Tag: Andy Slaughter

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2015 to Question 12035, what teaching agency G4S contacted; and what level of security clearance that member of staff was required to hold in order to enter the facility concerned.

Andrew Selous

The recruitment agency contacted by G4S was Randstad. The member of staff went through full G4S vetting and clearance before being employed on site. All STC staff, both temporary and permanent, must also undergo background checks and be reviewed and approved by the Youth Justice Board prior to appointment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of potential savings to the public purse arising from the proposed residence test for legal aid.

Mr Shailesh Vara

It is right that individuals should have a strong connection with the UK to benefit from taxpayer funded legal aid. The residence test proposed during the previous Parliament is a fair and appropriate way to demonstrate that connection.

The Government does not currently record the residence status of civil legal aid clients so cannot accurately estimate the annual savings that may be achieved by introducing a civil legal aid residence test. It is likely there will be a reduction in legal aid volumes and expenditure from imposing residence restrictions on civil legal aid, resulting in savings to the legal aid fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the National Offender Management Service decided not to impose financial penalties on private prisons on each occasion when such penalties were applicable in the last five years; and what the value of those fines so foregone was.

Andrew Selous

Performance points are accrued when a custodial service failure occurs. Charges are then applied when the total points exceeds the relevant performance baseline. A performance baseline is allowed in recognition of the complex operational nature of prisons where we know that there will be occasional incidents no matter how well the prison is run. This charge protocol is a longstanding practice in prison contracts.

The performance points, and subsequent calculated charges, are signed off by all parties at the Quarterly Contract Review Meeting. Following this meeting, charge payable will, without exception, be collected by NOMS.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 23060, what proportion of staff employed in each young offender institution are qualified social workers.

Andrew Selous

The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate costs.

The Youth Justice Board is responsible for commissioning and oversight of the secure youth estate. The Youth Justice Board funds dedicated social workers at each under-18 Young Offender Institution (YOI). All young people undergo a health and education assessment upon arrival into custody, whilst all staff undergo training in child and adolescent development and safeguarding.

Under-18 YOI providers should ensure that they meet the needs of all detained persons including those with Special Education and Needs (SEN) requirements, and that all staff are suitably qualified to support young people and make referrals to other specialist support where this is appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the most commonly recorded item in the Incident Report System was in each prison; and how many times each such item was recorded in the prison concerned in the 12 months for which figures are available.

Andrew Selous

Other than for a few specific items such as firearms, finds of illicit items within prisons are recorded under the miscellaneous category on the NOMS Incident Reporting System. To extract the information requested could only be achieved at disproportionate cost by examining some 10,000 individual records in this category.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many weapons of which type have been confiscated from visitors to prisons in each year since 2010.

Andrew Selous

The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 18874, when his Department plans to write to clarify the date captured in the other category; and if he will place a copy of that letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

Mr Shailesh Vara

My Department takes the issue of security within courts extremely seriously. Working with our security suppliers, officials continue to analyse the data within the other category to ensure the data provided answers question 18874 and provides detail on “other weapons” as requested.

I will write a letter to honourable member soon and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many key lock incidents there have been in each month since May 2010; how many such incidents related to doors of gates left unlocked; and in which establishments those incidents took place.

Andrew Selous

The information requested can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hostage incidents in which a (a) prison officer and (b) prisoner was taken hostage have taken place in each prison establishment since January 2010.

Andrew Selous

Violence in prisons has increased in recent years. These figures demonstrate that the Prime Minister and the Justice Secretary are right and out prisons badly need reform.

We are already trialling the use of body worn cameras in prisons, training sniffer dogs to detect new psychoactive substances and have made it an offence to smuggle new psychoactive substances into prison. However, ultimately the only way to reduce violence in our prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to more effectively rehabilitate offenders.

Hostage incidents are rare occurrences. The table attached provides details of hostage incidents, broken down by establishment and victim type.

Note: These figures have been drawn from the NOMS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he made prior to his announcement in the Autumn Statement 2015 of the effect on VAT receipts of changes to personal injury law and procedure; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

It is too early to say what the impact will be since there is still work in progress. The Government will consult on the detail of the new reforms in due course. The consultation will be accompanied by an impact assessment.