Tag: Andy Slaughter

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times (a) gold, (b) silver and (c) bronze command suites were opened in each prison in each of the last three years.

Andrew Selous

Violence in prisons has increased in recent years. The nature of offenders currently in custody and the widespread availability of new psychoactive substances have both contributed to making prisons less safe. There is no single, simple solution to the problems we face but we are making progress.

We have launched a two year Violence Reduction project to help us to gain a better understanding of the causes and characteristics of violence in prisons and to strengthen the handling of this. We are also trialing 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 reform and rehabilitate offenders, which we are determined to see through.

The safety of staff and prisoners is a priority. Gold Command is opened in order to deal with incidents as quickly and safely as possible. Not all incidents turn out to be serious, but Gold Command is opened as a precaution when incidents are regarded as potentially serious.

Tables 1, 2 and 3 show the number of times Gold Command has been opened in each of the past three years by prison.

The decision to open Silver Command is made at the local level. Data regarding Silver Command openings is not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

There is no “Bronze Command suite” within NOMS incident response procedures.

Table 1: Number of times Gold Command Suite opened by prison in 2013

Prison	Number of Incidents
Aylesbury	2
Cardiff	1
Doncaster	2
Elmley	1
Everthorpe	2
Featherstone	1
Full Sutton	1
Garth	1
Gartree	1
Glen Parva	4
Haverigg	1
Hewell	2
High Down	2
Holme House	1
Hull	3
Isis	1
Lewes	1
Lincoln	2
Lindholme	3
Long Lartin	3
Maidstone	1
Moorland	2
Morton Hall	1
National – Industrial Action	1
Northumberland	1
Onley	1
Pentonville	1
Peterborough	1
Preston	1
Ranby	1
Risley	2
Rye Hill	1
Stafford	1
Stocken	3
Swaleside	1
Swinfen Hall	6
Warren Hill	1
Wayland	1
Wealstun	2
Wetherby	3
Wolds	1
Woodhill	1
Wormwood Scrubs	1
Wymott	1

Table 2: Number of times Gold Command Suite opened by prison in 2014

Prison	Number of Incidents
Altcourse	2
Aylesbury	1
Brinsford	1
Bristol	1
Bullingdon	3
Cardiff	1
Channings Wood	2
Chelmsford	1
Cookham Wood	1
Deerbolt	3
Doncaster	1
Elmley	1
Garth	1
Glen Parva	7
Harmondsworth	1
Haslar	1
Haverigg	3
Highpoint	1
Holme House	1
Humber	4
Leeds	1
Lincoln	1
Lindholme	3
Littlehey	1
Moorland	3
Morton Hall	1
National – Industrial Action	1
Northumberland	2
Norwich	1
Nottingham	1
Oakwood	1
Onley	1
Portland	1
Preston	2
Ranby	3
Rochester	3
Rye Hill	1
Stoke Heath	1
Swaleside	4
Swansea	1
Swinfen Hall	3
Wayland	3
Winchester	2

Table 3: Number of times Gold Command Suite opened by prison in 2015

Prison	Number of Incidents
Brinsford	1
Deerbolt	3
Doncaster	2
Dovegate	1
Durham	1
Featherstone	2
Garth	3
Gartree	1
Glen Parva	3
Haverigg	2
Highdown	2
Highpoint	2
Hull	1
Humber	3
Isis	3
Isle of Wight	1
Lancaster Farms	1
Leeds	2
Leicester	5
Lewes	1
Lincoln	2
Lindholme	3
Liverpool	2
Long Lartin	1
Lowdham Grange	1
Manchester	1
Morton Hall	1
Nottingham	2
Onley	1
Pentonville	2
Portland	1
Ranby	1
Rochester	1
Stocken	3
Swaleside	5
Swinfen Hall	2
The Mount	2
Wandsworth	5
Wayland	3
Werrington	1
Whatton	1
Whitemoor	1
Woodhill	1

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 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to respond to the findings of Amnesty International UK’s Annual Report, published on 24 February 2016.

Dominic Raab

I have no plans to do so. It is irresponsible for any campaign group to criticise our proposals before they’ve seen them. Amnesty have already been told our plans involve the UK remaining in the European Convention.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on the UK of the introduction of citizenship-by-investment schemes by other EU member states; and what representations she has made on increasing transparency in that area.

James Brokenshire

We are monitoring such schemes and are in contact with other EU Member States where appropriate. Every country has the right to decide its own citizenship laws, but we would object if another Member State made changes that could lead to abuse of free movement rights.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) effect on cost and (b) security implications for (i) court staff and (ii) witnesses of using alternative civic buildings for video links or court hearings.

Mr Shailesh Vara

All proposals to use alternative venues for video links or courts hearings will be assessed to make sure they are cost effective and secure for court staff, users and the judiciary. Security risk assessments will be carried out at all venues and appropriate measures will be put in place, including the deployment of designated Court Security Officers at the venue where appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many former civil servants who worked on JSi projects have now left his Department.

Andrew Selous

I refer my the Rt Hon Member to my Written Ministerial Statement of 14 March:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-03-14/HCWS619/

I will update the House once the investigation is complete.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many structures funded in the Occupied West Bank through the EU Consortium have been demolished by the Israeli government since 1 January 2016.

Mr Desmond Swayne

None of the structures constructed under the EU multi-donor programme for social and public infrastructure in Area C have been demolished to date.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many property interference authorisations were granted to each immigration removal centre inspected by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire

There has been no change in Immigration Rules in relation to the use of property interference by immigration officers. Part III Sections 55(1) and (2) of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 amended the Police Act 1997 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) in 2013 to empower officials within the Home Office exercising immigration functions to seek authority for property interference solely for the purpose of preventing and detecting serious crime. Immigration removal centres themselves cannot seek property interference authorisations.

The Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC) scrutinise every application for property interference made by immigration officers upon authorisation and also retrospectively oversee any use of the power to ensure compliance. The OSC publish an annual report, which refers to the overall use of these powers by public authorities including the Home Office.

The Home Office does not provide information on individual Immigration Removal Centres visited by the OSC, or investigations carried out within them.

The Investigatory Powers Bill will replace the current oversight regime with a powerful In-vestigatory Powers Commissioner who will have the support, powers, resources and tech-nical expertise to continue to ensure that these powers are being used fully in accordance with the law.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his letter to the Chair of the Justice Committee, dated 19 May 2016, how much of the additional £10 million to deal with prison safety has been allocated to each prison.

Andrew Selous

To achieve the greatest improvement in prison safety we are targeting prisons with the greatest need – those with the highest levels of violence, self-inflicted deaths and self-harm. Analysis is currently underway to determine allocations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s factsheet on the Investigatory Powers Bill, dated 30 October 2015, on what date and through what process the use of equipment interference was avowed for use by the security and intelligence agencies.

Mr John Hayes

The use of equipment interference by the security and intelligence agencies was avowed on 6th February 2015 when the Government published a draft Equipment Interference Code of Practice detailing the procedures and safeguards that apply to the power. The use of equipment interference by the security and intelligence agencies is authorised under Sections 5 and 7 of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 and statutory oversight is provided by the Intelligence Services Commissioner.