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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders received a driving ban before the age of 17 in each of the last three years; and in what proportion of such cases the ban expired before the offenders’ 17th birthday.

Jeremy Wright

The attached table sets out the number of driving disqualifications for all motoring offences at all courts, for offenders aged under 17 years, in England and Wales from 2009 to 2012 (the latest data available). It is not possible to provide the more detailed information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.

A disqualification of an offender aged under 17 means they cannot apply for or be issued with a driving licence until their disqualification period has passed.

Number of disqualifications for all motoring offences at all courts, for offenders aged under 17 years, England and Wales, 2008-2012(1)

(1) 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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders received a driving ban alongside a prison sentence of a longer length in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright

When the courts impose a driving ban and a custodial sentence at the same time, they already make some allowance for the length of time that the offender would normally serve in prison before becoming eligible for release, in order to ensure that disqualification has the desired impact. There are provisions in the Coroner’s and Justice Act 2009 which will give this statutory force. These will be commenced in due course.

We want to make sure that road traffic offenders face the full consequences of the punishment for their offence. When an offender commits a serious road traffic offence that attracts both a custodial sentence and disqualification from driving, it is essential for public confidence in the criminal justice system that the driving ban has full effect on the offender; he should not benefit from, in effect, a reduction in the length of the ban whilst he serves time in prison. These provisions will ensure that, as now, the court will determine the appropriate length of the ban for the purposes of the offence but it will then be required to extend the ban to take account of time to be spent in prison. This will ensure that there is consistency of action in every case and that driving bans bear equally on all offenders.

The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. This centrally held information records the period of disqualification into one of thirteen bands. As the exact length of driving ban is not available, it is not possibly to identify how many offenders received a driving ban alongside a prison sentence of a longer length. This detailed information may be held on the court record but due to the size and complexity is not reported centrally to the MoJ. As such, the information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department collects on the number of men and women in prison who have previously been in local authority care.

Jeremy Wright

Prisoners are assessed on entry to prison for addiction problems and there is a package of support available to them. The MoJ’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme will provide individual support to all released prisoners. This will include identifying risks and needs for individual ex-prisoners, and providing services to address them.

The Ministry of Justice does not collect these data centrally on a regular basis. However, a survey of 1,435 adult prisoners sentenced to between one month and four years in 2005 and 2006 (Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction – SPCR) provides self-reported estimates for each question.

The full reports can be accessed on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/surveying-prisoner-crime-reduction-spcr

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department collects on the number of (a) men and (b) women in prison who had alcohol-related issues prior to conviction.

Jeremy Wright

Prisoners are assessed on entry to prison for addiction problems and there is a package of support available to them. The MoJ’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme will provide individual support to all released prisoners. This will include identifying risks and needs for individual ex-prisoners, and providing services to address them.

The Ministry of Justice does not collect these data centrally on a regular basis. However, a survey of 1,435 adult prisoners sentenced to between one month and four years in 2005 and 2006 (Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction – SPCR) provides self-reported estimates for each question.

The full reports can be accessed on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/surveying-prisoner-crime-reduction-spcr

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department collects on the number of men in prison who have been victims of sexual abuse.

Jeremy Wright

Prisoners are assessed on entry to prison for addiction problems and there is a package of support available to them. The MoJ’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme will provide individual support to all released prisoners. This will include identifying risks and needs for individual ex-prisoners, and providing services to address them.

The Ministry of Justice does not collect these data centrally on a regular basis. However, a survey of 1,435 adult prisoners sentenced to between one month and four years in 2005 and 2006 (Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction – SPCR) provides self-reported estimates for each question.

The full reports can be accessed on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/surveying-prisoner-crime-reduction-spcr

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the action by barristers on (a) 6 January 2014 and (b) 7 March 2014; and what his policy is on imposing a costs sanction on the barristers involved.

Shailesh Vara

We have not yet made an estimate of the cost to the taxpayer of the action by barristers on 6 January and 7 March 2014. The question of costs is a matter for judges to consider in individual cases under the provisions set out in the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (as amended).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) men and (b) women convicted of benefit fraud in each of the last five years received (i) a conditional discharge, (ii) a fine, (iii) a community order and (iv) a suspended prison sentence.

Jeremy Wright

The Department for Work and Pensions operates a tough series of specific penalties for benefit fraud that run alongside the criminal justice system. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 toughened penalties for those who commit, or attempt to commit benefit fraud. We have introduced a financial administrative penalty as an alternative to prosecution which, for the first time, can be applied to attempted fraud.

The Government has also introduced a tougher loss of benefit penalty to restrict benefits to people convicted of benefit fraud or who have accepted an administrative penalty. Benefits can be reduced for periods of 13 weeks, 26 weeks or 3 years, dependent on the number of benefit fraud offences committed within a specified period, where the latest offence results in a conviction.

Judges make their decisions independently of Government based on the facts of each case. The maximum penalty for fraud is 10 years in prison.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ court found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences relating to benefit fraud, with sentencing outcomes and the average custodial sentence length by gender, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) can be viewed in the table.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) men and (b) women convicted of benefit fraud in each of the last five years received a prison sentence; and what the average prison sentence was for those of each gender so convicted.

Jeremy Wright

The Department for Work and Pensions operates a tough series of specific penalties for benefit fraud that run alongside the criminal justice system. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 toughened penalties for those who commit, or attempt to commit benefit fraud. We have introduced a financial administrative penalty as an alternative to prosecution which, for the first time, can be applied to attempted fraud.

The Government has also introduced a tougher loss of benefit penalty to restrict benefits to people convicted of benefit fraud or who have accepted an administrative penalty. Benefits can be reduced for periods of 13 weeks, 26 weeks or 3 years, dependent on the number of benefit fraud offences committed within a specified period, where the latest offence results in a conviction.

Judges make their decisions independently of Government based on the facts of each case. The maximum penalty for fraud is 10 years in prison.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ court found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences relating to benefit fraud, with sentencing outcomes and the average custodial sentence length by gender, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) can be viewed in the table.

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