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10 Jun 2008 : Column 230W—continued
Mr. Straw:
All High Court appointments in the past 12 months have been subject to open competition. Appointments to the Court of Appeal in the past 12 months have been made from among the judges of the High Court by a special selection panel of the Judicial Appointments Commission, chaired by the Lord Chief
Justice. No Heads of Division have been appointed in the past 12 months. The process of application to apply for appointment to the High Court was introduced in 1998, although the Lord Chancellor retained the right to appoint without application if he chose to do so until the implementation of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many of those who currently hold senior judicial posts have had no previous judicial experience; [209151]
(2) what percentage of people who hold senior judicial posts have had no previous judicial experience. [209152]
Mr. Straw: All current High Court judges have had previous judicial experience either as Circuit Judges., Recorders, or deputy High Court judges, or a combination of these. All current Heads of Division and Lords Justices have previous experience of the levels of the judiciary below them.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people who applied for senior judicial posts in (a) the last 12 months and (b) the last 10 years have a record of previous judicial experience; [209153]
(2) what percentage of those people who have applied for senior judicial posts in (a) the last 12 months and (b) the last 10 years have a record of judicial experience. [209154]
Mr. Straw: In the 2006-07 High Court exercise, 136 applied who had previous judicial experience. This equates to 94 per cent. Information relating to the years before the launch of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), in April 2006, cannot be accessed in the time available. I will write to my right hon. Friend once the information has been collated and place copies in the Libraries of each House.
Life Imprisonment
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice at what intervals risk assessments are carried out on each life sentenced prisoner in order to assess (a) progress, (b) readiness to progress to a lower category prison and (c) other relevant factors. [209107]
Mr. Hanson: Risk assessments on life sentenced prisoners are carried out at annual sentence planning reviews. At the annual review, the previous risk assessment is reviewed and updated. The review of risk assessment will take into account progress in prison, readiness for re-categorisation and all other relevant factors.
At any of the annual reviews, consideration of the prisoner’s risks may prompt the need for further specialist reports. Other specialist risk assessment tools may be utilised depending on the nature of the index offence and the presenting risk factors.
At least every three years, a full set of review reports is prepared by all professionals involved in working with the offender. These reports provide an ongoing picture of the offender's development during the
sentence and help to provide detailed information on the offender’s progress to the Parole Board. The risk assessment is also reviewed and updated.
Aside from the scheduled reviews, risk assessments and categorisation will be reviewed as soon as any new significant information comes to light.
Indeterminate sentence prisoners will not be released until the Parole Board decides that the risk of harm which they present may be safely managed in the community.
Miscarriages of Justice: Victim Support
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what post-release support is provided to victims of miscarriage of justice. [209559]
Maria Eagle: In England and Wales, the Citizens Advice Miscarriages of Justice Support Service, which we fund, provides advice, guidance and support to such victims. Additionally, section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 provides, in certain specified circumstances, for payment of compensation following the quashing of some convictions.
Mortgages: Repossession Orders
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many mortgage possession orders were made in each county court in the East of England in each of the last five years. [209390]
Bridget Prentice: The following table shows the number of mortgage possession orders made in all county courts in the East of England since 2003.
These figures do not indicate how many houses have been repossessed through the courts, since not all the orders will have resulted in the issue and execution of warrants of possession.
The civil procedure rules state that all claims for the repossession of land must be commenced in the district in which the land is situated. However, county courts’ jurisdictions are not coterminous with the borough boundaries, and therefore any single court's repossession actions are likely to relate to homes in a number of different boroughs.
Prisoners: Employment
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effect on prisoners seeking to contact Jobcentre Plus of the change to an exclusively telephone-based claims system; and if he will make a statement. [206848]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 10 June 2008:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what assessment he has made of the effect on prisoners seeking to contact Jobcentre Plus of the change to an exclusively telephone-based claims system.
No assessment has taken place specifically for prisoners with regard to the effect of the introduction of telephone based claims.
However, in recognition of the fact that offenders have particular difficulties in returning to the labour market, Jobcentre Plus operates the Freshstart process to improve the transition from custody to work. This enables prisoners to have a New Jobseeker Interview arranged for them at their local Jobcentre Plus office, normally within 48 hours of release.
Freshstart runs alongside the telephone based claims process, so that prisoners can continue to access the full range of Jobcentre Plus programmes and services.
Jobcentre Plus has Employment and Benefit Surgery (EBS) Advisers working in prisons who book many of the Freshstart appointments and offer advice and signposting to other benefits, as well as help and support with job search activity, training opportunities and programmes such as New Deal and Progress2work-LinkUp.
Although our preference is to take new claims over the telephone, customers who are unable to use the telephone still have alternative methods of contacting us available, which include:
arranging for a third party/nominated advocate to do this on their behalf;
an option for the customer still to have a face-to-face interview at their local Jobcentre Plus office; or where appropriate, a home visit can be arranged;
text phone facility;
having access to language interpreting services as and when necessary;
use of our e-service to submit information over the internet and register an intent to claim.
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