Tag: Andy Slaughter

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on proposed legislative steps to protect legally privileged communications from surveillance.

Andrew Selous

Policy responsibility for this area lies with the Home Office. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has powers to intercept prisoners’ communications in specific circumstances.

Section 4(4) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) provides that the interception of communications in prisons is authorised where the conduct is in exercise of a power conferred by the Prison Rules. The Prison Rules allow for interception of a prisoner’s communications if it is necessary on certain specified grounds and proportionate to what is sought to be achieved. The Prison Rules do not permit interception of a prisoner’s communication with the prisoner’s legal adviser, unless the governor of the prison has reasonable cause to believe that the communication is being made with the intention of furthering a criminal purpose and unless authorised by the Chief Executive Officer of NOMS; the director responsible for the national operational services of NOMS; or the duty director of NOMS.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the recommendations of the Low Commission on formulating a national strategy for advice and legal support in England and Wales in the current Parliament.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Ministry of Justice welcomes the work done by the Low Commission in producing its reports and recommendations, and we recognise the importance of advice being available in all contexts.

As the Justice Secretary said in June 2015 we want to create a one nation justice system to work better for victims and to deliver faster and fairer justice for all citizens. We are discussing how this can be taken forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to develop protocols with (a) the Department for Work and Pensions, (b) the Home Office and (c) other government departments and agencies to improve the quality of decision making to reduce the number of assessments overturned on appeal.

Mr Shailesh Vara

Following a successful pilot, the practice in the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal has been for judges to provide a brief summary of reasons for their decision. This is helping the Department for Work and Pensions with decision making. In the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, and in other tribunals, judges routinely give full written reasons for their decisions and Ministry of Justice officials regularly meet with colleagues from the Home Office and other government departments to discuss any underlying reasons that may be contributing to high overturn rates.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to implement the Low Commission’s recommendation that legislative proposals should be brought forward to (a) make the Access to Justice Foundation the recipient of unclaimed damages in collective actions and (b) introduce a compulsory Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts scheme for firms with profits above an agreed threshold with the proceeds of that scheme being paid to the Access to Justice Foundation.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Government commends those providers of legal services who already use the monies generated from their client accounts to help fund pro bono and charitable work. We would encourage other providers to follow that example. We want to create a one nation justice system to work better for victims and to deliver a faster and fairer justice for all citizens. We are considering how this can be taken forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to his oral evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee of 2 December 2015, Question 9, what his definition is of a constitutional long stop.

Dominic Raab

As the Prime Minister said on 10 November, we need to examine the way that Germany and other EU nations uphold their constitution and sovereignty. The issue that the Prime Minister raises requires serious thought, consultation within government and then space afterwards in order to allow proper debate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many judges or magistrates have reported receiving threatening correspondence related to hearings they have presided over in the last five years.

Mr Shailesh Vara

There are around 20,000 judges and magistrates in England and Wales. The number of judges or magistrates who have reported receiving threatening correspondence related to hearings is as follows:

Year	Number of Judges or Magistrates
2011	20
2012	12
2013	19
2014	18
2015	31

We have a robust security and safety system in place to protect all court users. Any threats to judges or magistrates are taken extremely seriously and within Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service there is a security team to co-ordinate effective judicial security and incident investigation, working closely with senior judiciary and police agencies to provide the necessary support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many knives have been confiscated in prisons in each year since 2010.

Andrew Selous

Historic data on estimates of the number of knives confiscated in prisons is not collected in a form that can be assured to be of sufficient quality for publication. A new enhanced incident reporting system has recently been introduced which does collect this data and assured data will be available at the end of the year.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer to the Question 21806 of 19 January 2016, on personal injury: compensation, whether the meeting on 8 December 2015 was the first meeting of Ministers with insurance industry representatives on reform of personal injury claims since May 2015.

Dominic Raab

On 8 December 2015, at a meeting with Ministers, representatives of leading insurers committed to pass on savings to consumers through lower premiums following the implementation of Government reforms. The Government will be monitoring the industry’s reaction to these reforms closely.

The meeting on 8 December 2015 was the first Ministerial meeting with insurers to discuss the reforms announced in the Autumn Statement on 25 November. Lord Faulks subsequently met representatives from the claimant lawyer sector at the end of January 2016. Officials had previously met with both insurers and claimant lawyer representatives to discuss the reforms.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many fires there have been in each prison and youth facility in each month since May 2010.

Andrew Selous

Information on the number of fires there have been in each prison and youth facility in each month since May 2010 is recorded in attached excel document PQ26250 Annex 1. The reporting of fire incidents has significantly improved, which has led to a greater number being reported in 2015.

The total number of fire incidents recorded in table 1 below refer to those in England and Wales recorded on the NOMS Incident Reporting System. They include accidental and deliberately set fires and those where the cause is unknown.

Total Number of Fires.

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Jan	82	100	77	85	114	73	84	78	98	110	102
Feb	76	80	103	92	68	55	73	82	97	70	122
Mar	84	84	93	87	98	62	75	99	83	92	144
Apr	97	89	89	81	72	69	70	81	94	113	159
May	97	89	99	81	65	86	86	84	102	125	150
Jun	108	100	77	82	86	68	91	87	74	94	176
Jul	89	101	84	104	76	84	82	90	123	119	181
Aug	89	99	104	79	75	102	89	80	114	134	195
Sep	73	93	100	83	106	85	72	77	81	82	190
Oct	94	64	87	90	75	73	65	69	98	103	180
Nov	102	91	80	90	92	82	85	114	82	101	156
Dec	75	87	89	76	69	68	86	63	104	93	180
Total	1066	1077	942	1030	946	907	1111	1004	1150	1236	1935

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