Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to tackle smuggling in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Prisons in England and Wales have a range of specialist staff and equipment to tackle the smuggling of drugs, mobile phones, weapons and other contraband into prisons. This includes X-ray body scanners, airport-style Enhanced Gate Security, X-ray baggage scanners, detection dogs, and other specialist equipment to alert staff to the potential presence of drugs on a range of items and materials.
We are also working hard to deter, detect and disrupt drones being used to smuggle contraband into prisons. Our approach is multi-faceted and includes physical security countermeasures, exploring additional legislation and working across Government and with international partners on this global issue.
We are investing over £40 million in physical security across 34 prisons in this financial year. This includes around £10 million on anti-drone measures such as secure windows and improved netting at 15 prisons.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on increasing the number of convictions for tool theft.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Lord Chancellor regularly engages with the Home Secretary on a range of criminal justice matters and recognises the serious impact that tool theft has on tradespeople and small businesses.
The Ministry of Justice and Home Office are working closely through the National Vehicle Crime Group, which brings together all police forces in England and Wales to coordinate efforts to reduce vehicle-related thefts, including the theft of tools from vans.
With regards to individual cases, convictions and sentences is a matter for the courts based on the evidence in the case before them.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will list the number of care experienced prisoners with home addresses in Wales that were in prison in (a) Wales and (b) England by the local authority of their home address in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are committed to addressing the disproportionate number of care-experienced prisoners in England and Wales, both by improving support for people with care experience while in the criminal justice system, and by working with colleagues across government to reduce the number of people with care experience who enter the criminal justice system.
Whilst we are working to improve data, our records are primarily based on children and adults self-reporting care experience and there are many reasons why people may choose not to disclose this information. We are therefore unable to provide reliable figures to answer these questions.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will list the number of care experienced prisoners in each (a) prison and (b) young offender institution in (i) Wales and (ii) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are committed to addressing the disproportionate number of care-experienced prisoners in England and Wales, both by improving support for people with care experience while in the criminal justice system, and by working with colleagues across government to reduce the number of people with care experience who enter the criminal justice system.
Whilst we are working to improve data, our records are primarily based on children and adults self-reporting care experience and there are many reasons why people may choose not to disclose this information. We are therefore unable to provide reliable figures to answer these questions.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of care experienced children and young adults within the criminal justice system in Wales.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are committed to addressing the disproportionate number of care-experienced prisoners in England and Wales, both by improving support for people with care experience while in the criminal justice system, and by working with colleagues across government to reduce the number of people with care experience who enter the criminal justice system.
Whilst we are working to improve data, our records are primarily based on children and adults self-reporting care experience and there are many reasons why people may choose not to disclose this information. We are therefore unable to provide reliable figures to answer these questions.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will consider reviewing sentencing guidelines to increase the severity of the punishment for repeat offenders of graffiti.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The maximum sentences available for criminal offences are set by Parliament and the maximum penalty for the offence of criminal damage is ten years’ imprisonment.
The independent judiciary will determine the appropriate sentence in individual cases within the maximums set by Parliament, and in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
In October 2019, the Council issued guidelines on criminal damage, which provides sentencers with guidance on factors that should be considered, which may affect the sentence given. They set out different levels of sentence based on the harm caused and how culpable the offender is. This is available at: https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/crown-court/item/criminal-damage-other-than-by-fire-value-exceeding-5000-racially-or-religiously-aggravated-criminal-damage/.
Whilst the Government has no current plans to ask the Council to consider reviewing the criminal damage guidelines, it is open to individuals to approach the Council to ask that they do so.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide language services to enable access to justice for users for whom English is not their first language and those who require visual and tactile services, under the provisions of the Equality Act.
Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
The total cost of translation and interpretation services in FY24/25 was £30,208,228.05, excluding British Sign Language and the Welsh language.
To support the answer to part b, the below tables show the split per contract and per commissioning body for FY 24/25. These tables include interpretation and translation services only.
Lot 1 Contract (Face to Face)
Excludes: English
Commissioning Body | Total FY 24/25 |
HM Courts and Tribunals Service | £25,921,301.19 |
The Probation Service | £1,116,839.04 |
Crown Prosecution Service | £316,223.31 |
Cafcass | £241,885.26 |
HM Prison Service | £105,849.83 |
Legal Aid Agency | £77,950.08 |
Office of the Public Guardian | £3,510.95 |
HM Inspectorate of Prisons | £815.90 |
Official Solicitor and Public Trustee | £189.34 |
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman | £329.20 |
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority | £50.65 |
Total | £27,784,944.75 |
Translation & Transcription Contract
Excludes Language pairs:
English (United Kingdom) > Welsh (United Kingdom)
Welsh (United Kingdom) > English (United Kingdom)
English (United Kingdom) > English (United Kingdom)
Commissioning Body | Total FY 24/25 |
HM Prison Service | £1,485,869.95 |
Official Solicitor and Public Trustee | £284,540.39 |
The Probation Service | £280,647.57 |
Crown Prosecution Service | £143,853.76 |
Cafcass | £116,820.56 |
HM Courts and Tribunals Service | £64,112.15 |
Independent Monitoring Authority | £6,057.43 |
HQ | £4,012.18 |
Office of the Public Guardian | £6,496.96 |
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority | £1,095.89 |
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman | £24,431.67 |
HMIPEW | £3,479.31 |
Independent Monitoring Board | £270.13 |
Legal Aid Agency | £11.56 |
Parole Board | £1,382.34 |
HM Inspectorate of Prisons | £201.45 |
Total | £2,423,283.30 |
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of effectiveness of her Department's programmes for supporting offenders in returning to employment in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We know that finding employment after release reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. That is why the Government’s manifesto commits to break the cycle of reoffending by better supporting prisons to link up with employers to get more people with convictions into work.
We have launched regional Employment Councils, including for the region East, North & West Midlands. For the first time, they bring businesses together with probation and the Department of Work and Pensions to support offenders leaving prison.
In addition, Prison Employment Leads, Employment Hubs, ID and Banking Administrators and Employment Advisory Boards are in every resettlement prison, including at HMP’s Birmingham, Oakwood and Featherstone in the West Midlands region. They play a key role in getting offenders work-ready, matching them to jobs on release and linking prisons with local businesses.
The proportion of ex-offenders in employment within six months of release in the West Midlands was 25.7% in the year to March 2024, an increase of 5.7 percentage points from the previous reporting year to March 2023.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what categories of information are routinely collected by prisons on prisoners.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Prisons collect a wide range of information. The main categories are: personal and demographic; legal and custodial; health and wellbeing; risk and behavioural assessments; education and employment; rehabilitation and progress monitoring; and daily activities and privileges.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost to prisoners is of the provision of television access in prison cells.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The cost per prisoner in establishments in the adult estate is 50 pence per week if the prisoner is sharing a cell, and £1 per week for prisoners in a single cell.
Children and young people in the youth secure estate are not charged for use of televisions.