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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 406W, on remand in custody, what proportion of the total number of defendants charged with the relevant offences the figures represent.

Jeremy Wright

The table below shows the total number of defendants proceeded against for the specified offence groups and the number of defendants who were remanded in custody, broken down by sex. It also shows the percentage of defendants remanded in custody out of the total number of defendants proceeded against for the specified offence categories.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, columns 244-6W, on fraud: social security benefits, how many of the convictions listed were dealt with at (a) magistrates’ courts and (b) Crown courts.

Mr Shailesh Vara

Pursuant to the answer of 9 April 2014, the number of men and women found guilty for offences relating to benefit fraud by court type in England and Wales from 2008 to2012 (latest data available) in the attached

Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice on 15th May 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 20104. Official Report, columns 130-1W, on prisons: disciplinary proceedings, what the sex was of each of the 11 employees dismissed for conducting an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner; and how many employees were disciplined but not dismissed for the same misconduct in the same period, broken down by sex.

Jeremy Wright

The vast majority of Prison Service staff are honest, hard-working professionals. When a member of staff has an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner or ex prisoner, their actions fail to meet the professional standards expected of them in the course of their duty.

Corruption is taken very seriously and there is no place for it within the Prison Service. Anyone who fails to meet these standards will be dealt with swiftly and robustly."

Of the 11 employees dismissed for conducting an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner 6 were male and 5 were female.

From 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013 there were a total of 6 NOMS employees disciplined for having an ‘Inappropriate Relationship with a prisoner / ex prisoner’. Of these, were 3 were male and 3 were female.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2014, Official Report, column 763W, on open prisons, what offences were committed by each of the offenders in prison for violence against the person.

Jeremy Wright

Open prisons have been used since 1936, because they are the most effective means of ensuring that prisoners are suitably risk-assessed before they are released into the community under appropriate licence conditions. These prisons also provide effective supervision for prisoners who do not require the security conditions of the closed estate, because they have been assessed as having a low risk of harm to the public and a low risk of absconding by the independent Parole Board and/or NOMS.

Indeterminate sentence prisoners located in open conditions have been rigorously risk assessed and categorised as being of a low enough risk to the public to warrant their placement in an open prison. They will have previously spent time in prisons with higher levels of security, before being transferred to open conditions if recommended by the Parole Board – or directed through NOMS. Time spent in open prisons affords prisoners the opportunity to find work, re-establish family ties, reintegrate into the community and ensure housing needs are met. For many prisoners, in particular those, such as Indeterminate Sentence Prisoners who have spent a considerable amount of time in custody; these are essential components for successful reintegration in the community and therefore an important factor in protecting the public. To release these prisoners directly from a closed prison without the resettlement benefits of the open estate would undoubtedly lead to higher levels of post-release re-offending.

The requested information is provided in the table below.

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders have been released from one life sentence before being given another life sentence in each of the last 30 years; and in each such case (a) how long the offender spent in prison for the earlier life sentence, (b) how long the offender had been ordered to serve as a minimum period for the latest life sentence, (c) on what dates each life sentence was given, (d) what the offences were for which the offender received each life sentence and (e) what all the offences committed by that offender prior to the latest life sentence were.

Jeremy Wright

A life sentence is mandatory for murder and discretionary life sentences are available for other very serious offences. This Government has introduced an automatic life sentence for a second very serious violent or sexual offence.

Under a life sentence, the court determines the minimum period to be served in prison for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Once that period has been served it is for the Parole Board to determine if and when the offender may be released from prison on life licence and subject to recall for the rest of their life.

Table 1 shows the number of offenders who have been sentenced to life in the 12 months ending September 2013 who previously had one or more previous life sentence on a separate sentencing occasion within the last 30 years, in England and Wales. The table also shows details of their latest and previous offences for which they received a life sentence.

Reoffending rates for life sentenced prisoners are very low. A small number of life sentence prisoners commit offences in prison which result in a second life sentence. Some life sentence prisoners can also receive a second life sentence on conviction for offences committed prior to being imprisoned (e.g. a previous murder or rape).

The figures provided have been drawn from an extract of the Police National Computer (PNC) data held by the Department. The PNC holds details of all convictions and cautions given for recordable offences committed in England and Wales. In addition, as with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Detailed information on the length of time served by individual life sentence prisoners, and offence information is not readily available, so I will write to the Honourable Member.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, if she will place in the Library a copy of the guidance currently issued to managers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission on managing a diverse workforce.

Mrs Helen Grant

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and is responsible for its own staff management, including diversity training. The guidance papers requested are internal documents that were not intended for wider publication. However, I have asked the EHRC to send copies to the Hon Member.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

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.

Mr Shailesh 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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders were bailed under an electronic curfew and went on to receive a custodial sentence in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright

Information on bail and remand collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice and held on the Court Proceedings Database does not record whether conditions (including the use of electronic monitoring) were attached to bail. To answer this Question would require a data matching exercise between data held by the electronic monitoring contractors and sentencing data held by the Ministry of Justice, which could be done only at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what average period of time is spent on bail by an offender whose case is dealt with in a (a) magistrates’ court and (b) Crown court where the offender (i) pleads guilty at the outset, (ii) changes their plea to guilty during the course of the proceedings and (iii) pleads not guilty.

Mr Shailesh Vara

Information on bail and remand collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice and held on the Court Proceedings Database does not include any information on the length of time defendants were held on bail or remand. This information could only be ascertained by reference to individual court files which could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been given more than one life sentence on separate sentencing occasions in the last 30 years; and for what offences each person received each such life sentence.

Jeremy Wright

A life sentence is mandatory for murder and discretionary life sentences are available for other very serious offences. This Government has introduced an automatic life sentence for a second very serious violent or sexual offence.

Under a life sentence, the court determines the minimum period to be served in prison for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Once that period has been served it is for the Parole Board to determine if and when the offender may be released from prison on life licence and subject to recall for the rest of their life.

Table 1 shows the number of offenders who have been sentenced to life in the 12 months ending September 2013 who previously had one or more previous life sentence on a separate sentencing occasion within the last 30 years, in England and Wales. The table also shows details of their latest and previous offences for which they received a life sentence.

Reoffending rates for life sentenced prisoners are very low. A small number of life sentence prisoners commit offences in prison which result in a second life sentence. Some life sentence prisoners can also receive a second life sentence on conviction for offences committed prior to being imprisoned (e.g. a previous murder or rape).

The figures provided have been drawn from an extract of the Police National Computer (PNC) data held by the Department. The PNC holds details of all convictions and cautions given for recordable offences committed in England and Wales. In addition, as with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Detailed information on the length of time served by individual life sentence prisoners, and offence information is not readily available, so I will write to the Honourable Member.