The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the expected additional cost is in 2014-15 of the increased staffing levels agreeed for HM Prison Oakwood.
Jeremy Wright
Staffing levels at HMP Oakwood are regularly reviewed by both the Ministry of Justice and G4S. There are currently no plans to increase staffing levels at HMP Oakwood.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what consultation his Department undertook before excluding damage sustained in utero as a result of illegal drug taking from the definition of a crime of violence under Annex B paragraph 4(e) of the Criminal Compensation Scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Damian Green
I sympathise deeply with anyone who suffers from an injury or debilitating condition sustained in utero. As part of the ‘Getting it right for victims and witnesses’ consultation, which was published in January 2012, we looked in detail at the definition of a “crime of violence” for the purposes of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS). After the consultation, a decision was taken to exclude injuries sustained by an unborn child if the mother willingly consumes harmful substances during pregnancy. We implemented a new Scheme in November 2012.
Below is a link to the ‘Getting it right for victims and witnesses’ Consultation Paper and the Government’s Response.
https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/victims-witnesses
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which books are available to be bought from the shop in prisons in England.
Jeremy Wright
Prisoners are able to purchase any book through prison retail, other than where there are reasons to believe the book is not suitable. It is for Governors locally to determine when a particular book is not suitable, based on the prisoner’s risk profile and the nature of the book itself. There is no centrally approved list of books.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of prisoners’ access to books on (a) prisoners’ educational achievements, (b) prisoners’ behaviour and (c) reoffending rates; and what steps he is taking to improve prisoners’ access to books.
Jeremy Wright
Our assessment is that education and access to books is very important in the rehabilitation of prisoners. That is why the National Offender Management Service works closely with the Shannon Trust to support schemes such as ‘Toe by Toe’, which includes peer mentoring to improve reading levels. Every prison has a library, to which every prisoner has access.
Prisoners may also buy books with their own money to which they have access. Up to 12 books may be held by prisoners in their cell at any one time and additional volumes may be stored locally at the prison.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of presumption for contact in relation to the role of fathers in the family courts; and if he will make a statement.
Simon Hughes
I have been asked to reply. Section 11 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires courts to presume that a child benefits from the involvement of each parent who can be involved in a way which does not put the child at risk of harm. This is subject to the principle that the welfare of the child must be the courts’ paramount consideration. ‘Involvement’ may be direct or indirect and it is for courts to determine the most appropriate way for a parent to be involved in the light of the individual circumstances.
Section 11 of the Act will be commenced in the autumn. One of the aims of the policy is to encourage parents to resolve disputes without the need for court intervention. The Government therefore intends to consider the impact of the policy as part of wider work to assess the impact of the family justice provisions in the Act.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many bids have been received for each community rehabilitation company; how many of those were (a) successful and (b) discounted; and if he will make a statement.
Jeremy Wright
The contract winners for each Community Rehabilitation Company will be announced by the end of 2014. Bids to run the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) have yet to be submitted, but are expected in June 2014. In mid December 2013, the 30 bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to bid for the rehabilitation contracts were announced and approximately one third of the bidders included a potential mutual organisation within their consortium. A list of the bidders who have been successful at this stage can be found at:
https://www.justice.gov.uk/transforming-rehabilitation/competition
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to announce the finalists for each community rehabilitation company; and if he will make a statement.
Jeremy Wright
The contract winners for each Community Rehabilitation Company will be announced by the end of 2014. Bids to run the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) have yet to be submitted, but are expected in June 2014. In mid December 2013, the 30 bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to bid for the rehabilitation contracts were announced and approximately one third of the bidders included a potential mutual organisation within their consortium. A list of the bidders who have been successful at this stage can be found at:
https://www.justice.gov.uk/transforming-rehabilitation/competition
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many new cases were allocated by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to be dealt with by each of their regional teams in each of the last three years.
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. All of these teams work from a single office. Northern Ireland has a separate Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which CICA does not administer. CICA publishes the total number of cases it receives each year in its annual reports but these are not broken down by team.
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
The table below sets out how many cases each region received in each of the last three reporting years. The sum of cases allocated to each region will differ from the total received by CICA each year because some clearly ineligible cases are refused before they are sent to a regional team to investigate.
|
Year |
Number of cases |
|||||
|
Region 1 |
Region 2 |
Region 3 |
Region 4 |
Region 5 |
Region 6 |
|
|
2010-11 |
9276 |
10805 |
10167 |
9601 |
10619 |
8213 |
|
2011-12 |
8897 |
10294 |
9357 |
9450 |
10749 |
8129 |
|
2012-13 |
7155 |
8058 |
7578 |
7833 |
8976 |
6196 |
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) discussions with and (b) representations from Aspire to Change (A2C) (i) he, (ii) Ministers and (iii) officials in his Department have had since December 2013; and if he will make a statement.
Jeremy Wright
Under Transforming Rehabilitation, we are opening up the market to a diverse range of new rehabilitation providers, so that we get the best out of the public, voluntary and private sectors, at the local as well as national level. Managers in a number of Probation Trusts, including Essex, have set up mutuals so that they can bid to become owners of the new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). In line with wider Government policy, we have encouraged those Trusts that have been interested to consider the mutual option. All those developing mutuals have had the opportunity to bid for further advice, guidance and assistance through the Cabinet Office Mutual Support Programme (MSP). The MSP has allocated a total of £1.5million to support prospective mutuals with the greatest potential. Support to organisations has been provided in two phases. Phase 1 supported organisations to prepare them for the competition. Phase 2 is providing further support to those that passed the first stage of the competition throughout the negotiation phase and, if they are successful in the competition, support their transition to a mutual.
We launched the competition to establish the owners of the 21 CRCs on 19 September 2013. Competition rules preclude this Department from contacting potential bidders other than through the competition process so that is, and will remain the only avenue for Aspire 2 Change Ltd. to communicate with the Department until the competition is completed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what increase in staffing levels at HM Prison Oakwood his Department has agreed with G4S.
Jeremy Wright
Staffing levels at HMP Oakwood are regularly reviewed by both the Ministry of Justice and G4S. There are currently no plans to increase staffing levels at HMP Oakwood.