Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners convicted of (a) rape and (b) other sexual offences were held in a category D open prison as of 18 February 2022.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As of 31 December 2021 (latest available data), the number of prisoners in category D prisons convicted of rape and other sexual offences were 403 and 303 respectively[1].
A life or other indeterminate sentence prisoner is generally moved to open conditions only in response to a recommendation from the independent Parole Board, which conducts a full and thorough risk assessment. Following a decision by the Deputy Prime Minister last year, there will now be greater scrutiny of Parole Board recommendations on open prison moves. The Deputy Prime Minister will oversee the decisions in the most high-risk cases personally.
A determinate sentence prisoner is moved to open conditions only after a thorough risk assessment by Prison Service staff.
A prisoner who absconds from open conditions is ineligible to return to open conditions for two years following the abscond.
Where a prisoner’s behaviour deteriorates or risk escalates, they will be returned to closed conditions.
[1] These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the annual report by the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP/Young Offenders Institute Bronzefield, published in November 2021; in particular, the finding that 77 per cent of women prisoners faced homelessness on release; and what plans they have to establish a funded pathway that ensures women leaving prison have access to safe and secure accommodation.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
We appreciate the work of the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMBs) and welcome the scrutiny they provide, including the findings of this report on HMP & YOI Bronzefield. Their findings regarding accommodation for female prison leavers reflect the specific challenges women face in securing suitable accommodation.
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless.
To achieve this, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) launched a new transitional accommodation service providing up to 12 weeks' accommodation and support for those leaving prison at risk of homelessness. The service was initially launched last July in five probation areas in England, including in Kent Surrey and Sussex. From 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. This includes expanding the transitional accommodation service across England and Wales to support the thousands of people who leave prison each year without accommodation, as announced in the Prison Strategy White Paper published in December 2021.
The transitional accommodation takes account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs, with accommodation provision dedicated to single gender usage as required.
HMPPS has also introduced Housing Specialists in twenty prisons, including HMP Bronzefield, to support prisons to be more strategic in their response to reducing homelessness, including working in partnership with Probation teams and Local Authorities to develop accommodation pathways on release from prison. Our White Paper outlines our commitment to increase the number of Housing Specialists to 48 across England and Wales, including within the female estate.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders (AFEO) scheme on 28 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. Combined with our temporary accommodation service, this builds a pathway from prison to settled accommodation.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Focus on women’s prisons, A briefing paper from HM Inspectorate of Prisons, published in February 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that lack of housing for women on release from prison is a critical risk factor in resettlement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We recognise the challenges facing women seeking accommodation on release. As part of our commitment to eliminate rough sleeping, we are working across Government, with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the Welsh Government and other Government Departments, to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation.
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-25 we will spend £200 million a year to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation. This includes expanding our new Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 (CAS3) provision, which currently provides up to 12 weeks temporary housing in five probation regions, to all prison leavers in England and Wales at risk of homelessness who are subject to probation supervision.
We understand that women face specific challenges in securing suitable accommodation because of their particular needs. For example, many require accommodation in women-only spaces as a result of their experiences of domestic abuse, or require additional space for their children.
The temporary accommodation we are providing takes account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs, with accommodation provision dedicated to single gender usage. Community Probation Practitioners (CPPs), working together with local partners, are responsible for ensuring that vulnerable female prison leavers receive appropriate support and have access to additional support through the Women’s Commissioned Rehabilitation Service (CRS). This provision is a holistic service offer, delivered by expert and experienced women’s services, that covers a broad range of interventions including accommodation support.
We will also increase the number of Housing Specialists from 20 to 48 across England and Wales. This will support prisons to be more strategic in their response to reducing homelessness and partnership working. Of the original 20 Housing Specialists, four were located in women’s prisons. This ratio will continue to apply to the additional 28 Housing Specialists.
We remain committed to the vision in the 2018 Female Offender Strategy, which set out the long-term framework to achieve better outcomes for women at all points of the system, and make society safer by tackling the underlying causes of offending and reoffending. The Strategy set out three main objectives: fewer women offending and reoffending; fewer women in custody, especially on short sentences, with more managed effectively in the community; and better conditions for women in custody that support effective rehabilitation.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the proposal by Safe Homes for Women Leaving Prison on providing funding for a bespoke pathway to support women leaving prison into safe and secure accommodation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We know women released from prison face significant barriers to securing accommodation. 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 the existing 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) in five probation regions and aim to expand this to all regions across England and Wales. This will ensure that there is sufficient temporary accommodation available for women under supervision from probation, who are released from prison at risk of homelessness.
In 2021, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) introduced Housing Specialists in twenty prisons, including four women’s prisons namely HMP Styal, Bronzefield, Peterborough and New Hall. The role of these specialists is to support prisons and probation in their strategic response to reducing homelessness. This includes working in partnership internally across HMPPS and externally with Local Authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners and organisations contracted to provide specialist support, to develop or strengthen accommodation pathways on release from prison. We have committed to increase the number of Housing Specialists to 48 across England and Wales, including across the women’s estate.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by St Martin in the Fields, London Prisons Mission and Prison Reform Trust Safe Homes for Women Leaving Prison, published in October 2020; and what steps they intend to take in response.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
We welcome the findings from the Safe Homes for Women Leaving Prison report. Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision, including female offenders, is released from prison homeless.
To achieve this, HM Prison and Probation Service launched a new transitional accommodation service providing up to 12 weeks’ accommodation and support for those leaving prison at risk of homelessness. The service was initially launched last July in five probation areas in England. From 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. This includes expanding the transitional accommodation service across England and Wales to support the thousands of people who leave prison each year without accommodation and provide improved access to employment support through rolling out dedicated employment leads in all resettlement prisons, as announced in the Prison Strategy White Paper published in December 2021.
The transitional accommodation takes account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs, with accommodation provision dedicated to single gender usage as required.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long on average detainees have had to stay in prison after their sentence has been served whilst awaiting on an authority to detain notification (IS91) decision in each year since 2010.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is committed to a fair and humane immigration policy that welcomes those here legally, but tackles abuse and protects the public.
We make every effort to ensure that a foreign national offender’s (FNO) removal by deportation coincides, as far as possible, with their release from prison on completion of sentence. Detention plays a crucial role in enabling the removal of FNOs and those who are here illegally.
Published Home Office policy, Detention General instructions (publishing.service.gov.uk), is clear that immigration detention must be used sparingly and for the shortest period necessary. Where the Home Office intends to detain a time-served FNO under immigration powers at the end of their custodial sentence, detention notices are served in advance of this date, subject to certain exceptions. A timely risk assessment is also carried, out in line with published guidance, which reviews the suitability of the FNOs transfer to the immigration removal estate.
Foreign national offenders held in detention have the option to apply to an independent immigration judge for bail at any point. Once a person is in detention, regular reviews are undertaken to ensure that their detention remains lawful, appropriate and proportionate. We do not detain people indefinitely.
The Home Office publishes data on people in immigration detention in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. The number of people in detention on the last day of each quarter are published in table Det_D02 of the Detention detailed datasets. The data include those detained under immigration powers in HM prisons from July 2017 and can be broken down by place of detention. The latest data relate to the number of people in detention at the end of September 2021.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much compensation has been paid out to detainees across the prison estate for having to wait for a Home Office decision on an authority to detain notification (IS91) once they have already served their sentence in each year since 2010.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is committed to a fair and humane immigration policy that welcomes those here legally, but tackles abuse and protects the public.
We make every effort to ensure that a foreign national offender’s (FNO) removal by deportation coincides, as far as possible, with their release from prison on completion of sentence. Detention plays a crucial role in enabling the removal of FNOs and those who are here illegally.
Published Home Office policy, Detention General instructions (publishing.service.gov.uk), is clear that immigration detention must be used sparingly and for the shortest period necessary. Where the Home Office intends to detain a time-served FNO under immigration powers at the end of their custodial sentence, detention notices are served in advance of this date, subject to certain exceptions. A timely risk assessment is also carried, out in line with published guidance, which reviews the suitability of the FNOs transfer to the immigration removal estate.
Foreign national offenders held in detention have the option to apply to an independent immigration judge for bail at any point. Once a person is in detention, regular reviews are undertaken to ensure that their detention remains lawful, appropriate and proportionate. We do not detain people indefinitely.
The Home Office publishes data on people in immigration detention in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. The number of people in detention on the last day of each quarter are published in table Det_D02 of the Detention detailed datasets. The data include those detained under immigration powers in HM prisons from July 2017 and can be broken down by place of detention. The latest data relate to the number of people in detention at the end of September 2021.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many inmates across the prison estate have been detained at the end of their sentence awaiting a Home Office decision on an authority to detain notification (IS91) in each year since 2010.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is committed to a fair and humane immigration policy that welcomes those here legally, but tackles abuse and protects the public.
We make every effort to ensure that a foreign national offender’s (FNO) removal by deportation coincides, as far as possible, with their release from prison on completion of sentence. Detention plays a crucial role in enabling the removal of FNOs and those who are here illegally.
Published Home Office policy, Detention General instructions (publishing.service.gov.uk), is clear that immigration detention must be used sparingly and for the shortest period necessary. Where the Home Office intends to detain a time-served FNO under immigration powers at the end of their custodial sentence, detention notices are served in advance of this date, subject to certain exceptions. A timely risk assessment is also carried, out in line with published guidance, which reviews the suitability of the FNOs transfer to the immigration removal estate.
Foreign national offenders held in detention have the option to apply to an independent immigration judge for bail at any point. Once a person is in detention, regular reviews are undertaken to ensure that their detention remains lawful, appropriate and proportionate. We do not detain people indefinitely.
The Home Office publishes data on people in immigration detention in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. The number of people in detention on the last day of each quarter are published in table Det_D02 of the Detention detailed datasets. The data include those detained under immigration powers in HM prisons from July 2017 and can be broken down by place of detention. The latest data relate to the number of people in detention at the end of September 2021.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of first aid and medical cover provision across the prison estate.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
First aid cover for all staff 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. Staff have a duty of care for prisoners. Prisoners also receive first aid/medical cover through on-site healthcare teams or local hospitals when required.
Responsibility for health services rests in statute with the National Health Service, NHS England and NHS Improvement for Prisons in England and the Welsh Government for Prisons in Wales, who are directly accountable for provision equitable to that provided in the community, and subject to the same independent inspectorate and parliamentary scrutiny as other NHS services including through joint inspection with HM Inspectorate of Prisons.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of prison officer training programmes for dealing with terrorist or extremist prisoners.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We started recording grade specific data in April 2021. Since then, a total of 6,893 band 3-5 prison officers have received Counter Terrorism training. This includes:
Whilst grade specific data has only been recorded since April 2021, all new officers Bands 3-5 have received ASPECTS (CT training) as part of their initial training, since 2017.
2.
a) The content of the counter terrorism training course is not published. There are no plans for publication due to the sensitive nature of the course and the risk it would pose to maintaining good order in prisons and national security.
b) The training course is one module and involves half a day of face-to-face delivery.
3. The current Counter Terrorism training package is ASPECTS (Awareness for Staff on Prevent Extremism and the Counter Terrorism Strategy) and was developed by prison counter terrorism experts, counter-terrorism police and training specialists. It aims to provide staff working in prisons with an improved understanding of Counter Terrorism, radicalisation, and extremist ideologies which can be applied to their daily work with prisoners and improve staff confidence in challenging behaviours that are contrary to our fundamental values.
The training package has undergone regular reviews to ensure it is up to date and responsive to feedback from trainers and attendees, which has been largely positive. In 2021, an external company also conducted a review and these findings, as well as data and responses from user surveys, will play a key role in the redevelopment of our training package, which is currently underway. Critical success factors for the redeveloped course are being established to ensure robust ongoing evaluation.