory compliance audits by the authority. There are contractual requirements in place for first aid and fire safety, the levels required are determined by prison operators. These are then checked periodically by the prison operator and an authority representative.
In privately managed prisons, annual assurance checks are carried out by representatives of HM Prison and Probation Service. Where any issues are highlighted, these are addressed with the contractor and, if necessary, action is taken to ensure that prisons meet their legal and contractual obligations.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many government-operated prisons are currently without (1) up-to-date fire risk assessments, or (2) sufficient first aid cover, in place.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
In accordance with the Fire Safety Order 2005, all government-operated prison buildings have fire risk assessments which are reviewed periodically. Sufficient first aid cover in the prison estate is provided by trained first aiders, and the number of those required in each establishment is achieved via a First Aid Risk Assessment of need. Prisoners also receive first aid/medical cover through on-site healthcare teams or local hospitals when required.
In accordance with the Fire Safety Order 2005, all privately operated prisons have fire safety risk assessments which are reviewed as part of the annual statutory compliance audits by the authority. There are contractual requirements in place for first aid and fire safety, the levels required are determined by prison operators. These are then checked periodically by the prison operator and an authority representative.
In privately managed prisons, annual assurance checks are carried out by representatives of HM Prison and Probation Service. Where any issues are highlighted, these are addressed with the contractor and, if necessary, action is taken to ensure that prisons meet their legal and contractual obligations.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reliability of their data on whether women leaving prison have (1) safe, and (2) sustainable, accommodation.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
Our vision is that no one who is subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless.
Women on remand are supported to meet resettlement needs and prepare for release by Probation staff in prisons. We will supplement this support from Probation staff with access to specialist accommodation support for all women on remand or sentenced in custody by the summer of this year.
We currently provide a Community Accommodation Service (CAS3), which provides temporary accommodation for sentenced women at risk of homelessness upon release from prison, in five probation regions and aim to expand this to all regions across England and Wales.
In 2021, we introduced Housing Specialists in twenty prisons, including four women’s prisons, to support prisons and probation in their strategic response to reducing homelessness. We intend to increase these to 48 across England and Wales, including across the women’s estate.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders (AFEO) scheme in July 2021 to support offenders at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies. Overall, this financial year, £13 million has been allocated to 87 schemes across 145 local authorities.
To ensure consistent and accurate data recording, HMPPS, in collaboration with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government, has recently updated the Accommodation Recording Guidance to ensure Probation regions have a clear and consistent understanding of the accommodation status definitions, and how to record accurately. The Guidance defines homelessness as where an individual is rough sleeping, squatting, residing in night shelters, emergency hostels or campsites. Individuals with other forms of temporary, short-term or otherwise unstable accommodation are encompassed by the ‘unsettled accommodation’ category in published statistics.
Accommodation circumstances for offenders are reported annually as official statistics. Data for the period 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 will be published in July 2022 in the Community Performance Annual report.