Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of differences in sentencing for violent crimes committed (a) within domestic settings and (b) outside the home.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent courts. Courts take into account the specific facts of each case and have a statutory obligation to follow any relevant sentencing guidelines. The Sentencing Council’s guideline on domestic abuse, published in 2018, makes clear that the domestic context of an offence increases its severity. This is because it represents a violation of trust and security that normally exists in an intimate or family relationship.
We know, however, that sentences which offenders receive often do not make sense either to victims or the wider public, and this is particularly worrying for offences against women and girls. That is why this Government has committed to carry out a review of sentencing, to ensure it is consistent and makes sense to victims and the public.
We are also aware that there are specific issues in relation to domestic homicide sentencing, due to the effects of the 25-year starting point for murders committed with a knife or other weapon taken to the scene with intent. In opposition, this Government welcomed the legislation introduced by the previous administration which implemented some of Clare Wade KC’s independent Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review recommendations. We recognise, however, that there is more to be done and Ministers are continuing to meet stakeholders on this complex issue.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to tackle physical violence between prisoners in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Reducing violence in prisons remains a key priority. We are working hard to make prisons as safe as possible and are continuing our efforts to address the levels of violence in prisons.
We have completed our landmark £100 million Security Investment Programme to clamp down on illicit items such as drugs, mobile phones and weapons – that drive prison violence and undermine safety.
To support those at raised risk of being violent, we have introduced the Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan (CSIP), a case management approach that is centred around the individual and addressing the underlying causes of their violence, including specific risk factors and needs, to help them manage and move away from violent behaviours.
To ensure our staff are equipped with the right tools to protect themselves and prisoners from serious assaults, we have completed the roll out of PAVA – a synthetic pepper spray – for use by prison officers in the adult male estate alongside SPEAR, a personal safety training package.
We are continuing with plans for a phased removal of wet-shave razors in up to 30 prisons in the adult male estate in 2024/25.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the probation service has the capacity to cope with recent increases in prisoner releases.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Probation staff do an extraordinary job in extremely challenging circumstances.
The eight weeks since the Lord Chancellor’s announcement of prisoner release under SDS40 has given the Probation Service more time to prepare than a release on the previous Government’s End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme afforded. We have also committed to recruiting 1000 new probation officers by March 2025.
Once released, offenders will be subject to the same set of strict licence conditions. These can include electronic monitoring, alcohol tags and exclusion zones. Should offenders breach these conditions they face being immediately recalled to prison.
Since July 2024, the Probation Service has implemented a set of measures designed to help alleviate workload pressures in response to the impact of prison capacity. This involves prioritising early engagement at the point where offenders are most likely to breach the requirements of their licence or community sentence. In turn that ensures that staff can maximise supervision of the most serious offenders.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an estimate of reoffending rates for prisoners released under the early release scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Prisoners released on SDS40 will be subject to licence and liable to recall to prison if they do not comply or are judged a risk to public safety. Reoffending rates are published regularly on an annual and quarterly basis. The most recent rates are available at the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics.
A critical element of reducing reoffending is ensuring offenders leaving prison can access the support they need to resettle effectively into the community. An offender’s resettlement needs are assessed on their arrival into the prison estate, with appropriate provision arranged in advance of release. When the release date is changed, as is the case with SDS40, this provision is realigned to that new release date.
There are clear processes in place to ensure all releases are carefully managed by Prison and Probation staff.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether Ministers in her Department have had discussions with the Prison Officers' Association on the issuing of PAVA spray to prison officers in the youth estate since the general election.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Whether PAVA spray should be made available to officers in the youth estate was one of the matters discussed when the Secretary of State and the Minister for Prisons met representatives of the Prison Officers Association in July. We are considering all available information on this complex matter, including hearing the representations from a number of stakeholders with a range of perspectives.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of women remanded in custody in each of the last three years were subsequently (1) sentenced, and (2) not sentenced.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the remand status of defendants and subsequent outcomes in the Remands data tool.
The attached tables provide the proportion of outcomes for female defendants after being remanded in custody, split by magistrates’ court and Crown Court.
Defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts and subsequently committed to the Crown Court will have separate remand decisions made in both courts and will be included in both totals.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of using accommodation contracted by the Home Office to provide housing for prisoners released when they have served 40% of their sentences.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Individuals released through the Standard Determinate Sentence changes, known as SDS40, and at risk of homelessness can be referred to HMPPS’s Community Accommodation Service, which can provide up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation.
The Chief Probation Officer wrote to all Local Authority Chief Executives on 02 August sharing early data on the total volume of expected prison releases for SDS40 cases and this was followed up by a meeting with all Local Authorities. This provided a high-level estimate of the potential volumes of releases by Local Authority. The indicative figure provided was that there would be c400 individuals who were at risk of homelessness; however, through assessment and intervention by Probation, we are expecting that number will now be significantly lower.
We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Welsh Government to mitigate any impact on Local Authorities, as well as taking practical steps to minimise the chances that individuals are released homeless. This includes ensuring data is shared with the 49 Strategic Housing Specialists based in prisons and the Probation-based Homeless Prevention Teams to make sure plans are in place for those who need accommodation support.
We expect the vast majority to be supported by this provision, but should there not be enough, the Lord Chancellor has authorised probation directors to make use of alternative arrangements, including budget hotels, as a temporary measure for the cases that we will see in the next few weeks.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for tribunal hearings.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are working to reduce the outstanding caseload in the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal including the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal. Reducing outstanding caseloads is the key measure to bringing down the waiting times for tribunal hearings.
HMCTS continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology.
Data on Tribunals performance is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Receipts, disposals and the outstanding caseload for individual Chambers in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to support victims of sexual assault.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is deeply committed to supporting victims of sexual assault. To do so, we must improve the justice system’s response to these crimes. We must relentlessly target the most prolific and harmful perpetrators; better support victims and survivors; and ensure timely and effective justice.
To do this, the Government has committed to:
Increasing the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner, ensuring that victims get the information that they need throughout their justice system journey.
Introducing specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force, providing the capacity and capability our police forces need to respond to these offences.
Introducing independent legal advocates to rape victims, ensuring that victims know and can uphold their rights.
Fast tracking rape cases through the courts, driving down waiting times for victims of these abhorrent offences.
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 she is taking to ensure that people on early prison release have (a) housing, (b) employment and (c) sufficient probation provision to support them.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Individuals released through the Standard Determinate Sentence changes, known as SDS40, and at risk of homelessness can be referred to HMPPS’s Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3), which can provide up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation. We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Welsh Government to mitigate any impact on Local Authorities, as well as taking practical steps to minimise the chances that individuals are released homeless. This includes ensuring data is shared with the 49 Strategic Housing Specialists based in prisons and the Probation-based Homeless Prevention Teams to make sure plans are in place for those who need accommodation support.
We are also working closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to ensure that prisons and Jobcentres are prepared to support temporarily higher volumes of prisoners approaching release. We will collectively ensure that relevant staff in prisons and Jobcentres have the right data on prisoners who are being released and will provide guidance and regular communications to those staff, so they are aware of what actions to take. This will ensure that prisoners are supported on release in the community with provision of bank accounts and ID, referrals to work programmes on release, arranging employment pre-release, and timely access to benefits where appropriate.
It is vital there is sufficient probation capacity to manage these individuals upon release. The move to SDS40 gives probation staff more time to prepare and plan for release, compared to the previous government’s End of Supervised Licence Scheme meaning there will be more resilience in the system. We are also onboarding 1,000 new trainee probation officers by March 2025.
Once released, offenders will be subject to the same set of strict licence conditions that would apply had they been released at a 50% automatic release point and will be liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions or are judged to be a risk to public safety. These could include electronic monitoring, alcohol tags, and exclusion zones.