Prisons: Libraries
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) which prisons have libraries; and which organisations (a) run and (b) fund each such library; [195640]
(2) what the budget was for prison libraries (a) in total and (b) for each prison in each of the last four years. [195675]
Jeremy Wright: The Prison Service has always recognised the importance of reading and literature in the rehabilitative process, and the positive effects these have on prisoners. Every prison has a library, which is available to all prisoners to ensure they have access to books and other material for education and training purposes.
The following table shows the organisations that provide and fund library services in each prison. The table also shows the available information in relation to the allocated budget for prison library services over the past four years, broken down by prison and in total.
In the case of Wealstun and Isis, the reduction in spending is due to initial set up costs in previous financial years.
For prisons in Wales, the reduction in spend is due to the change of stock rotation that were implemented in 2011 in line with Welsh library service standards. Learning and skills managers re-negotiated the capitation funds
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and this resulted in a reduction in cost but not a reduction in opening hours or quality of material provided.
In respect of privately managed prisons, contracts awarded before 2011 include library provision as part of the overall custodial service. The breakdown of these
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contract costs is commercially confidential, and is therefore not available and is not shown in the overall total. Prison contracts awarded since 2011 do have identified levels of funding for prison libraries and these are shown in the table.
| Libraries Allocation by Prisons, 2010-11 to 2013-14 | ||||||
| £ | ||||||
| Allocation | ||||||
| Establishment | Library provider | Funded By | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
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|
closed - was a resettlement prison drawing on local library services | ||||||
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| Notes: 1. The figures show the amount allocated by NOMS to prison establishments for library services. The amount spent by the prison may have been slightly different. 2. The budget may not all have been spent with the library provider but for example, may have been spent locally on infrastructure. 3. Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) are not included. 4. The library provider may have changed over time. 5. Private Prison, figure not separately identified. 6. Closed. 7. Acklington and Castington merged into one establishment called Northumberland. 8. Hatfield included in Moorland figure. 9. Formerly within Lindholme. 10. Not yet open. | ||||||
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what books are banned from being kept in prison libraries. [196882]
Jeremy Wright: Prison Service Instruction 45/2011 states that censorship will not usually be exercised except in the case of offensive or illegal material. Some materials may be banned by the prison governor on a case-by-case basis.
The Custodial Public Protection Manual contains a list of publications that prisoners are not allowed to possess. It focuses on child sex offending. No books on the list are obtainable through prison libraries. Apart from this, the Ministry of Justice does not maintain a list of books which are not allowed to be kept in prison libraries.
Prisons: Mobile Phones
Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many times the offence of possession of mobile telephones within a prison has been proceeded upon; and how many days were added to the offender's sentence in each case. [197533]
Jeremy Wright:
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of mobile phones in prisons very seriously and is committed to addressing
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the risks they present to both the security of prisons and the safety of the public.
NOMS has implemented a multi-layered approach: to minimise the number of mobile phones entering prisons, to find phones that do get in and to disrupt mobile phones that cannot be found. A range of technology has been rolled out to prisons to strengthen searching and security, including portable mobile phone signal detectors, Body Orifice Security Scanners (BOSS chairs), high sensitivity metal detecting wands and short range portable mobile phone blockers.
The adjudication process exists to allow prison governors to deal with breaches of prison discipline, including possession of unauthorised items such as mobile telephones.
From centrally held data, it is not possible to identify those offenders who breached prison discipline by possessing a mobile phone, were proceeded against and given the punishment of additional days. The prison adjudication offence details held centrally are not of sufficient detail to identify the specific breach item—mobile phone possession offences are grouped with other prohibited items.
Determining if the requested information is held would require a manual search through all individual prison records where a breach of prison discipline led to adjudication in respect of possession of a prohibited item to see if any information is recorded on the type of item. Inspecting each record to ascertain if there was an adjudication for possession of a mobile phone and how many additional days were given as a punishment could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Prisons: Private Sector
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) on which occasions performance points were accrued by private prisons in 2013-14; for what reason the points were accrued; and what financial penalties were attached in each case; [197355]
(2) what financial penalties have been levied against those running private prisons in each year since 2010-11. [197356]
Jeremy Wright: On the question of what financial penalties have been levied against those running private prisons in each year since 2010-11, I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the response sent to him in November 2013, under PQ 165769, which can be found on Hansard under the reference 4 December 2013, Official Report, column 705W.
The data presented are based on total number of performance points accrued for the relevant periods. This does not take into account credit points awarded to contractors and offset against total performance points for the period. Financial remedies are only applicable when performance point baseline targets are exceeded for the period.
Please note, data relating to the fourth quarter of 2013-14 are pending approval and not available for release at this time. Data for the following prisons are also not available and awaiting verification and validation by the parties:
HMP Birmingham
HMP Doncaster
HMP Dovegate
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HMP Forest Bank
HMP Oakwood
HMP Thameside
This information will be available later in the year.
It is important to note that performance points presented in table 1, which will be placed in the Library, are essentially about operational efficiency, and at no point has public safety been at risk. There are no significant historical trends in the figures and it is fair to say that privately managed prisons achieve the majority of their contractual targets with proportionately low levels of performance points and financial remedies applied as a result. The data for each contract are closely monitored by MOJ staff and any emerging or sustained performance failures are discussed in detail with the relevant contractor in order to rectify performance shortfalls as quickly as possible.
Private Sector
Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many jobs have been transferred from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing by his Department since May 2010. [195515]
Mr Vara: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to the hon. Member in due course.
Public Defender Service
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has further plans to expand the Public Defender Service beyond the first phase of recruits. [197693]
Mr Vara: We are still concluding the recruitment campaign from 20 January 2014 and expect some further appointments to the PDS to be confirmed as a result of that.
In the current circumstances the Government will take the necessary steps to ensure availability of representation in Very High Cost Cases in which legally aided defendants are currently unrepresented. This could include increasing the capacity of the Public Defender Service. It remains open to the self-employed Bar to accept instructions on these cases, and we would welcome the maximum possible participation of the self-employed Bar in this regard.
Reoffenders
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 3 March 2014, Official Report, column 641W, on reoffenders, what (a) offence type and (b) sentence length each offender with more than one fixed term recall is serving. [191309]
Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the highest number of previous convictions for burglary for an individual convicted of an offence of burglary without being sent to prison was in each year since 2010. [194406]
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Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people with 15 or more previous convictions were not sent to prison on conviction for (a) burglary and (b) violence against the person in the latest period for which figures are available. [194408]
Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the proven reoffending rate was of (a) those released from prison and (b) those released from prison who self-identified as Muslim in each year since 2010. [197070]
Jeremy Wright: The latest proven reoffending rates for those offenders released from prison can be found in tables 1 and 2. Table 1 provides overall proven reoffending rates for offenders released from prison and has been taken from the Proven Reoffending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin series. Table 2 provides proven reoffending rates for Muslim offenders released from prison.
A proven reoffence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period resulting in a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year follow-up, a further six month waiting period is allowed for the offence to be proven in court.
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. A prisoner’s religion is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare.
| Table 1: Proven reoffending rates of offenders released from prison for England and Wales | ||
| Number of offenders in cohort1 | Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) | |
| Table 2: Proven reoffending rates of Muslim offenders released from prison for England and Wales | ||
| Number of offenders in cohort1 | Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) | |
| 1 A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders. 2 Data on offenders’ religious beliefs are not available for 2010 due to data quality issues following the introduction of a new prison IT system. | ||
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Secure Colleges
Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations he has received from Ofsted on his plans to introduce secure colleges. [197625]
Jeremy Wright: In April 2013, Ofsted submitted a response to the Government’s Transforming Youth Custody consultation, which set out our proposals for secure colleges.
The Government value the important role Ofsted performs in inspecting the provision of support and education in the custodial estate for under-18s. We are therefore legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill for Ofsted, along with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) to have a duty to inspect secure colleges.
My officials have regular discussions with Ofsted in relation to the inspection of youth custody, and are discussing with them, in conjunction with HMIP, arrangements for the inspection of secure colleges.
Sentencing
Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people who (a) were given a non-custodial sentence and (b) were given their first custodial sentence in each year from 2004 had previously had (i) no criminal convictions, (ii) one criminal conviction, (iii) two criminal convictions, (iv) three criminal convictions, (v) four criminal convictions, (vi) five to 10 criminal convictions, (vii) 11 to 20 criminal convictions, (viii) 21 to 30 criminal convictions, (ix) 31 to 40 criminal convictions, (x) 41 to 50 criminal convictions, (xi) 51 to 75 criminal convictions, (xii) 76 to 100 criminal convictions and (xiii) more than 100 criminal convictions. [191341]
Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to the hon. Gentleman in due course.
Sexual Assault Referral Centres
Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Sexual Assault Referral Centres in supporting victims of crime. [195944]
Damian Green: Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) are commissioned jointly by NHS England, individual police forces and police and crime commissioners. Although the Ministry of Justice have not undertaken any recent assessments into the effectiveness of sexual assault centres in supporting victims of crime, NHS England ensure that Sexual Assault Services are commissioned in ways that support consistently high standards of care and quality across the country through the Public Health Oversight Group. NHS England is currently undertaking a review of these commissioning processes.
Social Security Benefits: Appeals
Sadiq Khan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice at how many tribunal hearings on appeals over benefit claims in each of the last four years the relevant
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Department failed to send a presenting officer; and how many such hearings were lost by the Government. [197357]
Mr Vara: The First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)—hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) decisions on a range of benefits. It also hears appeals against local authorities on housing benefit decisions.
A table will be placed in the Library which shows the data requested for each year from 1 April 2010 until December 2013 (the latest period for which data are available).
It is a matter for the relevant Department or local authority as to whether they send a presenting Officer to an appeal unless directed to do so by the Tribunal. Departments and local authorities will consider each appeal on a case by case basis.
Squatting
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) court possession orders and (b) interim possession orders in relation to squatting in non-residential buildings have been made since the introduction of the criminal offence of squatting in a residential building; and how many such orders were made in the equivalent period preceding this law being implemented. [197813]
Mr Vara: While we hold records on the total number of possession orders and interim possession orders applied for and granted by the civil courts, our databases do not show what proportion of these related to non-residential buildings or, in the case of possession orders, actions against trespassers. Such information could only be obtained by manually checking court case files at a disproportionate cost.
Television: Licensing
Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in England and Wales per 10,000 of the population were prosecuted for non-payment of the television licence fee in each of the last three calendar years. [197564]
Mr Vara: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences relating to installing or using a television receiver without the appropriate licence, per 10,000 of the population in England and Wales for the years 2010 to 2012 is shown in table 1. The Government have indicated that, in line with the amendment to the Deregulation Bill, they will consider whether evasion of a television licence should continue to be a criminal offence.
It should be noted that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice on 15 May 2014.
| Defendants proceeded against at magistrates court for television licence evasion, per 10,000 of the population, England and Wales, 2010-20121, 2 | |
| Number | |
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| 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice | |
Thameside Prison
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many grievances on the grounds of race discrimination have been made in HM Prison Thameside in the last three years; what the nature was of each such grievance; when each grievance was made and resolved; and what the outcome was in each case; [198085]
(2) how many employment tribunal cases were presented on the grounds of race discrimination in HM Prison Thameside in the last three years; what the nature was of each complaint; when each such tribunal began and ended; what the outcome was in each such case; and what the cost to the public purse was of defending such cases. [198086]
Jeremy Wright: The Government are committed to ensuring equality throughout the criminal justice system. Internal complaints procedures and the employment tribunal system enable any allegations of racial discrimination in the workplace to be thoroughly investigated.
Two staff grievances alleging discrimination have been submitted at HM Prison Thameside in the last three years.
The first, which alleged bullying at work, racial discrimination, unfair treatment and victimisation, was received in 12 October 2012. It was considered by the Employment Tribunal at two hearings (October 2013 and in December 2013). The Tribunal dismissed the claim in its entirety in January 2014.
The second grievance, alleging unfair dismissal, racial discrimination, victimisation and harassment, was received in March 2013. It is currently being considered by the Employment Tribunal.
Liability for any legal costs in relation to employment cases would fall on the employer.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any (a) internal and (b) external reports were commissioned by Serco in relation to any steps taken by HM Prison Thameside to eliminate race discrimination in the workplace. [198094]
Jeremy Wright:
The Government are committed to ensuring equality throughout the criminal justice system. Internal complaints procedures and the employment
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tribunal system enable any allegations of racial discrimination in the workplace to be thoroughly investigated.
The Ministry of Justice conducted a routine assurance audit of HM Prison Thameside in 2013.
Any internal document prepared by the contractor in relation to potential litigation is legally privileged and therefore exempt from disclosure.
Trade Unions
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system. [196769]
Mr Vara: The Ministry of Justice does not currently have any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system. However arrangements of this sort are kept under review.
Youth Custody
Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans his Department has to increase the average hours a week of contracted education provided for 15 to 17-year-olds in custody. [187126]
Jeremy Wright: At present 15 to 17-year-olds in young offender institutions (YOIs) receive an average of only 12 hours contracted education a week. We have recently set out our plans for transforming youth custody and putting education at the heart of detention, and at the same time launched a competition for new education contracts in public sector YOIs which will more than double the time young people spend in education. In addition, we are seeking to put education at the heart of the YOI regime by bringing the head teacher overseeing education into the senior management team of the establishment.
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the unit cost per offender in a (a) secure children's home, (b) young offender institution, (c) secure training centre and (d) the adult secure estate was in each year since 2010. [197075]
Jeremy Wright: We are continuing to reduce costs in both adult prisons and the youth secure estate as one of the key priorities for the Ministry of Justice.
I refer the right hon. Member to a written answer provided for a similar parliamentary question relating to average costs of a place in youth custody. This information can be found at the following link:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130627/text/130627w0002.htm#13062787000502
The Department routinely publishes average costs per prisoner and prison place, including those for adult prisons and young offender institutions, based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison, and in summary form for the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year.
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The information for financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12 is published as an Addendum to the NOMS annual report and accounts and available on the Department’s website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-2011-12
The published figures for 2010-11 are restated to enable a more accurate comparison with 2011-12 figures.
The most recently published figures for financial year 2012-13 is also published alongside the NOMS annual report and accounts and are available on the Department’s website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201213
Copies of these are also placed in the House Library.
Full details of average costs per prisoner and prison place for financial year 2013-14 are not yet finalised.
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many days were lost due to sick leave among teaching staff in (a) secure training centres and (b) young offender institutions in each of the last four years. [197077]
Jeremy Wright: Sickness absence is measured as the average working days lost per staff year, which is the measure used across all Government Departments. Sickness rates in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) have fallen in recent years. An average of 16.8 working days were lost in 2002-03, compared to 10.8 in 2012-13.
Figures for average working days lost for prisons in the YOIs are used in the Prison Rating System and have been published annually since 2011-12 as part of the data set that accompanies the published ratings.
Figures for 2012-13 can be found on the 'Data' sheet of the published spreadsheet at the following location:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225231/prs-data-12-13.xls
Figures for 2011-12 are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/218342/prison-rating-system-2011-12.xls
Figures for 2010-11 can be seen in the following table.
| Table: Average number of working days lost per member of staff due to sickness related absence in Young Offender Institutions in England and Wales, 2010-11 | |
| Establishment | Average working days lost1 |
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| 1 Average Working Days Lost is calculated as the number of full time equivalent days lost due to sickness related absence divided by the average number of full time equivalent staff in post. Notes: 1. Figures for Dovegate and Lowdham Grange were provided by private contractors for calendar year 2010 instead of for financial year 2010-11. 2. Figures for 2013-14 will be published on 31 July 2014 in the Management Information Addendum to the NOMS Annual Report 2013-14. | |
Data are not held centrally for average days lost for staff in Secure Training Centres or teaching staff in Young Offender Institutions. The contracts for Secure Training Centres and education provision in Young Offender Institutions specify the levels of service required and these are monitored against delivery. It is for the operators to ensure they have the necessary staffing complement to deliver against the contract.
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many teaching staff in young offender institutions and secure training centres in 2013 had a formal teaching qualification; [197079]
(2) how many full time equivalent teaching staff there were in total in Young Offender Institutions and secure training centres in each of the last four years. [197080]
Jeremy Wright: We are committed under the Transforming Youth Custody programme to improving education outcomes for young people in custody. Our proposals for Secure Colleges, and to radically improve the education provided in Young Offender Institutions, will place education at the heart of youth custody and provide young offenders with skills, qualifications and self-discipline they require to build a life free from crime.
The amount of education delivered to young people in Young Offender Institutions and Secure Training Centres is clearly defined and monitored through contractual arrangements with providers. We believe that these expert educational providers are best placed to determine how—at a local level—to secure education outcomes for the young people they are working with. As such we do not collect data centrally on the staff they employ.
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
Mr Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many decision makers were employed for work in each region by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013. [193781]
Damian Green:
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) divides its case work between six teams, each of which handles applications from a particular region of Great Britain. When the need arises they also create cross-regional special exercise teams to carry out projects. All of these teams work from a single office. Northern Ireland has a separate Criminal Injuries
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Compensation Scheme, which CICA does not administer. The six regional teams are numbered as follows:
1. Scotland and Wales
2. North-West England
3. North-East England
4. Midlands
5. South England
6. London
CICA publish detailed datasets of their staff numbers broken down by job title, but these do not specify which regional team someone works in. The table sets out how many staff CICA employed on the dates specified, and how many of those were senior decision makers (SDMs) and decision makers (DMs) in each region. CICA may move staff between regions throughout the year to fill temporary staff vacancies or address variances in the number of cases each region is handling. These figures do not show if staff were temporarily redeployed to assist another region on the date specified.
In recent years CICA have invested in improved technology and introduced more efficient processes which have allowed them to reduce administration costs while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction.
| Number of SDMs | Number of DMs | Number of staff | |
Prisoners: Repatriation
Mr Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many foreign national prisoners were transferred to secure detention in their home country under (a) compulsory and (b) voluntary prisoner transfer agreements in each of the last five years. [194816]
Jeremy Wright: The following table sets out the number of prisoners who have transferred from a prison in England and Wales to a prison in their state of nationality in the last five years on both a compulsory and voluntary basis.
| Year of transfer | Voluntary transfer | Compulsory |
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With the implementation of the Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA (The EU PTA) by the United Kingdom in December 2011 prisoners can be transferred on a voluntary or compulsory basis. Since the implementation of the EU PTA in December 2011, a total 18 EU member states, including the United Kingdom, have brought the EU PTA into force.
Compulsory prisoner transfer agreements can be difficult to negotiate, but we remain determined to secure them wherever possible. In January this year we signed a
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compulsory transfer agreement with Nigeria and last year we signed an agreement with Albania. We expect to see prisoner transfers to both these countries before the end of this year.
We are also working hard to increase the number of foreign national offenders removed from prison under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS). In 2013 we removed nearly 2,000 FNOs under ERS and under TERS, which we introduced in May 2012 we have removed 237 prisoners to date.
The numbers reported here are drawn from a Prison Service Case Tracking System. Care is taken when processing these cases but the figures may be subject to inaccuracies associated with any recording system.